DCU Comic Book Reviews

STRANGE ADVENTURES #3

Go Away!

July 2009

Written by Jim Starlin

Pencils by Manuel Garcia

Inks by Al Milgrom

Cover by Jim Starlin

Synopsis

Near New Rann, Adam Strange is investigating the disappearance of the stars when he encounters the giant eyes of the Weird.  Strange tries to talk to the Weird, but the Weird tells him to go away and leaves.  On Hardcore Station, Synnar (in the body of the Weird) tells Comet how he become stuck in his new powerless form.  Realizing this, Comet blasts Synnar unconscious.  Meanwhile, Strange decides to visits Hardcore Station to find Comet to see what he knows.  On New Rann, Sardath and Alanna mock Strange’s perception that stars are missing; they haven’t seen any stars disappear.  However, Prince Gavyn has noticed.  On Hardcore Station, Synnar is held captive, ready for execution.  On the dark edge of space, the eyes of the Weird hunger for more stars.  Meanwhile, Strange has little luck finding Comet.  He thinks he finds someone who can take him to Comet, but instead they beat him up and take everything he owns.   Later, he manages to find Comet.  He tells Coment what he knows, but Comet refuses to help.  Just then, Synnar appears and tells Comet he should help or else the entire universe will be destroyed. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

I really wanted to be able to write a review of this issue without having to resort to using the words “weird” and “strange” for obvious reasons, but I don’t think I can.  This is a weird issue with a lot of strange things going on.  The good news is that Starlin has crafted a solid plot with a lot of action and mystery and it is a thoroughly entertaining issue.  A lot of ideas and situations get tossed at the reader, with some answers and some questions to keep things interesting.  Like the last issue, this is definitely moving forward in the right direction as we are getting a clearer indication of the story.  The bad news is that a lot of stuff just doesn’t make sense.  Normally this might be a good thing, because you really don’t want a predictable story.  But in this case, it is just plain, well, weird and strange.  I mean, I don’t buy that Adam Strange would get caught up in such a petty scam.  And what is going on with Eye?  Or with Prince Gavyn?  Frankly, it all just seems like random material, without much concern for the overall plot or where the story might lead us, as if Starlin is making up it as he goes along.  Maybe he is, I don’t know.  But at some point that needs to be a clear sense of the ending rather than a series of plot points.  Starlin is still building the foundation; at some point he needs to move onward and get to the story.

Just Passing Through...

Written by Jim Starlin

Art by Rafael Albuquerque

Synopsis

On Hardcore Station, Bizarro encounters Chief Justice Max.  Elsewhere, Megalodon-7 is given the assignment to kill Bizarro.  To help him, the Megalodon-7 is give a pair of gloves laces with blue kryptonite.  Meanwhile, Coriolis is searching for Bizarro.  As luck would have it, he finds him, fighting Chief Justice Max. 

Review

I would like to know what the hell is going on with this co-feature/back-up whatever you want to call it.  Last issue we had the return of Lady Styx; this week, Styx is completely missing.  I still don’t know what the deal is with Bizarro or the Aberrant Six.  Again, it feels like a lot of foundation building rather than progress of a story.  It is okay to set the stage, but at some point the story needs to move forward off of that stage. 

The virtual family of the Megalodon-7 kinda looked like Soranik Natu from Green Lantern Corps.  In fact, before the whole thing was explained, I thought they might’ve been from Korugar, which I thought was an interesting idea.  However, I like what Starlin came up with a little bit better.  I would like to see more of these characters; maybe it is an idea that someone else can run with.