CBR Rann/Thanagar: Holy War

 

And we're back with Adam Strange once more!
Fresh from his adventures with Starfire and Animal Man in Countdown to Adventure, it's the return of the Rann–Thanagar War conflict in this culmination of different space opera storylines!

Don't miss out my previous Adam Strange-related reviews!

Mystery in Space 

Adam Strange: Man of Two Worlds 

Adam Strange: Planet Heist  

Rann–Thanagar War
Countdown to Adventure 

Comic title: Rann/Thanagar: Holy War Vol. 1 & 2
Art by Jim Starlin, Ron Lim, Rick Leonardi & Rob Hunter
Story by Jim Starlin

Published by DC Comics
From 2008
Lineup Adam Strange, Animal Man, Rann/Thanagar, Captain Comet
Format: Two trade paperback collecting the entire 8-issue limited series as well as both Rann/Thanagar: Holy War one shots, the Hawkman Special & Adam Strange Special.

This is it!
Finally, the end of the Rann/Thanagar space conflict in the DCU!

Written by Jim Starlin, an author who was already quite well versed with space antics from his past experience on other space events, the Cosmic Odyssey and some New Gods events.
He also took partially care of the artwork in this Holy War.

Rann/Thanagar: Holy War was a limited series that followed the previous Rann/Thanagar, Countdown to Adventure, as well as combining the sub-plots brought in Starlin's own Mystery in Space mini-series.
After the death of the original Captain Comet, this book introduced a new younger incarnation of the space hero.

The universe is still under the repercussions of the war against the new villainess, Lady Styx.
The heroes got close to have another "Darkseid" wannabee around, stopped just in time thanks to the combined forces of various heroes.

Everyone returned to his place, only to find out, it wasn't over yet.

Adam Strange and Hawkman found out a new sort of religion has been formed, around the cult of Lady Styx. Churches are being opened all over their respective worlds, on Rann and Thanagar.
The problem is, it isn't a crime to have another faith. But surely there's something they can do to prevent people from bringing Styx back...is there?

The story then goes into various directions before coming together.
We're (re)introduced to the various protagonists and the new players.

The new Comet is trying to keep a job in Hardcore Station, something to make some quick bucks.
The war gets toThroneworld, home of the Starman Prince Gayvn.

The apparent new threat reveals itself to be called Synnar the Demiurge (a Thanos-like character, the way Starlin used to actually write Thanos when he was at Marvel).
He wants to alter time and space with his godlike powers, using pawns - the very same villains our heroes had been fighting!

Oh, also. Hawkman's backstory gets revealed to be fake(?). Or at least, that's what the Demiurge tells our hero to confuse him further.

Well, I could have done without the retcon/changes in Hawkman's status quo.
I mean, it starts from the Demiurge/narrator/Jim Starlin making Hawkman notice errors in the way Egypt's been represented in Hawkman's past...because it wasn't errors, but false memories!! (dun dun duuun!!)
This "Hawkman Rann/Thanagar: Holy War Special" issue really is a waste of time and ink. I mean, it's barely touched upon, forgotten later on, never explained or expanded.
Geoff Johns' revamp of Hawkman as distant Egyptian ruler born and reborn time after time with a curse, using Thanagarian technology was simple enough.
Yeah, it sounds complicated put like this, but a rescapee from another timeline having false memories of a "distant Egyptian ruler born and reborn time after time with a curse" is far worse!!

Later in the 2nd trade paperback, Adam Strange's own Special issue is a bit filler but at least it's relevant to the main story.

But I disgress;
It's a simple enough cosmic crossover, featuring a bunch of DC space heroes fighting a religious threat and a mysterious villain.
It features a huge cast of colorful characters, old and new.
Strange takes the leadership, which comes naturally from his recent stories.
Space swashbuckling adventure!

But perhaps it tries too much?
Prince Gavyn's planet Throneworld gets depopulated thanks to Lady Styx...only to be later occupied by the population of Rann?
Zeta-beams are used left and right, wasn't it supposed to be Rann's secret weapon?
A bunch of our heroes are revealed to be part of so-called "Aberrant Six"?
Oh and the recently reintroduced The Weird swon't be appearing outside this story I guess...?
And apparently Bizarro was in this book.

