By Andy Diggle, Pascal Ferry & Dave McCaig (DC Comics)
ISBN: 9787-1-4012-0727-4
As the Silver Age began in the late 1950s, reintroducing costumed superheroes to markets overflowing with cops and cowboys and cosmic invaders, Showcase #17 (cover-dated November-December 1958) launched a true hero for the space-age in a feature entitled ‘Adventures on Other Worlds’. An instant success, it debuted as the lead in Mystery in Space #53, enchanting and enthralling a generation of thrill-starved kids under the title Adam Strange.
Strange was an Terran archaeologist who, whilst fleeing from enraged natives in Peru, jumped a 25ft chasm only to be hit by a stray teleport beam from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri. He materialised on another world, filled with monsters, fabulous civilisations and was rescued by a beautiful woman named Alanna.
Rann was a world of constant danger: non-stop peril for which brains, not brawn, were the best solution, but Strange was only able to stay on the atomic-war scarred planet for as long as it took the teleporting Zeta Beam radiation to dissipate, whence he would fade away to reappear on Earth until the next beam struck. He found true love with Alanna and unparalleled adventure (see Showcase Presents Adam Strange vol.1) but the universe seemed determined to keep them apart.
After years of travail and turmoil Adam finally relocated permanently to Rann, but his new homeworld grew no less dangerous…
This sharp, compelling rollercoaster ride (collecting the eight issue miniseries which acted as a prequel and introduction to the many story-strands that formed the Infinite Crisis mega-event) finds the once-archaeologist back on Earth to wrap up his affairs. However just when he is ready to depart the Zeta beam never arrives…
After months of increasingly desperate research his Justice League contacts reveal that Rann is gone: while he packed trinkets and underwear a supernova wiped out everything he ever knew and loved…
Desolate and off the rails his life goes swiftly down until he is attacked by alien bounty hunters. In the wake of the resultant destruction he knows something is amiss, and the only logical conclusion must be that Rann still exists…
This is a breakneck-paced science fiction conspiracy-mystery that finally revives the rational, intellectual hero fans haven’t seen since the end of the Julie Schwartz days: an indomitable fighter who thinks things out as he roars through the universe, accused of destroying the very world he seeks, meeting – and usually pursued by – a legion of DC’s outer space icons such as Vril Dox, the Thanagarians, Omega Men and Dark Stars, as well as an unexpected surprise über-villain…
Deducing a greater threat to all reality, avoiding the guns of a billion bloodthirsty foes and the machinations of many malignant masterminds, Adam Strange fights to regain his family and world and in so doing unravels a plot that will shake the very stars…
Bombast aside, this is a superb thriller that rockets along, draped in DC’s convoluted history and continuity, but somehow still fresh and streamlined enough to entertain the most clueless neophyte and seasoned canon-feeder equally. Andy Diggle and Pascal Ferry have crafted a brilliant tale that only falters on the last page, and only then because the solution leads inexorably to another book.
This is well worth any fan of fantastic fiction’s time and attention, but be warned: for final resolutions you’ll probably also need to read Rann-Thanagar War and Infinite Crisis…
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