Review: Adam Strange: Planet Heist by Andy Diggle and Pascal Ferry

Also-- I have a review of a new Doctor Who audio drama up at Unreality SF, the reunion of the fourth Doctor and the second Romana in Wave of Destruction.

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2005 (contents: 2004-05)
Acquired and read August 2016

Adam Strange: Planet Heist

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Writer: Andy Diggle

Artist: Pascal Ferry
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rob Leigh

After R.E.B.E.L.S. concluded in 1996, DC's space heroes lay fallow for about a decade, minus the occasional cameo here or there. From Omega Men in 1983 to R.E.B.E.L.S., DC had built up a vast outer-space mythos that was largely going unused, except for cameos in Green Lantern tales. DC finally ended that trend in 2004 with Adam Strange: Planet Heist, a story that reinvented space adventurer Adam Strange-- but in a much funner way than Man of Two Worlds.

When Planet Heist opens, Adam is pretty sad: he thinks his adopted planet and family are dead. But soon evidence appears that they might still be alive when bounty hunters try to kill Adam in his Gotham apartment, and he begins an interstellar journey to prove his family is still alive, one that brings him into contact with characters from Hawkman, Omega Men, L.E.G.I.O.N./R.E.B.E.L.S., and even The Darkstars. (Somehow, Bob the Galactic Bum is the only of the 1980s/90s DC space series to go unreferenced.) It's in this "grand tour of the DC space mythos" element that the book really succeeds: DC has a number of fun and interesting space properties, and Planet Heist doesn't just revive Adam Strange for the 2000s, but provides tantalizing hints of many other series, creating a feeling of a Star Warsesque realized galaxy. As someone who had read all the stuff being referenced, it was fun to see old friends like Vril Dox, Doc of the Omega Men, and even Ferrin Colos used in new and exciting ways, and old settings like Maltus, but Diggle writes in such a way that I think you'd enjoy this even if you hadn't read all the stories being referenced: instead you'd be eager to go out and read them. (Similar to how I got into DC's space heroes to begin with through the references in Jim Starlin's Mystery in Space.)

Is this the first meeting between the Omega Men and L.E.G.I.O.N.? I guess they could have met during Invasion!, as they were all locked up in the Starlag, but I don't remember. Though technically Dox hadn't formed L.E.G.I.O.N. yet then.
from Adam Strange vol. 2 #6

Pascal Ferry's artwork is energetic and bold, perfect for a book about outer-space adventures. There's not a lot of gratuitous detail work; Ferry sticks to simple, iconic designs, redesigning almost every character in the book-- to their benefit. Dave McCaig does wonderful work on colors, too, knowing when to go for subdued and gloomy, and when to go for bright and shiny. The final battle is a thing of glory, with everyone coming together against the bad guys in a real powerhouse that is fun to read and watch.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Gotham, Part X: Batman: Rules of Engagement

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2007 (contents: 2007)
Borrowed from the library
Read December 2014

Batman: Rules of Engagement

Writer: Andy Diggle
Penciller: Whilce Portacio
Inker: Richard Friend
Colorist: David Baron

Letterers: Travis Lanham, Rob Leigh

Year Two, April
It seems natural that Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor should come into conflict: each is an international businessman who works in technical industries, each of them with a secret agenda, only one does so for good... and the other for evil. Andy Diggle, Whilce Portacio, and Richard Friend pit the two against each other in this tale of their first meeting, but it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. I don't think the book adequately digs into the philosophical distinctions between the two men that ought to exist despite their seeming similarities. Each man wants to save the world, each man has raised himself to be a form of human perfection, and yet despite Bruce Wayne's wallowing in the darkness and Lex Luthor's seeming magnanimousness, Bruce is fundamentally optimistic, and Lex fundamentally cynical. I don't see that really depicted here, and it seems like Batman's early days ought to be especially fertile ground for this, as Bruce Wayne builds himself into the man he wants to be. There is some of it-- the end of the story sees Bruce (re?)establish the Wayne Foundation-- but most of the book is somewhat generic superheroics, let down by Whilce Portacio's confusing, jumpy storytelling.

Next Week: Batman teams up with Superman and Wonder Woman for the first time in Trinity! Only it's impossible to place in continuity, so it doesn't count! Seriously, Robin's in it and that makes no sense!

Review: Doctor Who: Sky Jacks! by Andy Diggle & Eddie Robson, Andy Kuhn, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, 108 pages
Published 2013 (contents: 2012-13)
Acquired May 2014
Read November 2014

Doctor Who, Volume 3: Sky Jacks!

Written by Andy Diggle & Eddie Robson and Len Wein

Art by Andy Kuhn and Matthew Dow Smith
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff and Adrian Salmon
Lettering by Shawn Lee

For the first three chapters, this is classic Doctor Who: the Doctor and Clara (yay!) end up in an infinite sky, where they fall in with the crew of a British bomber from World War II. It's a very cool, sprawling world, and it's very fun-- thanks especially to the art of Andy Kuhn, who eschews dull tie-in realism for a more cartoony style to good effect. His Clara Oswald may not look like Jenna-Louise Coleman, but she does look like Clara. There are a lot of cool visuals and neat ideas here, plus dogfights, and what's more exciting than that?

