Hey, folks! Welcome back to Comic Deep Dive! I’m here with more coverage of my adventures taking the opportunity to do some strange and exciting comic book reading as we start to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel. Today, I’m talking all about Marvel’s Just Imagine… imprint! Here’s the run-down:
The Story
- Stan Lee created the Marvel Universe
- Stan Lee had retired, several times in fact
- But Stan Lee still had some great stories left to share
- So Stan Lee reimagined the DC Universe
- Ran briefly from 2001 to 2002
The Titles
- Aquaman
- Batman
- Catwoman
- The Flash
- Green Lantern
- Hourman
- Sandman
- Shazam!
- Wonder Woman
The Events
- Secret Files and Origins
- JLA
- Crisis
The Crossovers
- None because it didn’t last long enough
The Good Stuff
- Great one-and-done stories that led to a bigger connectivity down the line
- Beautiful character designs
- Original takes on classic characters
- Creators new and old chipped in to make Stan’s vision come true
The Bad Parts
- Simply not enough of it
- Each issue was prestige format, which was a bit pricey for the time
- John Byrne’s Robin was the only bad installment
- Never crossed over with Stan’s most famous creation, the Marvel Universe
The Creators of Note
- Stan Lee
- Chris Bachalo, Jim Lee, Dave Gibbons, John Cassaday, Scott McDaniel, Gary Frank, and Jerry Ordway
Characters Off the Page
- Nothing, sadly
The Returns
- The Multiversity
- Dark Nights: Death Metal
Overall Thoughts
- This deep dive is something I have always wanted to do, because I love DC and Stan Lee really was “the man” when it came to great superhero storytelling
- Quite a few of these were tough to find, but fairly inexpensive as a whole
- I’ll keep the whole thing
- My final grade: B+
See you next month for another comic deep dive! In the meantime, share your thoughts on DC’s Just Imagine… imprint with us on social media. We’d love to hear from you.
