Adam Strange: The Man of Two Worlds

Adam Strange: The Man of Two Worlds #1-3

by Richard Bruning

One of the DC Universe's best-known science fiction heroes, Adam Strange is an Earth man who travels via the Zeta beam to the far planet of Rann. There he becomes a hero to his adopted world.
In THE MAN OF TWO WORLDS, we discover the man behind the myth. Adam Strange's childhood on Earth is explored, his relationship with his estranged family is revealed, and secrets of Rann - and of Adam's new life - are uncovered.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Science Fiction, Comic Book, Superheroes

Unknown Binding

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

Richard Bruning is an American graphic designer and comics creator who is currently the Senior Vice-President-Creative Director of DC Comics.

In 1979 he opened a design firm in Madison, Wisconsin called Abraxas Studios. In the early 1980s, he was a key part of Capital Comics' staff, acting as Editor-In-Chief and Art Director over such publications as Nexus, The Badger and Whisper until they ceased operation in 1984.

After a year of freelancing in San Francisco, he moved to New York City in 1985 to become DC Comics’ Design Director. For the next five years he supervised and/or contributed to the design of titles including the landmark series' Watchmen (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (by Frank Miller), as well as editing the DC-produced official sequel to the ITC TV series The Prisoner, Shattered Visage (by Dean Motter and Mark Askwith).

In 1990, he left DC to form Brainstorm Unlimited, Inc. a freelance graphic design and corporate communications firm in New York. The company’s client list included HBO, Fine Line Films, Xerox, Children’s Television Workshop and others. He also wrote the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip for King Features. Of particular note was his branding of and logo design for the new Vertigo Comics mature readers comics line for DC Comics, and overseeing "the development and packaging of the upscale graphic novel and prestige format as well as the development of DC's first collected editions".

He returned to DC full-time in 1996 as VP-Creative Director responsible for overseeing the creative efforts of the entire company. He was promoted to Senior Vice-President in 2002/2003.[2] He was instrumental in the creation of DC Comics’ new company logo in 2005.

Bruning has also written comics, as well as acting in a behind-the-scenes role, writing in 1990 the Prestige format miniseries Adam Strange: The Man of Two Worlds, which revived the titular classic DC Sci-Fi character. The three issues were illustrated by the brothers Kubert, Andy (pencils) and Adam (colors). He also wrote and lettered (with versatile fellow-editor, and all-round artist Mark Chiarello pencilling and coloring) the Eisner-nominated short story "Electric China Death" for Gangland #4.

Bruning is married to fellow-DC employee Karen Berger.

Reviews

[allowableman2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a big disaster as expected and final issue brings a lot of it together. But, until the final issue, the art was the sole thing carrying me through.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice read. Good plot and story. Recommended

[Arianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a trainwreck! Adam Strange, from what I've read of him so far, is a pretty cool character, a fairly harmless escapist fantasy. He's kind of an intergalactic expat - he never fit in the place he comes from, but he can't be fully accepted in the place he emigrates to.

Here, he is made to be one of the most unlikeable leading men I've ever read about in a comic book. There is nothing redeeming about him - his heroic exploits are in the past and he doesn't do anything adventurous, except fighting a monster that turns out to be an animal at risk of extinction. He whines about not liking his family, attempts to cheat on his wife, abandons his newborn baby, causes some random woman to get stranded on a foreign planet because of his neglicence... There is literally nothing redeemable about Strange in this entire volume. Not to mention this story lacks a setup, a plot, a conclusion... it's just a collection of random events happening. Not a single character gets a proper resolution to the stuff they've been doing, they just kind of disappear from the story, or they remain relevant but without knowing what's going to happen to them in the future.