It all crashes down in chapter four, though, when it's revealed who's behind it all-- tying back in to Andy Diggle's first story in The Hypothetical Gentleman. (The book credits Andy Diggle and Eddie Robson with writing; I'd guess Eddie Robson scripted it from a plot by Diggle, whose presence on the book has been inconsistent at best.) Unfortunately, it's a maniacally evil Matrix, having escaped the destruction of Gallifrey. There's potential here-- the Doctor vs. the dead memories of his race-- but it comes across as an excuse for continuity (there are tie-ins to The Deadly Assassin, The End of Time, and "The Day of the Doctor") and really it could be the Doctor fighting any evil robot spider. I really like Eddie Robson as a writer, but this final chapter does not play to his strengths.

Finally, there's a short tale by Len Wein and Matthew Dow Smith: "In-Fez-Station!" The Doctor, Amy, and Rory fight the Slitheen while wearing fezes at the Fez Music Festival in Fez, Morocco. It's fun.

Next Week: Tony Lee returns (and so does Clara) as the TARDIS visits the Old West in Dead Man's Hand!

Review: Doctor Who: The Eye of Ashaya by Andy Diggle, Josh Adams, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Horacio Domingues, Ruben Gonzalez, et al.

Comic PDF eBook, 110 pages
Published 2013 (contents: 2012-13)
Acquired May 2014
Read November 2014

Doctor Who, Volume 2: The Eye of Ashaya

Written by Andy Diggle, Joshua Hale Fialkov, and Richard Dinnick

Pencils by Josh Adams and Horacio Domingues with Andres Ponce
Inks by Marc Deering, Josh Adams, and Ruben Gonzalez
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff and Adrian Salmon
Lettering by Shawn Lee and Tom B. Long

Lady Christina is one of Doctor Who's better "one-off companions," which maybe says more about Michelle Ryan's appearance and performance than anything else. The Eye of Ashaya reunites her with the Eleventh Doctor, along with an Amy and Rory who clearly hail from during Series 7A, when he was always picking them up and dropping them off-- this story actually begins with them in an airport! The way Christina is involved in a space heist is a bit contrived, and Andy Diggle's decent script is let down by Josh Adams plasticky, posed artwork, which fails to make any of the characters look remotely attractive.

The second tale here, "Space Oddity," pits the Doctor and a lone cosmonaut against the Vashta Nerada on an orbital station. It's not scary-- I don't think Richard Dinnick or the artists really exploit the way the comics medium can be used for horror-- but it is fun. The last story is "Time Fraud," which really undersells the potential return of the Time Lords, and features a weird tie-in to Torchwood: Children of Earth for some reason.

Next Week: Clara Oswald joins the IDW comics in Sky Jacks!

Review: Doctor Who: The Hypothetical Gentleman by Andy Diggle, Mark Buckingham, Brandon Seifert, and Philip Bond

Comic PDF eBook, 100 pages
Published 2013 (contents: 2012)
Acquired May 2014
Read October 2014

Doctor Who, Volume I: The Hypothetical Gentleman

Written by Andy Diggle and Brandon Seifert

Art by Mark Buckingham and Philip Bond with Ilias Kyriazis
Colors by Charlie Kirchoff
Lettering by Shawn Lee and Tom B. Long

Despite continuing with the same Doctor and same companions as the last, this volume restarts the numbering, I guess because of the arrival of superstar writer/artist team Andy Diggle and Mark Buckingham. Well, like too many superstar teams on IDW comics, they don't last long-- all of two issues! And to be honest, it's neither's best work. Diggle's writing is not flooded with continuity references like previous Who scripter Tony Lee, but it shares Lee's lack of depth. And Mark Buckingham can do great work, but I find his tie-in work distractingly over-referenced at times.

It's the second story here, "The Doctor and the Nurse," by Brandon Seifert and Philip Bond, that's delightful. Amy forces the Doctor and Rory to undertake some male bonding, but they hate the idea so much they jump into the future to finish early-- only the TARDIS misses its destination. Meanwhile, Amy gets embroiled in the hijinks of the previously-unknown-to-me-but-delightfully-real-except-that-some-people-actually-died-in-it Great London Beer Flood. Seifert's writing nails the characters and humor, and I loved Bond's Dan McDaid-esque art, cartoony but very reflective of the characters' personalities. It's a shame these two didn't take over the title. (I feel like I say that a lot. I guess a lot of the "guest" contributions on IDW's Doctor Who stuff are often better than the "actual" ones!)

Next Week: The return of Lady Christina in The Eye of Ashaya!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Project Star City, Part XVII: Green Arrow: Year One

Comic hardcover, 152 pages
Published 2008 (contents: 2007)
Borrowed from the library
Read March 2010

Green Arrow: Year One

Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Jock
Colorist: David Baron
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher

The latest version of Green Arrow's origin sees billionaire playboy Oliver Queen, always looking for something to fill his empty life, dumped off the side of his yacht by his conniving chief of security. Andy Diggle has a good grasp of Oliver, showing his evolution for layabout to man-with-a-mission very well, yet also showing that (in the best heroic tradition) Oliver was Green Arrow all along. The plot is decent, though uncomplicated-- but when were origin stories ever about plot? China White is a great villain in name and visual appearance, but uninteresting in actual execution.

What really takes this story from above average to excellent is the artwork by the oddly-named Jock, who succeeds in communicating the intensity of Oliver's experiences time and again, and in realizing Diggle's script with ease. David Baron's colors are also fantastic. By the end of this story, you believe that Oliver Queen is ready to return to civilization and kick some butt in Star City.

I do want to know how Green Arrow makes the transition from jungle fighter to street patroller, which is just as potentially interesting as this, but that story seems to have never been told, at least not in the modern continuity.