1-13-06

As I mentioned yesterday, the Rann-Thanagar War trade packs a lot of Wide Screen space opera action and intrigue into a remarkably slim volume. Not only did I find it to be thoroughly enjoyable, I also found it to be eminently accessible, despite the fact that it is part of the DCU's current universe-wide makeover. Now, yeah, I have read almost every trade that's been released in this meta-series so far, having gotten my mitts on all but the Superman: Sacrifice collection, and found each of those to be, at the very worst, really fun reads. Still, none of them have quite grabbed in the way this collection did, despite the fact that I hadn't had much contact with either Hawkman or Adam Strange and their fictive lives for far too long. Maybe it's because I was a fan of DC as a kid, and especially the Murphy Anderson-era of Adam's Strange Tales, I found myself slipping easily into this faster-than-lightspeed-paced, galaxy-spanning and world-hopping mini-series. And even better for my purposes here, it also proved to be a new and perfect example of How to Do Late Attack & Delaying Action Right.

As written by Dave Gibbons and visualized by Ivan Reis, Marc Campos and others, the current state of DC's space-faring heroes is dire at best. Things start with a wonderful visual flourish, as we join the Hawks in confronting a living Phoenix, before a devastating blow is dealt by an ally to those otherworldly champions in the form of a message delivered personally by Adam Strange. After a few moments of well wrought backstory explanations, the trio's transported light years via Zeta Beam to the distant planet Rann with the slim hope of circumventing an even worse catastrophe looming on the immediate horizon ... only to arrive in the middle of the very disaster that they had hoped to prevent.

And then things get really wild in a wonderfully complicated, yet largely plausible, manner that builds to a rousing climax and what might be best called a conclusion of sorts. This last situation arises because, although all of the essential questions raised by the precipitating events sparking the intergalactic conflict itself are answered in the main by book's end, the Rann-Thanagar War itself takes place in a shared fictional universe, so this mini-series of necessity ends by feeding into the larger events taking place in the ongoing Countdown to Infinite Crisis DC Comics' universe altering event. Still, I didn't find that too distracting or upsetting; perhaps irritating would be a better term for it, and it was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of enjoyment gained in the reading.

But what's really interesting to note while reading this book is the number and diversity of delaying devices, both verbal and visual, the creators' employ to both extend and ratchet up the tension. There's also numerous examples of how to turn a necessary aspect of every script -- the expository character and universe background info that's so necessary for a reader's full comprehension and enjoyment -- from a momentum-sapping necessity into a dynamic, suspense-generating tool.

Quite simply, this is some might fine and fun work, and well worth reading -- even if you're not reading for "The Art" of it. This is high concept action and adventure comics at their best, and a really great example of how to tell an engaging story using company characters, to boot.