It's the conclusion of several storylines, and even so it hints at a future mystical threat for the DC's magical characters like Phantom Stranger, Etrigan,..

The story jumps from place to place with intrusive narration boxes all over the place, there's several art shifts due to the various artists, most of the art way too confusing and sketchy...

Overall, it's the long awaited conclusion to DC's science fiction space-based crossover!
...and it's a bit messy.

The art's a bit bland and generic, the story goes in all sorts of direction for such a straightforward plot...

I think we could have done without the bad fillers (that Hawkman retcon ends up being disregarded completely, since he appeared after that as his usual modern self in blackest Night and the Egyptian Immortal even survived into The New 52 reboot!) and the excessive cast that doesn't get used much (Animal Man, what are you doing in here?!).
This could have filled one single trade paperback, instead of being stretched way too long.

Check it out if you enjoyed the previous related titles.

I give it:

  1.5 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

CBR Animal Man

 

Time for another comic book review!

This time, it's Animal Man's turn!
We already saw him before, I mentioned his storyline in an Adam Strange comics recently.

Let's see the comic that put this underdog superhero back on the map, in....

Comic title: Animal Man
Art by Chas Truog, Tom Grummett & Dough Hazlewood
Cover Art by Brian Bolland
Story by Grant Morrison

Published by DC Comics
From 1988/1991
Lineup Animal Man
Format: Trade paperback, collecting the first nine issue of Animal Man. 

Back in the 80s, after the big "Crisis" that reshaped and rebooted the whole DC Universe, DC had their creators redefine their characters for a new generation, like we saw with Batman: Year One and other related relaunches. Some others were having fun with new books, introducing new characters and playing with the format as we saw before.

Following the success of Alan Moore's Watchmen, that revamped the whole comic book medium,  younger and innovative talents were brought from outside the US.
For example, another author from the UK, famous writer Neil Gaiman got to reimagine The Sandman.
Amongst this new blood brought aboard was Grant Morrison, who has become over the years one of the greatest writers to work at DC, revamping characters, making deep and interesting stories, a true master story teller.

While Alan Moore explored the themes of life and nature through an old forgotten DC propriety with Swamp Thing, Morrison did the exact same thing for the animal kingdom and animal rights with another long forgotten Silver Age hero, Animal Man!

Who is Animal Man??
Originally a B (or even C) List hero, A.M. was revamped in the late 80s alongside various older DC character. He stayed mostly the same and kept his stories for the most part intact. At least, that's the status quo at the start of the book, soon enough, he starts questioning the way his powers work or come from...

After being exposed to some alien saucer that crash landed on earth, Buddy Baker developed some strange super powers.
Buddy was now able to "channel" the natural abilities of the animals in his environment.
He had a superhero costume made up for him and started playing vigilante around. Never as popular or strong as, say, Superman or Batman, he mostly stayed on the sidelines. (until the Crisis that is...)

Buddy lives happily with his wife Ellen and son and daughter, Cliff and Maxine respectively (9 and 5 years old children), in the suburbs.

At the start of this series, Buddy decides he now wants to be a "real" serious superhero.
He quickly joins the JLI, the Justice League Europe-branch (out of panel) and hires his neighbour and friend to serve as agent and starts taking "superhero" jobs....

The series depicts this "everyday man" Animal Man struggle with both a superhero life and these very strange powers he has.

It's more of a meta-series about an average Joe living in a world/universe populated by super powered creatures and alien creatures.
On his first job for STAR Labs, he is quickly confronted to mutation, hi-tech technology, old obscure DC Comics characters , monsters, etc..

The series plays a lot with comic book conventions and tropes, analyzing them and having fun with them. During these first story arcs it's pretty realistic grounded.

It's sort of a series that takes itself quite seriously in tone, but plays along with the usual ridiculous concepts you find in comics.
The "Wile E. Coyote" issue comes to mind, but I won't spoil it here. Let's just say it shows in a gruesome and sad "reality filter" how cartoons work. A pretty fun issue for sure.

