The great Stan Lee would have celebrated his 100th birthday on December 28th, 2022. Fans have been vocal with love and appreciation for the man who brought us some of our favorite superheroes. Disney announced a new documentary about him coming in 2023. But a rather surprising celebration came from fellow publishing giant *checks notes* DC Comics?? Did we read that right? The grandfather of Marvel Comics is being celebrated by its biggest rival? You betchya.
Lee loved to make jabs at DC for being the “other” comic company. Slinging playful comments like “Brand Ecch” and the like. In 2000, DC hired Lee to reimagine their pantheon of heroes. The result was a series called “Just Imagine.”
Stan Lee worked on the project with creators like Scott McDaniel and Klaus Janson on Aquaman, Joe Kubert on Batman, Kevin Maguire on Karl Story for The Flash, Dave Gibbons on Green Lantern, Jerry Ordway and David Baron on JLA, John Byrne and Terry Austin on Robin, Walt Simonson and Bob Wiacek for Sandman, John Buscema for Superman, and Jim Lee and Scott Williams for Wonder Woman.
To pay tribute, DC Comics has announced a continuation of Lee’s “Just Imagine” stories with a new one-shot release, “Tales from Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee.” Some of the original writers/creators are returning for it as well, like Jerry Ordway and writer/producer Michael Uslan. Lee Weeks, and Mark Waid are also contributing.
Some might see the release of this comic as a bit of playful trolling while remembering one of the founding father’s of super-hero comics. And perhaps that’s true, but we know that there’s lots of love and respect behind the project as well. Happy Birthday, Stan!
