Stan Lee's version of ROBIN, with art by John Byrne
© 2001 DC Comics

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Stan Lee Takes on ROBIN

The latest in the JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE CREATING... series pairs Lee with artist John Byrne for a new interpretation of ROBIN.

Here's how DC describes the book, due in February:

"An orphan gifted with great agility and intellect, the boy who would one day become Robin fell prey to the mysterious machinations of Reverend Dominic Darrk, who now orders him to attack Batman. Will the reluctant Robin find the strength to defy Darrk's commands? And what are Darrk's ultimate plans for him?"

Lee says the early issues in the JUST IMAGINE series tended to be more faithful to the originals.

"But as I went on, I got further away," he says. "You will find as you go through the series that characters become more and more different from the original ones as the series goes on. When I started, I was a little bit inhibited. With Superman, I had him come from another planet because I was thinking, 'I shouldn't make him that different.'

"I'm sorry now that I did it that way. Now, I wish I had made it totally different. It still is very different, but I'm sorry I had him come from another planet."

Lee says he's interested to see reaction to his takes on the characters.

"I made them more and more different because I thought that's what the fans would want," he said. "Wait until you see, AQUAMAN, that's so different!"

Other upcoming artists in the series include Chris Bachalo on CATWOMAN, Gary Frank on SHAZAM, Walter Simonson on SANDMAN and John Cassaday on CRISIS.

"CATWOMAN, to me, is really very evocative of SPIDER-MAN," says Michael Uslan, who coordinated the project and is working with DC editor Mike Carlin.

"SANDMAN is very evocative of DOCTOR STRANGE. WONDER WOMAN, to me, has a lot of the mystique of THOR, although now Stan has gotten into Incan mythology rather than Norse mythology. So, really depending on what Stan Lee book was your favorite, you're going to find something in this series that's going to resonate well for you."

"The SHAZAM book feels like the Stan and Jack (Kirby) monster stories, which is awesome, just great," Carlin says. "Shazam is the monster's name."

Carlin and Uslan are taking the characters from the previous stories to help Lee on CRISIS, the finale.

"They're tying all 11 books together, and they're going to give me what they think the last one should be," Lee says. "And because I hate to use anybody else's ideas, I'll probably do it differently but at least they'll give me a starting point."

Carlin says the Lee characters could come back after the series is done.

"If this is what people are enjoying, we're happy to do plenty of it," Carlin says. "Frankly, if Stan is involved, it could be really a great new thing."