Broken Frontier

An interlude in the Rann-Thanagar Holy War, the Adam Strange Special #1 brings together past, present, and future incarnations of the intrepid space-hero with all the head-throbbing strangeness of a time-travel tale.

With his ray-gun, head fin, and jet-pack, Adam Strange is the quintessential "space-man", with the look and feel of 1950s science fiction. Though I've read many tales of Adam Strange, I've found it difficult to pull the character from the stereotype. In his own special, I'd hope to glean a little more insight into the man wearing the mask, but unfortunately for my expectations, the tale contained little in the way of background. It seems the only defining characteristic of Adam Strange is his relationship with wife Alanna and daughter Aleea, residents of his adopted planet of Rann.

Strange confronts a future version of Synnar, a cosmic villain whose power has increased beyond the levels that the present Adam Strange remembers. Jim Starlin, architect of the Infinity Gauntlet, War, and Crusade for Marvel brings the same kind of omnipotent capabilities to Synnar that he brought to Thanos. The cosmic imagery, of a humanoid holding planets in his hand is typical of Starlin, and brought back some welcome memories. The time-travel elements, wherein Adam Strange speaks to or attempts to involve himself with past and future forms of himself is suitably confusing, but entertaining in an Ebeneezer Scrooge sort of way. It is probably a little late, but I must also confess to not following the Rann-Thanagar Holy War series, so much of the confusion might be explained in the context of that periodical.

Perhaps accidentally or perhaps not, Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom are credited on the front cover, and handle the cover art, but Rick Leonardi and Dan Green handle the art chores for the interior. This is welcome, as Leonardi has long been a favorite of mine primarily for his exceptional work on Spider-Man 2099. His work is typified by dynamic gesture, angular musculature, and spectacular line variation. The rendition of Adam Strange is perfectly retro, and though his version of the Pasqual Ferry version of the costume is good, the classic costume recaptures the essence of the cool space-man with a jet-pack. Leonardi flexes his illustrative muscles with futuristic cities as well as old school dinosaurs.

I would most certainly be on board for a regular series starring Adam Strange. The special convinced me to acquire the Rann-Thanagar Holy War from my dealer, a result the Previews solicitation could not produce. The blind Adam Strange of 52 was something of a cipher, as is the character himself, but I can't help but like him, if only for his look alone. If a series is forthcoming, I can only hope that Rick Leonardi will be tapped for it.