Just Imagine: Stan Lee and Jerry Ordway's JLA

Just Imagine Stan Lee with Jerry Ordway Creating the JLA
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils and inks: Jerry Ordway
Letterer: Bill Oakley
Colorist: David Baron
Cover: Ordway, colors by Alex Sinclair
Editor: Mike Carlin
Released: Dec. 19, 2001

What do superheroes in a shared universe do when they reach critical mass? Form a super-team, of course.

That's what happens in the sixth vision of the DC Universe through Stan Lee-tinted glasses, this time with the artistic stylings of Jerry Ordway. But before the five heroes from the previous installments assemble,* we meet... the Doom Patrol?

A mysterious, purple-tinged figure rescues three death row inmates split seconds before their executions and imbues them with deadly powers to hunt down Adam Strange, who is of course, not the Earth-to-Rann-commuting space hero but a teenager with gray hair and a far out amulet. He's pursued onto the campus of Los Angeles University, where Prof. Len Lewis (aka Green Lantern) is advising a young coed on books she should read and hopefully not, after his experience with Cathy, hitting on her. Lewis transforms into his emerald alter ego to rescue Strange from the trio of Blockbuster (Brock Smith), a massive, purple-skinned bruiser; Deathstroke (Deke Durgen), a husky, bemulletted guy with a killing touch and an eye patch; and Parasite (Lucinda Radama), a flying, purple, glowing lady.

Once they've put some distance between them and the terrible trio, Strange tells the Lantern his troubles: he tried to rob the Church of Eternal Empowerment, which is of course pastored by the wrong Rev. Dominic Darrk.** The boy helpfully suggests that Green Lantern summon the other heroes who've popped up recently in L.A., which he does, using his green powers, which are possibly even more nebulous than the original Green Lanterns. But let's not pretend Stan is the first or only comics scribe to adapt powers to the needs of the story.

In a sequence reminiscent of countless classic tales, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman show a glimpse of their character as they debate whether to answer the call.

Batman is the first to arrive at the Malibu Beach pier, but stays in the shadows while Superman wonders why the heck Green Lantern is telling Strange to touch his glowing chest emblem to understand how his powers work. This Superman is, of course, not the even-tempered guy we're used to, but, hey, fair point.

Superman “touched the symbol too hard,” according to GL, which activates his force field just as the Purple Patrol arrive and start trashing the pier. Batman and Wonder Woman intervene, but, not used to working together, the four heroes can't gain the upper hand. Parasite reveals her power is to possess people as she hijacks Superman and makes a beeline back to Darrk's place, while Blockbuster knocks out Batman and Wonder Woman and Deathstroke drains Green Lantern's energy. Indecisive about joining the gathering, the Flash finally arrives to find the villains are gone, Strange has left to chase Superman and Wonder Woman and Green Lantern have reverted to their civilian identities, the latter at death's door.

But the green energy that led Flash to the scene revives the Lantern, who is so wiped out he doesn't notice the Flash is a college-age female. They pile into Batman's helicopter and head for the Church of Eternal Empowerment.

Superman's already there with young Strange, who tells him just where to hit the force field protecting the building to break it and helps out with some purple eye beams. In this world, purple doesn't stand for incredibly stretchy pants; it means bad news. As Deathstroke and Blockbuster arrive, Strange admits he was trying to pit the heroes and villains against each other, then follows Superman into the church to confront Darrk – his father.

For a guy named Darrk, he seems pretty bright.

The kid's medallion is the Sapphire of Ranagar,*** an artifact Adam stole from his old man. It seems Dominic thought his offspring would one day become more powerful than him, and Adam is cool with patricide. Darrk kills his own followers for not intervening when Superman attacks and takes the sapphire back from his son. Strange asks to join his father's creepy crusade, and Daddy Darkest responds by draining his life energy or something as the lad swears to return from death.

Things get even more confusing as Parasite seems intent on possessing Darrk's power and he yoinks her out of Superman's body to absorb her power before deciding to cast her into Green Lantern instead.

Outside, Batman realizes Blockbuster has been protecting his head during the fight and suggests it might be a weak spot Wonder Woman should strike with her staff. I don't think it takes a great fighter or tactician to realize a blow to the head could be effective, but what do I know? Wonder Woman scores a bullseye, and Blockbuster's purple shell crumbles. As he flees, he steps on a power cable and gets the death by electrocution he avoided at the start of the story. Echoing the Flash's thoughts on Zargul's “shocking” demise in her story, Batman, who also flat out killed the villain in his issue, says, “He saved the state the trouble.”

Speaking of the speedster's penchant for permanently putting villains down, she dodges Deathstroke's grab, causing him to lay hands on himself and wither away.

There's a gorgeous two-page splash where the team regroups to take on Darrk, except for Green Lantern who's writhing on the floor as he tries to resist Parasite's takeover. I'm sure it's a valiant struggle, but the other four have more dramatic poses. I would have posted it, but I don't think I could have done it without tearing up the book.

Flash, Wonder Woman and Superman pummel Darrk, while Batman tries to encourage Green Lantern to fight Parasite. Finally, the Lantern calls on Yggdrasil, the magical tree that gives him his power. The Ultimate Giving Tree draws Lucinda to itself and, in a departure from the other villains' fates, grants her peace to curb her violent nature.

With Green Lantern back in the fight, Darrk departs and the newly formed Justice League of America touches Green Lantern's chest symbol – still weird – and teleports to Yggdrasil. There they pledge to defend the planet and watch out for whatever Darrk is up to.

As with the Flash issue, the highlight is the art, with Ordway's classic style that doesn't look dated in the least. At times, it seems a little crowded, though that and the often slanted panel design add to a frenetic, off-balance atmosphere.

I couldn't design a very good super-villain costume, but I do question the decision to outfit Deathstroke in a white button-up shirt and khakis turned purple to show he's in league with Darrk. Clearly, the clothes didn't make this man, whose death touch and nonchalant bloodlust made him a villain with potential, even though he went the MCU bad guy route and died his first time out of the gate.

Lee's dialogue is fun too (Blockbuster: “Nobody escapes from Blockbuster twice!” Batman: “Then call me nobody, you musclebound buffoon!”), particularly Green Lantern musing that if the team gets their act together “we could be the best there is at what we do!” But there are also some clunky moments (Blockbuster's weak spot), and some aspects of the story are compressed and unclear, like Parasite's motivation for driving Superman back to Darrk's or Strange's back-and-forth over wanting to defeat or join his father. The story doesn't quite feel on the scale I associate with the JLA (having started regularly reading them during the Grant Morrison run), but then again, this isn't the League we've come to know.

There's not a full “On the Street” backup story, but the ad page from Fly-By-Night Comics by Chris Duffy and Stephen DeStefano delivers a few chuckles. Next up is an interlude of sorts, with a story from the Secret Files and Origins issue before we head on to Robin.

* - Or whatever it is Justice Leaguers do. Justify?

** - I can't be the only one thinking he's Damien Darhk and imagining Neal McDonough delivering his dialogue, can I?

*** - The name of the capital of original recipe Adam Strange's adopted planet Rann
and not, as I initially thought, the combined planets of Rann and Thanagar.