Stan Lee re-imagines another DC legend in ...THE FLASH.
© 2001 DC Comics
JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE'S THE FLASH
By: Tony WhittDate: Monday, December 03, 2001
Mary Maxwell's not your typical student. She reads comic books and longs for an exciting, action-filled life, something she's not likely to get while living with her boring scientist dad. But you know what they say: "Be careful what you wish for..." Soon, her father's old employers come looking for a time travel device he's helped to create, and Mary is contaminated by a green, energy-sapping mist when the two of them try to escape. Dr. Maxwell injects her with hummingbird DNA to counteract her lethargy, just before he gets killed by the bad guys. Now Mary is even faster than the average hummingbird, and she's ready to avenge her father's death.
Yes, you heard me right hummingbird DNA. Stan must have been deliberately spoofing the origins of the old Timely Comics character the Whizzer, whose super speed came from an injection of mongoose blood; either that, or Stan couldn't come up with anything else. But fear not, True Believers the silliness of Mary Maxwell's origin is one of the only things silly about this latest offering in the JUST IMAGINE series. Stan still cleaves close to the original in this case, but what other sort of character would you expect with a name like "the Flash," anyway? The only other real difficulty is Mary's casual attitude towards dispatching the bad guysshe's a bit more homicidal towards the end of the book for my comfortbut apart from that, this stands alongside the GREEN LANTERN entry as being one of the best.
It's also telling that Lee seems to be getting into the groove of storytelling without resorting to the trademark "Stan the Man" cheesiness. There are far fewer unusual captions, and none of them include any self-referential jokes for once. And while the dialogue still tends to narrate that which we should be seeing, it's not nearly as intrusive this time around. Of course, Stan's also working with an artist who makes even the silliest parts of this script come alive. Kevin Maguire's work here is astoundingnot only does he make the Flash herself look great, despite the odd design of the costume, he keeps the book from having the same mid-'70s look that former entries in the JUST IMAGINE series have had. Even the backup story this time passes muster. It's a howlingly funny follow-up to the one in the back of the SUPERMAN entry, and much like that story, it allows Stan Lee to make some amusing comments on the comic book industry itself. Sergio Aragones's artwork just makes it even more hilarious.
Over all, this is a decent entry into a series which is slowly getting stronger as it goes along. By the time we get to the JLA and CRISIS books, I imagine we'll be thinking of the JUST IMAGINE series as less of a comic book curiosity and more as a strong series in its own right. 'Nuff said.
Issue: N/A | ||
Author(s): Stan Lee, Kevin Maguire, Karl Story, Chris Chuckry, Sergio Aragones, Lee Loughridhe, Michael Uslan | ||
Publisher: DC | ||
Price: $5.95 | ||
