With the formation of the Justice League we come to what some would assume is the ending of the Just Imagine Universe. It turns out this is but a new beginning as the series moves on with more titles. As you would expect this issue feels very much like an early Avengers comics, in how the team comes together, the villains that bring them together to fight, and the conflict between the team as the learn to work together.
We start off this issue meeting 3 death row inmates in different parts of the United States right before they are about to be executed for their various crimes. A voice comes to each of them, we later learn it is Reverend Darkk, and promises to save them from their situation as long as they work for him. This results in the three being freed from their executions and gaining super powers. They come to be known as the Doom Patrol, and they very much remind me of the Wrecking Crew over at Marvel. The Doom Patrol is tasked with capturing Adam Strange, as he has a powerful amulet belonging to Darkk. While doing so they run into the Green Lantern who saves Strange, and tries to call upon the other heroes from the previous issues of the series. The heroes come together to ward off the Doom Patrol but not before Superman is taken over by one of them and flies off to take on Darkk. Some drama and conflict later inside the Justice League, we then meet them at the church that Reverend Darkk hides inside. The team finally comes together as Green Lantern fights off being possessed and defeats Darkk, for now.
While it was fun to see all the heroes come together finally and fight as a team, the coming together story felt a little flat in this. Now the whole mission of this series was to tell one-shot stories recreating the DC Universe in Stan Lee’s image but I would have liked to see a longer and wider story told here. I also was really hoping for a big reveal about Reverend Darkk, and we never got one, at least for now. That being said it did get me excited to see where the universe goes from here, and how they tie up the loose ends in issue to come. Overall this first arc of the Just Imagine Universe was really good, and blew away my expectations for it.
While I look forward to finishing off the Just Imagine series I feel like this is a good place to take a break and return to the Rom series for another story arc. Next week we will be reading Rom #7 for Retro Re-Read and go until another natural break in the story hits to finish off Just Imagine.
I hope you are enjoying this series and all the posts on my SubStack. If you are I ask that you like the posts, comment below what you thought of this issue, and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss a single post. And as always I appreciate you reading this, and hope to see you here for the next one!
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Retro Re-Read: Just Imagine Stan Lee Created the JLA
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Writer-Stan Lee
Artist-Jerry Ordway
Colorist-David Baron
Letterer-Bill Oakley
With the formation of the Justice League we come to what some would assume is the ending of the Just Imagine Universe. It turns out this is but a new beginning as the series moves on with more titles. As you would expect this issue feels very much like an early Avengers comics, in how the team comes together, the villains that bring them together to fight, and the conflict between the team as the learn to work together.
We start off this issue meeting 3 death row inmates in different parts of the United States right before they are about to be executed for their various crimes. A voice comes to each of them, we later learn it is Reverend Darkk, and promises to save them from their situation as long as they work for him. This results in the three being freed from their executions and gaining super powers. They come to be known as the Doom Patrol, and they very much remind me of the Wrecking Crew over at Marvel. The Doom Patrol is tasked with capturing Adam Strange, as he has a powerful amulet belonging to Darkk. While doing so they run into the Green Lantern who saves Strange, and tries to call upon the other heroes from the previous issues of the series. The heroes come together to ward off the Doom Patrol but not before Superman is taken over by one of them and flies off to take on Darkk. Some drama and conflict later inside the Justice League, we then meet them at the church that Reverend Darkk hides inside. The team finally comes together as Green Lantern fights off being possessed and defeats Darkk, for now.
While it was fun to see all the heroes come together finally and fight as a team, the coming together story felt a little flat in this. Now the whole mission of this series was to tell one-shot stories recreating the DC Universe in Stan Lee’s image but I would have liked to see a longer and wider story told here. I also was really hoping for a big reveal about Reverend Darkk, and we never got one, at least for now. That being said it did get me excited to see where the universe goes from here, and how they tie up the loose ends in issue to come. Overall this first arc of the Just Imagine Universe was really good, and blew away my expectations for it.
While I look forward to finishing off the Just Imagine series I feel like this is a good place to take a break and return to the Rom series for another story arc. Next week we will be reading Rom #7 for Retro Re-Read and go until another natural break in the story hits to finish off Just Imagine.
I hope you are enjoying this series and all the posts on my SubStack. If you are I ask that you like the posts, comment below what you thought of this issue, and subscribe to make sure you don’t miss a single post. And as always I appreciate you reading this, and hope to see you here for the next one!
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