Right around 2001, this story took the comic book industry by storm. Career Marvelite, Stan Lee was going over to DC Comics to create his take on Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League of America!
I wasn't back into comics just yet. But even when I heard this story, I thought it was both awesome and strange. Turns out I wasn't the only one as some of DC's most legendary talents including Joe Kubert, Jim Lee, and Dan Jurgens thought that this was a bizarre pairing too. But every single one of these guys heartily said yes to being a part of this historic project.
Stan Lee doesn't seek to fix the DC icons. No, he merely gets a chance to create them in the Marvel way he established in the 1960s. Thus, Stan would give his ideas to his artists, they would draw out the characters based on Stan's tutelage and then the Living Legend would fill in all the text bubbles and captions himself.
The overall premise of this storyline was that the mystic tree of life Yggdrasil was threatened by a demonic menace lead by Reverend Dominic Darrk. So, the tree used it's green hued life force to craft a team of heroes to defend the earth. It would be up to these unlikely heroes to rise against growing threat in an entity known as Crisis...
This book is divided into 2 parts. The classic characters of Batman, Green Lantern and the Flash make up the first half with Robin, Shazam, and the Sandman starring in act two. I preferred the second act of characters a lot more than Stan's take on the founding members of his JLA. Their origins were just too similar to how Marvel legends such as Spider-Man, Thor, and Silver Surfer were laid out by Stan the Man in the early 60s.
But the second string of heroes such as Aquaman and Catwoman were so different and unique to just about anything on the market. I really hate that Shazam was pretty much a one-and-done thing because that new take on the character was really that good! I want to see this as a live-action series on Syfy!
My least favorite revamp was Superman. Maybe it's because I am biased as the Man of Steel is my all-time favorite character (though Captain America could reclaim that title at any moment...) But this version of Superman was too much of a butt-head instead of inspiration and he was made way too weak.
Okay, weakness is a big flaw in most of these characters. DC's characters are known to be sources of limitless power and resolve. The Marvel characters fathered by Stan Lee had weaknesses to which endured to comic book readers. But Stan's DC Universe seems to have chronic fatigue syndrome.
While I have picked up a couple of Just Imagine issues in my travels through the bargain bins of America, this miniseries wasn't really on my radar. But with Ollie's massive DC blowout, I found this massive 700 page plus edition for only $13 and I could not pass it up!
It was a good read both for entertainment and historical purposes. But it's not the greatest thing from either DC Comics or Stan Lee that I have ever read. The jury is still out on whether I will keep this omnibus or not. It takes up a lot of real estate. However, should you ever come across this collection like I did for such a dramatic discount- do not pass it up! It will keep you entertained for hours.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
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