Just Imagine: Stan Lee and Joe Kubert's Batman

My blog tends to be a little Marvel heavy, so I wanted to do a DC project after I wrapped up Secret Defenders. It's been quite a while since I read “Just Imagine,” the series Stan Lee wrote for the Distinguished Competition in which he teamed with legendary artists to recreate classic DC characters.

I know there are debates over whether Stan gets too much credit for the success of Marvel Comics, but I've always firmly believed that even with all credit given to the amazing artists with whom he collaborated, he's one of the most influential figures – if not the most influential figure – the medium has ever seen.

Plus, doing a DC project centered around the face and voice of Marvel is pretty on-brand for me.

I saw Stan once, at the 1998 Chicago Comic-Con, but that's as close as I ever got. You can find that story and my thoughts on his passing here.

When I finally read Just Imagine, a few years after its release, I recall the results being, well, a little mixed. But the idea – pitched by “Batman” movie producer Michael Uslan nearly a decade after overhearing a conversation between Stan and Dark Knight co-creator Bob Kane at that movie's premiere – is among the best I've ever heard. The mere fact that this happened, Stan Lee writing for DC and putting his own spin with superstar artists on that roster of characters, is enough to earn the collected editions a place on my shelf.

First up is Batman, with Stan writing and the also legendary Joe Kubert drawing.

Just Imagine Stan Lee with Joe Kubert Creating Batman
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils and Inks: Joe Kubert
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: Sibin Slavkovic
Cover: Kubert, colorist Richard Isanove
Editor: Mike Carlin
Released: July 5, 2001

There are echoes of the original Batman origin, as well as some Marvel characters, in the opening salvo of the Just Imagine initiative.

We meet Wayne Williams, a young Black man in Los Angeles mourning the loss of his police officer father. As he and his mother walk home from the cemetery, they witness local hood Handz Horgum* and his gang beating up someone who owes them money. Wayne hurries his mom away, saying the victim probably deserved it.

The next day, Wayne witnesses Horgum nearly killed in a drive-by shooting and shoves the thug's girlfriend, Nita, to safety. Despite not being a bit concerned about Nita when the bullets were flying, this insults Hands' over-inflated sense of his manhood, so he roughs up Wayne then comes back the next day to rob the store and frame the young man as his accomplice.

Wayne goes to prison, where he gets assigned a job sewing and is continually bullied by fellow prisoners. After standing up to an oversized con named Korgo, he befriends Frederick Grant, a scientist locked up for vandalizing machinery at a factory polluting a river. He also starts … feeding the bats he observes flying by his cell window at night, musing that “everyone hates 'em. Reminds me of me.”

Wayne begins lifting weights under the guidance of some less unsavory convicts. Eventually, he's bulked up enough to stop Korgo and company from attacking the warden and escaping in a prison break engineered by the Rev. Dominic Darrk, who will be popping up in future issues. As you can tell by that ominous name with an extra r, he's up to no good.

Wayne's heroics earn him a pardon, giving him an opportunity to mount his campaign of vengeance against Handz Horgum. But first, he needs money. So, like a young man a multiverse over named Peter Parker, he turns to professional wrestling, which is not at staged in comic book circles. He uses the sewing skills he honed in prison to create a very literal bat costume, right down to a detailed mask that seems like overkill but definitely keeps his identity secret. It stays that way as he earns millions through competition and merchandising. He eventually recruits Dr. Grant to help him amp up his abilities technologically by duplicating the natural gifts of bats. He also adds a layer to the secret identity setup by having Grant pose as the owner of his mansion and himself as the scientist's bodyguard.**

Batman decides to launch his assault on Horgum, now a powerful crime lord, just as Handz gives Nita an ultimatum: marry him or die. Before we can see if she's persuaded by this sweet talk, Batman bursts in and makes short work of Handz's henchmen. In the ensuing face-off, an enraged Handz charges at Batman, who redirects his momentum and tosses him off the penthouse balcony.

Nita isn't any more impressed than I was, and Wayne decides to hire her as Grant's secretary. After a parting sequence in which Darrk discusses a mysterious master plan and his intentions to destroy Batman, the story ends. It's followed by a textless sequence from Uslan, artist Michael Wm. Kaluta and colorist Alex Sinclair, in which a newspaper with front page coverage of Batman makes its way through the streets and people of L.A.

The story of a reluctant hero motivated initially by revenge works as a great setup for an ongoing series that was never to be. As shocking as Batman's killing of Handz was, Nita's swift condemnation of the action, as well as Wayne's earlier wrestling with his purpose if and when he defeats his enemy show it wasn't just a casual occurrence or a convenient way of ending the story. Lee was planting seeds, even if they were unlikely to be followed up on. The oddball arrangement of Grant as the wealthy inventor, Nita as his secretary and Wayne as the bodyguard, maintaining multiple secret identities and pining for his co-worker/employee is fertile ground for the kind of inter-personal super drama for which Lee is known. The racial dynamic could lead into accusations of politics in comics, which of course has never been the case.

Some aspects feel a bit forced, like Wayne's affinity for bats, but this was, from the start, a story with its ending already determined. Lee was creating a Batman.

Kubert's art... what am I going to say? The man has his own school. It's great comic book art, not too realistic or overly stylized but hitting that sweet spot right in between.

Next: Stan Lee and Jim Lee's Wonder Woman.

* - A trademark Lee alliterative name

** - Shades of Iron Man!