Broken Frontier

DC’s premiere science fiction hero has returned to greatness in an action-packed star-spanning miniseries. With ADAM STRANGE, Andy Diggle and Pascal Ferry have revived the space ranger genre and earned Broken Frontier’s Paper Screen Gem Award for Science Fiction.

He’s known as the Man of Two Worlds and the title is more than apt. A champion of both Earth and the distant planet Rann, Adam Strange lives a double life filled with many wonders. However, this is not the only way he exists in two worlds. With his jetpack, ray guns and fin-headed space suit, Adam seems out of place among DC’s heroes. His true peers have names like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. He is at once a herald of the future and a child of the 1950s, influenced by the pulp magazines and early science fiction. A casual observer might believe him outdated. But with the recent ADAM STRANGE miniseries, writer Andy Diggle and artist Pascal Ferry have shown there’s still plenty of life in the space ranger genre.

Diggle has proven himself a master of action-oriented stories and crisp, witty dialogue. The dazzling aerial action sequences move at a brisk edge-of-your-seat pace but never feel like a pointless string of fight scenes. The interaction between Adam and his opponents is both engrossing and telling, revealing key elements of his personality. We see a man who relies primarily on his wits to survive but who is unafraid to use force if necessary, a devoted family man who’d like nothing more than to leave the squabbling peoples of Earth behind and retire in peace to his alien paradise. Circumstances always seem to prevent this and Adam’s weariness is captured wonderfully in the script. Diggle embraces the distinctly retro charm of the courageous space ranger while at the same time bringing something fresh to the concept.

Diggle’s story is matched by Pascal Ferry’s superb artwork. Ferry gives Adam’s armaments a fascinating upgrade. He goes to town on the alien designs, filling the pages with creative creatures, bizarre technology and glowing holographic displays. His landscapes are breathtaking—a Rannian city built on the backs of massive statues and a Thanagarian amphitheatre enshrouded by a hawk’s wings are perfect examples. Equally impressive is the gorgeous otherworldly color palette of Dave McCaig. The vivid pastels of the coloring add an almost dreamlike quality to the images and adjust the tone to reflect shifts of theme and location in the story.

Far from obsolete, Adam Strange is still a vital part of the DC Universe. He remains a man of multiple worlds: Earth and Rann, past and future, the realm of superheroes and of science fiction. He is sure to encounter further mysteries in space as his miniseries continues.

- Eric Lindberg