Just Imagine....Batman

Posted: Friday, July 6
By: Jason Cornwell

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Joe Kubert

Publisher: DC

PLOT:
After his father is gunned down in the line-of-duty, a young Wayne Williams finds himself as the sole means of support for his grieving mother, but when he steps in to help the girlfriend of Handz, a local gang-boss, he earns the ire of this petty hood. Wayne then finds himself framed for an armed robbery that was orchestrated by Handz, and sent to jail where after finding his desire to help others is constantly getting him in trouble, so he instead turns his attention to gaining his revenge on Handz.

The death of his mother while he was imprisoned also furthers his resolve to have his pound of flesh. Upon his release Wayne finds that he'll need money to get at Handz, who is now a highly placed crime-boss, and to this end he becomes a costumed wrestler named Batman. With his identity concealed under a mask, Wayne finds fame & the fortune he needs to carry out his vengeance, and with the help of an inventor he befriended in prison, Wayne turns his wrestling costume into a walking arsenal of gadgets & weapons. He then confronts Handz, who finds himself the first man to die at the hands of the Batman.

COMMENTS:
Stan Lee has already made his mark on the comic industry, so it's sad to travel around the net & see comic fans almost gleefully predicting this project will be a disaster. They point to Ravage 2099 as a sample of Stan Lee's work, and question his ability as a writer. I could point to Spawn/Batman: Red Scare as an example of Frank Miller's work, but this would be unfair. We have the others who claim that it was the artists like Steve Ditko & Jack Kirby deserve the credit for Stan Lee's work, and I wonder where this need to tear Stan Lee's accomplishments down comes from.

Stan Lee has to be one of the best promoters the comic industry ever had, and ever will. I hope that this project sells like Aunt May's hot-cakes, as I find it silly to have to defend Stan Lee's contribution to the industry. This one-shot may not be a masterpiece of writing, but it's more enjoyable than half the material I've come across in my decades of comic reading, and I give a hearty welcome back to one of the true giants of the industry.

Stan Lee is back writing comics! I mean how cool is that. The first question I'm sure that will cross the mind of most fans regarding this issue is if he still has it in him. After reading this one-shot, I'd have to say yes. I mean sure it suffers from somewhat fuzzy logic, and plot contrivances, but Stan Lee's work has never been about crafting an intricate story that would stand up to critical observation. His work has always been about entertaining the reader, and I found this new take on Batman entertaining.

The character of Wayne Williams starts the story as a fairly unsympathetic character and he never really develops into a hero. Even though he does perform some heroic acts, his primary motive is vengeance & the climax ends with him performing cold-blooded murder. This is a bit of a change for a Stan Lee character, but if he took the character in the direction I had expected him to, then this exercise wouldn't be as much fun.

My exposure to Joe Kubert's work has been limited, as outside of couple of issues of the All-Star Squadron in the early 1980s, I don't think he's done much work with super-heroes. Based on what I saw on this issue, I'm curious as to why he never worked on a book like Batman, as his gritty, highly realistic style would seem ideally suited to that book. His panel layouts are some of the best I've ever seen, and he has a great eye for telling a story, which I guess is why he set up a school designed to show others how to do so.

I realize that this is probably a one-time deal, but I'd love to see him turn out more work, as I'd be curious to see him try his hand at a Western, or a Film-Noir type detective story. A Ka-Zar one-shot would also be fun. The visual design of Batman's costume was also nicely done, with the shot on page thirty-two showing a brooding Batman being the highlight of the issue.

FINAL WORD:
Stan Lee's version of Batman is a fairly interesting take on the character, and while the I don't think I'd be likely to pick up this book if DC decided to make it into a monthly title, this also holds true of the regular Batman, so I wouldn't read to much into this. I found my attention was held for the entire twenty-plus minutes it took me to read it, and while there are some rather silly elements to be found (e.g. the villain's penchant to use his bare hands rather than a weapon), for the most part this is a fairly serious-minded affair, which took me by surprise, as Stan Lee's work has always seemed to have a more lighthearted bent. However, given this is his take on the grim & serious Batman, I imagine he held some of his more bombastic behavior under wraps. However, he does let the occasional caption that talks directly to the reader slip out, as if to hint that yes this is a Stan Lee written book.