The real stars of the show here are Buddy mostly outside his superhero persona (thinking about his Animal Man identity) and his family. Buddy doesn't have a proper "secret identity", everyone who knows who Buddy Baker is can find Animal Man's private home.
Ellen and the kids are quite featured prominently during most storylines. Buddy's relationship with them, their relationship with "Animal Man". (Cliff gets bullied at school for being the son of A.M.)

There's a lot of DC "guest stars", as Buddy lives in the larger DCU. References are made to the entire canon of the DC of that era.
B'wana Beast is brought back from the Silver Age as well in a more realistic fashion (his animal-mixing powers used for horror and shock here!), Thanagarians, Martian Manhunter, Flash's villain Mirror Master, etc.

Buddy starts to question his way of life, due to his connection with the animal kingdom. And become the first vegetarian superhero, one who fights for animal rights and causes. (like Morrison himself)
He also starts questioning and having some trouble with his own strange abilities (after a DC Comics event - Invasion - that is avoided here but alluded, easy to get without spending time upon)

During these reflective and contemplative calmer issues, he also runs into an old retired Golden Age villain (in Death of the Red Mask), which touches the same kind of subjects Watchmen does. The whole issues even seems like a big Watchmen allusion/homage, playing with the presence of violence nowadays, comics in the old days, "grey"zones of moral, simpler times. (lots of shoutouts to find, visually, same kind of breakdowns, layouts,..)

All in all, a very simple comic to read and access, and both deep and both meaningful and experimental.

Overall, it's a fantastic book!
A great entry point into the DC Universe and a powerful analysis of it from a more "common man" point of view.

Most stories contained in this book are self-contained per issues, besides the on-going overall plot of the first bunch of issues. The series was originally imagined as a 4-issue mini-series, before actually being turned into an on-going due to the fantastic sales, and it kind of shows.

This is the first of a three-volumes collection collecting Morrison's run. He wrote the first 26 issues of Animal Man (of a ~90 issues run) from '88 to 1990.

Chas Truog and Doug Hazlewood's art is quite stunning and I simply adore Brian Bolland covers, which defined the series universe and mature tone even before opening the first page of these stories.

All in all, it's a must HAVE!
Worth and necessary to anyone's library!

I give it:

  3 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

Super Dictionary: asleep

Super-creepiness at its finest...

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Super Dictionary © DC Comics

Super Dictionary: sandwich

I'm much more fascinated by the way Hawkman looks beneath his helmet here, than the actual word/segment.

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Super Dictionary © DC Comics

CBR Rann–Thanagar War

 

Time for some more Mystery in Space!!

Rann–Thanagar War was a direct sequel to Planet Heist.
It was one of the stories DC released as part of the hype to build up yet another event called Infinite Crisis (alongside Villains United, OMAC Project and Day of Vengeance).

I usually tend to avoid big epic crossovers and mega-events (if they're not Green Lantern related or assigned to way too many authors to be properly coordinated)...but being the first, and only Adam Strange centric one, this was a must read for scifi comics fans.

At least..that's what I thought.
Surely a mini-event following a mini-series, both leading into another bigger event cannot be that bad...can it?

Comic title: Rann–Thanagar War
Art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Joe Bennett and Marc Campos
Story by Dave Gibbons

Published by DC Comics
From 2005-06
Lineup Adam Strange, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Countdown
Format: Trade paperback, collects the 6-issue miniseries.

Promoted as part of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis, Rann–Thanagar War is a sort of a reimagining of of an old interplanetary conflict between DC Comics' interstellar heroes, originally depicted in World's Finest Comics in the 70s.

The idea to have this big epic space war between various stars-based DC proprieties' been around for ages since the original Crisis, but it took until 2005 to see it finally take shape properly.

Without dealing with this "Infinite Crisis" mentioned above, per say, Rann–Thanagar War is actually a continuation of the story from Adam Strange: Planet Heist, crossing over with on-going stories from Green Lantern and Green Lanterns Corps.

A Man of Two Worlds joins forces with two immortal Egyptians/Aliens Hawkmen!

After dealing with Thanagarian rogues who tried to bring in an all-out war and the end of the universe as we know it, Adam Strange is now facing yet another cataclysmic event of cosmic proportions!
Our space adventurer his now trying to save two planets from the brink of a war.
His adopted planet Rann was teleported into Thanagar's star system.
But now the system is getting unstable... Thanagar is getting lured into its own sun and will be crash landing soon!

