Reviewer: Iain Burnside
Story Title: Planet Heist (part 5 of 8)
Written by: Andy Diggle
Penciled by: Pascal Ferry
Inked by: Pascal Ferry
Colored by: Dave McCaig
Lettered by: Rob Leigh
Editor: Stephen Wacker
Publisher: DC Comics
Space…
The final frontier…
When it comes to contemporary comics, that’s one highly apt catchphrase. Think about it for a moment – how many actual comics about space travel do the Big Two release nowadays? And no, I’m not counting Superman popping over to Apokolips for a long weekend or the Fantastic Four trying to distract Galactus once again, I’m talking about actual space opera. No capes, no powers, just good ol’ fashioned Kirbytech and a spacesuit. They certainly don’t do many. Then again, who can blame them? It’s hardly the most popular of genres in this day and age. Even in TV the only shows to do something slightly different and original with the concept – Firefly and Farscape – were both cancelled prematurely; presumably for daring to treat the viewer with intelligence. Hell, even Star Trek isn’t safe from the axe these days. With this sort of hostile environment, it’s no wonder that DC and Marvel decided to stick with the norm. Then, last year, each company solicited some intriguing new space-opera comics…
Marvel, with one foot in the X-book market, brought out STARJAMMERS. Nobody noticed.
DC, suddenly remembering what the U in DCU stood for, brought out ADAM STRANGE. Nobody noticed that, either… but word gets around…
Now, at the midway point, this series suddenly finds itself the centre of a whole lot more attention than anybody would have thought possible prior to launch. Suddenly it has become a buzzword as people clamour to try and find the back issues in stores, while others are patiently waiting with their fingers crossed for DC to actually give the book a quick turnaround to trade, as the rest of us just thank our lucky stars that it is worthy of the superlatives bestowed upon it by reviewers across the globe.
Sure, a lot of this attention comes from the quite blatant hints from DC that events in this title will build towards the “Crisis-by-any-other-name” event that will affect the DCU at some point in the next twelve months. Heck, they’ve already announced that there will be a spin-off series, THE RANN/THANAGAR WAR by Dave Gibbons & Ivan Reis, to play off the interplanetary tension between those two species that was seen in the opening act of this series. But it’s not all just speculation. No, sometimes a good book is just a good book. Anybody even vaguely curious about their friends raves over the series needs only to casually flick through an issue in the store to be bowled over by the artwork. If they take the time to actually read the story too then it’s perfectly understandable that more people will be bowled over by this in due course.
If, like me, you were never particularly sure what Adam Strange’s mojo was all about, then this is the basic hook – A few years ago, he discovered an alien device that let him transport to the planet Rann. Through the magic of storytelling, he eventually became the planet’s sole protector against its enemies and had many an adventure, despite periodically being drawn back to Earth. In due course, he even married and had children on Rann. Sadly, over time, the effects of the transportation device wore off and he was permanently trapped on Earth. When this series kicked off, he was living in Gotham a broken down wreck of a man who was beginning to wonder if it had all been in his head to start with… Then a couple of alien bounty hunters turn up to arrest him with the destruction of Rann, which has apparently been blown up. He evades capture and begins a galaxy-spanning adventure, eventually learning that Rann was not actually destroyed but stolen along with the rest of its solar system…
Intriguing, no?
Sadly, as is the case with all multi-issue stories, there has to be one issue where the writer can take his foot off the gas and allow everyone to get their breath back while he maneuvers his players into position for the last act. ADAM STRANGE #5 is such an issue. Having sent poor ol’ Adam on a whirlwind quest to find his family that has taken him from Earth to an abandoned solar system to a Thanagar prison to the Omega Men, all the while fighting for his life, this is understandable. Sadly, it makes it hard to give this issue the high marks that would surely be indicative of the series as a whole.
Essentially, most of this issue is given over to explaining the Macguffin that shifted the Rann system elsewhere. The fact that Diggle has one of the Omega Men, who Strange is still rolling with, actually describe said object as a Macguffin only heightens the coolness quotient. Basically, by drawing power from zero-point energy in the fabric of space-time, the Omega Beam transporter becomes capable of moving enormous objects (like solar systems) to inter-galactic destinations. However, since this basically means converting immense levels of energy, it raises the interesting theory of what would happen if that energy was not converted back to its original format… In layman’s terms – fall down, go boom.
As is wont to happen in stories about weapons of mass destruction, an outsider army from an imperialist militaristic state turns up to destroy it… or at least to destroy those with them whilst keeping the weapons for themselves. In this case, it’s the Spider Guild. I have no idea if they have a history in the DCU or not, but have to assume so as Diggle has done a tremendous job of getting several old races back into the swing of this in this series. Thankfully, our heroes manage to traditionally escape in the nick of time and head for their next port of call – Maltus – which was apparently the destination of the person who used the Omega Beam to hide Rann. It’s also where the Spider Guild has headed in order to register their complaints about the Omega Men with the real power on the planet – L.E.G.I.O.N. – who happen to empathise with the Guild and the Thanagarians.
Truly, the excrement shall hit the wind-propelling device shortly.
Never mind the sherbet highs of such a wonderfully crazy story though. The real high point of this series comes from the outstanding artwork and, in an unusual move for me; I have to give two huge thumbs up to Dave McCaig for his colours. Lord knows how, but this comic somehow manages to come over as a bright and breezy Saturday morning cartoon while still retaining a semblance of darkness usually reserved for Gotham-based titles. Given where this story began, it’s a neat trick that helps to lend a bit more heart to the tale. When combined with Pascal Ferry’s understated and dynamic art, the book manages to out-Halo Halo… And I’m a man that likes his Halo. Of course, it would be remiss not to give Diggle his due one last time. After all, rattling out three entirely different books such as ADAM STRANGE, THE LOSERS and SWAMP THING with such precision spells out “lots of talent” in big, flashing neon letters.
I await the end of this tale with baited breath. Hopefully, you are as well. If you’re not, then you’re clearly just not reading it yet.
