Review of "DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories: 11 Tales You Never Expected to See," by Otto Binder et. al.

Review of

DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories: 11 Tales You Never Expected to See, by Otto Binder et. al.  ISBN 1401205348

Five out of five stars

  In the DC comic world, an “imaginary tale” is one that is inconsistent with the regular plotlines of the characters. They are stories where Lois Lane and Superman can get married and have children, Lex Luthor can go straight and be a hero, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are actual brothers and Captain Marvel is unable to stop a nuclear holocaust where all countries with nuclear weapons use them.

 The imaginary tales are events where the writers at DC were able to jump wildly outside the box and carry out events that the readership expressed an interest in seeing. All without altering the fundamental behaviors of the characters. This makes the stories a bit more interesting  and the greater freedom makes the dialog better than what is often formulaic in the regular stories.

 As a follower of the comics for decades, I always enjoyed the “imaginary” tales, for they were so unpredictable. Because there were no limits, it was possible that any of the characters would perish, vanish or otherwise suffer serious complications. The title is correct, these are some of the best “imaginary” tales ever published by DC.