After helping out the surviving Thanagarians into its principal city Ranagar, the Rannian forces and populations start getting ideas about these intruders. After all aren't they the reason their homeworld's been transported into this place to begin with? And vice-versa.
Tension arise amongst these two races, blaming one another for their current condition...

Strange goes to Earth to bring in Hawkman and Hawkgirl, two Earth heroes used to Thanagarian technology and civilization. But once he comes back.. he seems to arrive a bit too late to prevent a war...

Meanwhile, Green Lanterns Kyle Rayner and Kilowog are sent on a covert mission to this very same planet. Ordered by the Guardians to check out the location because of rumors regarding a dangerous incoming menace.
They are however asked not to interfere in politics, as GLs shouldn't, this would mean having the Corps taking sides in other planets' internal conflicts.

The war begins... is it too late?
Soon, the Thanagarian heroine Hawkwoman joins in, as does Tamaraneans and the cruel Blackfire (sister of Teen Titans' Starfire). Various other planets are drawn into the conflict one by one.
Alliances are forged, other allies join our heroes. Blackfire tries to take this occasion to seize power.

It's an actual Star Wars of epic proportions that quickly overtakes most of DC's finest science fiction heroes, featuring Adam Strange, the Green Lantern Corps, the Hawks, the Omega Men, the L.E.G.I.O.N. and even Captain Comet!

Rann–Thanagar War is a pretty fun story.
It last for only 6 chapters, but lots of things happen in these few pages.
The art is quite gorgeous all over the book, including various talents and shining stars from DC's creative team.

It's a story about an elusive peace threatened by two very different populations from different worlds.
There is various quickly thrown around subplots which served as basis for other books later on (more on that below).

Religious fanatics aspiring for power are trying to overthrown these worlds at war.
Blackfire betrays various groups to gain more power herself.
Tigorr and the Omega Men come back to help Adam Strange, whether they planned for it or not.

Finally a common enemy emerges from the ruins, Onimar Synn., the Sin Eater. A "deity" that used to plague Thanagar long ago. Now back with the intention to take over the planet, feeding off the souls of the people and building an army of undead at the same time.
Captain Comet joins in as well to defeat this god, who has the ability to manipulate Nth Metal (a metal native from Thanagar) alongside various other dangerous powers...

Overall, it's a fun crazy colorful book that goes all over the place.

The story, written by one of my all-time favorite authors, Dave Gibbons (cult classic Green Lantern writer and Watchmen artist) is fun enough. I love his work.
But I really think, had DC let this be a self-contained story, this could have been much better in the end. (like an absolute must read experience)

But the book was then followed by an event, and various titles were sprang off from this mini.
Including a L.E.G.I.O.N. title, various related spin-offs concerning specific characters (such as Adam Strange and some others) and other tie-ins (another Rann-Thanagar War later on).

But if you like scifi comics, Adam Strange comics or other space-based DC characters? This is as good as it gets.
Ignoring the sequels this story ended up being a lead into, it is a big epic crossover featuring tons of fan favorite and obscure character from all over the cosmos.
Including DC's greatest space champions from across the universe Adam Strange, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Green Lantern, the Omega Men, L.E.G.I.O.N. and the Darkstars!

If all this sounds good to you, despite the unresolved subplots, grab a copy, sit down and enjoy the show~

I give it:

  2.5 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

CBR Adam Strange: Planet Heist

 

And we're back with Adam Strange!

Such a seriously underused but fun and original character!

You saw him in his first modern, if more serious, mini-series:
- Adam Strange: Man of Two Worlds
And kicking ass in pure pulp retro fashion in:
- DC Comics Presents: Mystery in Space
Finally, in the 2000s, DC gave him his long overdue modern re-interpretation, an all-new story and sequel of sorts to Man of Two Worlds!

Comic title: Adam Strange: Planet Heist
Art by Pascal Ferry
Story by Andy Diggle

Published by DC Comics
From 2005
Lineup Adam Strange
Format: Trade paperback, collects the 8-issue miniseries epic.

