Adam Strange: Planet Heist

Before reading this I knew almost nothing about Adam Strange. I wasn't familiar with Andy Diggle, or Pascal Ferry. I'd only read a tad of Adam Strange material in 52, Vol. 1 and the other cameos he tends to make in the DCU. Now, I'm completely sold. What a cool hero! And what a cool story! I picked this up last night expecting to read a chapter or two but I couldn't put it down. The story flows together great (with each issue's cover at the front of the issue, as it should be) in what felt like a roller coaster ride across the universe and beyond. The art is great too. Highly stylized but not so abstract your brain has to work piecing it together (that's the worst). Now I'm on a mission to pick up all the modern Adam Strange I can find.

I'm not a huge fan of cosmic comic book stories because I often find that the characters are unrelatable and often use a, what I refer to as, "made-up vocabulary" where the writer seems to be putting words together to describe a weapon or power because they sound cool rather then making sure they make sense. With Adam Strange: Planet Heist, that's not the case. Adam Strange is just an average man who wants to go home to his planet where his wife and child but evil aliens, an outer space version of the devil, and other problems get in the way. The creators on this book are top-notch. Andy Diggle (The Losers, Swamp Thing: Bad Seed) proves that he deserves more titles to work on and Pascal Ferry's art can not be described as any less then amazing. Ferry brilliantly captures the classic comic book fun and outer space fun of the story with his art. Also, it helps that this was a precursor to the current Infinite Crisis and one of the mini-series that led to that, Rann/ Thanager War. In summary, you should definitely pick this up if you want some good ol' space fun.

The greatest claim to fame to this story is probably that it leads into the rather lackluster Rann-Thanagar War, but this story is the real prize. Strange absolutely shines as the star of the book. We totally buy into his quest to find out what has happened to his family and are taken on a wild ride through the cosmic corners of the DC Universe. Both the writing and the art are amazing, not only does it establish Strange as a solid lead but it fleshes out the supporting cast. Who would have thought I would have ever cared about the Omega men? My only complaint is that DC should have made this an ongoing. Oh well, maybe after the Crisis... but I will not hold my breath.

Up until just a mere few months ago, I honestly thought that Adam Strange was the lamest character ever created in the world of comic books. His costume was terrible, his entire storyline outdated, a relic of '60's sci-fi. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could ever turn me into a fan of Adam Strange. That is, of course, until I read the recently released Adam Strange: Planet Heist. Thanks to a smart script and crisp dialogue from Andy Diggle, as well as jaw-dropping art by Pascal Farry, this trade paperback that collects an eight-issue miniseries has given me an entirely new (and prior non-existent) appreciation for this character. Don't get me wrong, it's still the sci-fi space opera stuff, but it's done so originally without all the old clichés that I didn't even mind. It didn't feel like the typical sci-fi comics of old. Adam Strange is now conveyed as a man in love who crosses galaxies to be with his other-worldly wife, a father willing to do anything to protect his only daughter, a stranger when on Earth, though he's an Earthling, an alien totally at home when on his adoptive planet of Rann. And when the world he protects is seemingly destroyed, we witness Strange take on a grand voyage in the hopes of finding his loved ones, refusing to accept their demise. Thank goodness, his costume was updated to one of the coolest looking outfits in all of comics today. He's now got mind-blowing technology at his disposal instead of one idiotic, pistol-shaped ray gun, and he's got the attitude of a hero, but also that of a commander of an army bent on protecting those he's sworn to watch over. We get lots of old, formerly goofy characters cast in a new, respective light, and we also have a lot of old plot threads summed up, and new plots born that are playing out in other comics even as we speak (figuratively, of course). I bought this trade paperback for the exquisite artwork alone, but I was more than floored by the excellent storyline. This is a can't miss. Oh, and, I promise, you'll never hear me make fun of Adam Strange again. ~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

OK, Adam Strange, right? He's this spaceman guy with a JETPACK and RAY GUNS and he flies around and BLASTS ALIENS! PEOOOWWW!! PEOOWWWW!! And all the aliens are like, "You weak human, you have no chance to survive make your time!" and Adam's all like, "Yeah? Well YOU don't know your ZERO GRAVITY FIGHTING TECHNIQUES!!" and then he whips around SHOOOOMMMMMM and BELTS them right in the GUT! DOOOSJH!! DOOOSJH!! And he's married to this TOTALLY hot alien space babe -- HUBBA HUBBA -- and has a super cute baby girl and there's robot cops and killer assassins in cybersuits and hot alien babes with wings and space vampires and heat-seeking learning smart missiles and PLASMA PULSE MASER weapons made of HARD LIGHT CONSTRUCTS and TIGER MEN and SPACE STATIONS and FLYING CARS and SUPERNOVAS and BRAINS in TANKS and OH MY GOD THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!!!!!! Reading this trade paperback reminded me of what it felt like when I was six years old walking out of Star Wars for the first time. Anybody who says comics aren't "fun" any more clearly hasn't read this mini-series. It gives you about 5 pages to buckle up before flooring it, and it doesn't stop for anything until it runs out of its 170-or-so pages. It starts on a ridiculous premise and then starts spinning ever more outrageous lies until you get someplace that is truly, utterly ludicrous, but the whole thing just slams past you so fast that you either don't notice or just don't care because you're grinning from ear to ear at the sheer audacity of it all. Pascal Ferry's artwork really shines on this title. It's easy for Andy Diggle to write a panel description that goes something like, "We see the Spider Alien army overrunning the Omega Men's positions, while in the background, Adam Strange is spiralling in mid-air fighting the Thanagarians," but it is truly marvelous to see Ferry deliver artwork for it that is simultaneously fantastic and completely believable. It's also fun to watch Strange's suit gets ever more ornate over the 8-issues of the mini-series, while never losing the now-retro-chic of his costume design from the 50's. May well be the best $20 you'll spend on comics for 2005, or at least the most fun.