DC will celebrate the late Marvel Comics Legend Stan Lee with a One-shot, Tales From Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee.
To commemorate what would have been his 100th birthday, DC Comics has taken it upon itself to provide follow-up stories to a project Stan worked on for the company in the early 2000s.
DC Brings Fans Back To Earth-6… But What Is That, Exactly?
Specifically, DC had approached Stan with the idea of presenting the premiere DC heroes as he would have envisioned them. The result was the Just Imagine… series of one-shot stories that featured his interpretations of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Shazam, and Aquaman. He had also been paired with legends like John Buscema and Joe Kubert, established artists like Jim Lee and Dave Gibbons, and finally rising stars like Gary Frank and Scott McDaniel to provide artwork.
As per his style, Stan broke all the rules and established different identities and backgrounds for these variants. Green Lantern, for example, was no longer a test pilot chosen by an intergalactic peacekeeping force and armed with a power ring. Rather, he was a professor named Len Lewis who became empowered by “The Tree,” a mystical plant associated with Norse Mythology and Christianity. Gibbons, who collaborated on the story with Lee, envisioned Lewis’s Green Lantern form as a fully glowing being of energy rather than a man in a uniform.
Batman, meanwhile, was an even bigger departure. Instead of an orphaned billionaire, Stan and Joe Kubert crafted Wayne Williams as an African-American wrongfully accused and imprisoned, only to rebuild himself physically and mentally behind bars until released. He then became a professional wrestler with a realistic bat costume to amass enough wealth to make his suit more battle ready so he could avenge himself on those who had framed him.
Wonder Woman was no longer a princess, but rather – thanks to Stan and Jim Lee (no relation) – she was now an archaeologist, Maria Mendoza, granted the powers and enhanced physique of an Incan Sun God through the staff of Manco Capac.
Finally, Stan’s version of the Man of Steel no longer arrives on Earth an infant, but, with John Buscema providing the pencils, the weakest member of the Kryptonian Police force pursuing a criminal via a one-way teleportation to our planet. Upon seeing Earth’s problems, and, imbued with powers and abilities granted to him by Earth’s atmosphere, Saden decides to remain and help Earth rid itself of crime and corruption as Superman.
For the purpose of this one-shot, the reality in which Lee’s Just Imagine… heroes reside has been designated as Earth-6 in the DC Multiverse.
For the return to Earth-6, the company has selected the best of the best for the 96-page issue landing in stores December 27th. Writers such as Michael Uslan, Mark Waid, Zac Thompson, Kenny Porter, Stephanie Williams, Steve Orlando, and Meghan Fitzmartin – and many others – are on board to flesh out 10 new stories. Their words will be accompanied by art the likes of Kevin Maguire, Lee Weeks, Jerry Ordway, Hayden Sherman, Belen Ortega, Max Dunbar, Karl Mostert, Juan Ferreyra, Pablo M. Collar, and Anthony Marques. Variant cover art will be available through the talents of Ariel Colon, Clayton Henry, Riley Rossmo, Kelly Jones, Jason Howard, Dan Panosian, Jorge Corona, Kyle Hotz, Steve Beach and Cully Hamner, the latter providing a 1:25 ratio variant cover. The main cover, however, will be a wraparound by Jim Cheung.
Catch Tales From Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee when it hits the shelves December 27th, 2022.
Official Source – DC honors Stan Lee with ‘Tales from Earth-6: A Celebration of Stan Lee’ one-shot • AIPT (aiptcomics.com)
