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JUST IMAGINE STAN LEE WITH WALT SIMONSON CREATING SANDMAN
Not Recommended (2/10)
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DC Comics
Main story
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils: Walter Simonson
Inks: Bob Wiacek
Letters: Bill Oakley
On the Street...
Writer: Michael Uslan
Artist: Richard Corben
Letters: Phil Felix
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Editor: Mike Carlin
Price: $5.95 US/$9.95 CAN |
Once again, readers are treated to some interesting art and inventive designs, but as always, it's coupled with a clunky, non-sensical plot and script. It's great that Lee's been teamed with top artistic talents in the industry for this series, but it's a shame DC couldn't/didn't team him with some of the top writers as well, at least to handle the scripting.
Astronaut Larry Wilton is betrayed by one of his own colleagues while on a space-shuttle mission, but instead of dying in the cold void of space, he finds himself transported into the realm of dreams and nightmares, where a mysterious, lovely woman from his childhood dreams grants him incredible powers. Wilton soon finds himself wrapped up in the secret machinations of the evil Rev. Dominic Darkk, who apparently is trying to bring about the destruction of all that is by summoning forth the power of the being known simply as Crisis.
The most visually striking thing about this book is Simonson's design for the title character. The Kirby influence in his work shines through clearly here. He captures both a sense of the mystical and action in this interpretation of the Sandman; he looks like a cross between a warrior and a druid. Corben's work in the backup story is as twisted and textured as ever, and Loughridge's dark colors captures the supernatural and (supposedly) foreboding tone of the story nicely. Well, there was a moment or two in which the wrong color was employed, though, making for a conflict with the description in the narration.
So all of Larry Wilton's fellow astronauts die in a horrible explosion while he happens to be adrift in space, and he appeases everyone at a press conference with a "cockamamie story"? Intent on returning to the dream world, he takes a nap in the lair of the guy he believes to be a deadly enemy? Lee's scripting and plot leave a lot to be desired. 'Nuff said, as they say.
The backup story here lacks a plot of its own. Uslan simply sets up the next -- and I assume final -- chapter in the Just Imagine Stan Lee... line, sending a former sleeping sickness victim running and ranting through Los Angeles about the coming of the end of the world at the hands of "Crisis." We already got that message at the end of the main story, though, making this brief "On the Street" street a rather redundant epilogue.
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