Every now and then, people at DC try to bring Adam Strange back from the drawers.
Sadly, not much is done with such a great character.
Why is that? I mean really?
The character is bright, simple, iconic. The concept is fantastic.

You see,
Adam Strange's sort of like DC Comics' very own Indiana Jones.
Strange is an average guy.
Originally an archeologist (why does all these sort of cool stuff keep happening to these guys??), he was suddenly hit by a Zeta beam one day, which transported him away to the very strange planet Rann...

Adam Strange's just your average Joe. Only he's having the worst day of his life.

On Rann, Strange discovered himself to be a true hero at heart. Equipped with a laser gun and a jet pack, Adam Strange proved himself several times to be quite a reliable savior to the distant planet.
After various uncontrollable travels back and forth, Adam finally settled there and married Alanna, the daughter of the chief scientist, Sardath,  who whisked him away originally.
They had a child, Aleea.

After one quick line-throwaway to the previous series, Adam was finally ready to leave Earth once and for all.
Adam was just about to join his wife and daughter on his adopted homeworld forever with his all-new perfected Zeta beam when suddenly... his transport never came!

He finds himself trapped on Earth...
What has happened to his world? And more important, is his family okay?

Planet Heist is exactly what fans of Adam Strange wished for years.

One massive epic science-fiction story, setting up Adam's place in the larger DCU (where the anterior Man of Two Worlds was clearly isolated from everything and self-contained).

It is simply that, a big scifi epic, bringing Strange into all sorts of places, across all corners of the DC universe.

Adam Strange is quickly confronted with intergalactic bounty hunters, then goes on to explore Rann's solar system, which brings him against Thanagarians, and specially in the clutches of wing commander and fanatic Sh'ri Valkyr. Later on, Strange runs into Tigorr and his Omega Men who decide to help him out find what really happened to Rann and the Polaris star system.
In the end, Strange finds himself a man on the run. Darkstars (sort of unofficial Green Lantern Corps), the Legion...every body wants to arrest Strange for a crime he didn't commit...

It's big.
It goes into all sorts of directions.
The story all fans of Adam Strange always dreamed of!

Andy Diggle depicts one heckuva adventure for Adam Strange.

It quickly mentions previous plot left unresolved.
Alanna originally "died" giving birth to Aleea... Which was later expanded upon in the pages of the JLA (in a little story arc, starting issue #20). Alanna turned out to actually be alive, with a big baddie planning his revenge on our heroes...
In the end, Alanna was reunited with husband and daughter.

The artwork is gorgeous. Easily one of the best I've seen in a while. Fitting for this big colorful space adventure.
Blasters look great, jet packs almost come to life in mention, alien creatures are exotic and strange.

My only complaint (more on that, below!) is that the threat of this evil "Starbreaker" kinda comes cheap and ends abruptly in the end, with this story leading into another one...

Overall, it's a fantastic read!
Fun, gorgeous. This Mystery In Space is one Strange Adventure for sure!
(both of these classic Adam Strange comics names could have been just as good titles and more fitting over Planet Heist)

It's a great revival of the space adventure genre in the DCU.
It reinvigorated Adam Strange.
It also redesigns his costume. Good bye good ol' classic red jumpsuit...and hello modern techno-hitech futuristic red jumpsuit. Purists will hate it, newcomers will love it.
I personally think the book would have been just a good with the old retro pulp outfit.

It works great as an introduction to the large space-aspect of the DC Universe.

My only problem, but it is a tiny one in the end, is that it all leads up to...
THE RANN-THANAGAR WAR!!

Spoiler:

In the end, Rann was safe and sound.Sardath only Zeta beamed it away in some dead universe to hid temporary.


Starbreaker is defeated.
But when Rann was moved back to the normal DCU, its coordinates got changed...transporting the planet back into Thanagar's system. A new terrible problem arise, Thanagar got pushed closer to its sun destryoing most of the planet's surface...which resulted in the Rann-Thanagar War!!

Anyway, in itself, it still a pretty good read and an excellent tale for science fiction fans, Adam Strange fans and readers in the search of something different from your usual "urban spandex wearing crime-fighting supermen".

I give it:

  3 / 3 Plastic-trophies!

Super Dictionary: say

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