The art was good, but it didn't drive me crazy - I don't like this coloring style, and some of the women are drawn so similar to each other that you can't tell them apart.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Following in the footsteps of Alan Moore (and perhaps Frank Miller to a lesser extent), Adam Strange was re-booted, ret-conned, re-imagined, re-what-have-you'd in this 1990 graphic novel. Adam Strange was a semi-popular DC character in the '50s and '60s, a kind of Flash Gordon/John Carter hero who transported to another world called Rann, wore a rocket pack with a cool helmet and a red cape, and had neat adventures saving the planet and winning the heart of the beautiful Alanna. The original stories had wonderful work from people like Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. This version has some very good artwork from the younger Kuberts, but I didn't care much for the story itself. I don't think a main character should be killed just for shock value, as happens here, and Adam himself acts in a way that I don't believe the original would have in a few instances. Also, the last third of the book is somewhat rushed and jumbled, leading me to wonder if they had plotted a four-part series that got cut to three after the first sections were already completed. I guess it's not really a bad book, but I definitely didn't think it was up to the standards of the original.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I begrudgingly give this 3 stars because it was interesting. More interesting than good though. It was a dark and somewhat twisted story without any feel-good moments. I have always seen Adam Strange as a light-hearted happy-go-lucky kind of hero, so this was a real downer of a story.

[Mickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty engrossing and convincing deconstruction of the Adam Strange character. The big twist on the classic AS structure (that Sardath had planned to bring Adam to Rann to help repopulate the dying race) worked with existing stories and cast a retroactive shadow that will disturb me any time I read an old one.

I read this miniseries a couple times as a kid, completely missing the point. This was a complete change in direction. The next several appearances by the character gradually restored the status quo. I suspect this book was meant to inaugurate a new phase for Adam Strange that never took off beyond these pages. I'm curious to know what it would look like to follow these events.

Many sci-fi short stories tell these convoluted tales of a space mission with only two survivors, a man and a woman, crashing their ship on a mysterious new planet. "I guess we'll have to make a new life here, Eve." "Yes, we will, Adam." Asimov did it. Lots of old EC and DC comics have done it. And this one ends with Adam and Eve, the only two fertile people on a dying world, deciding to carry on. And I'd somehow never caught that gag until now.

It's a darker version of AS. Equal to Dark Knight Returns, Hawkworld, etc. I like it.

[Ver · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard to rate this one. On one hand, I was interested in the plot and found myself eager to see what was on the next page. Then again, the characters talked in short sentences...and with a lot of... dramatic pauses. I sometimes had Captain Kirk's voice in my head while reading some of the dialogue and captions.

Spoiler Alert. Also, the story left me wondering so many questions. Like, did Adam cheat on his wife? What happened to Adam when he came back through the Zeta beam? Why did Adam's father-in-law seem like a nice old man, then an asshole who banishes his wife, and finally a crazy/mad scientist or something (was he supposed to be bad or good in the end)? Who were the invaders? Why are the clones that run the city going nuts? Where are the missing pages?! Where is that floating egg going?! Argh!

All that said, I was really blown away by the Kubert brother's art and coloring! I feel their deft storytelling skills are what kept this book from being DNF'd again. This was my second attempt at reading it but I'm attempting to read my entire collection over the next few years and this is the first book from my long boxes. Rough start, 2 stars for the art, and a somewhat interesting plot.

[Thomas Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hot mess.

Adam Strange goes back to earth for a little bit and then almost cheats (does cheat? it’s unclear) on his wife Alanna?? The person he adores most?

Sardath is found to be evil and then he gets injured and becomes part bionic and even more crazy and ships the entire citystate of Ranagar into the atmosphere in a weird egg shaped ship and then everybody trusts him at the end of the story for some reason??

And then Eve (the girl he supposedly/maybe cheated with on earth) arrives on Rann by accident. She’s there for *maybe* a few months and at the end of this story she’s being tasked with developing a new government structure for Rann???

So many things happening here and nothing makes sense. I love the art though, and I love the Rann/Adam Strange world. Besides cheating(?) on his wife, I thought Bruning wrote Adam’s character pretty well. So it gets 3 stars just for that stuff...

[Zachary King · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't crazy about this one. It started interestingly enough, with Adam preparing for his final trip from earth to Rann amid a political uprising. The story falls apart by the end, in that early-90s surrealistic Dada fashion that ran rampant through the Vertigo era. Adam's characterization is a little off, especially as he almost cheats on his wife in the first book, and the ending is extremely grim even as Rann seems poised for a new dawn. The art by the Kuberts is great, though - well worth the $3 I paid!

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don’t know what to make of this. At this point I’ve read the first several issues of some old Adam Strange issues. I know he’s a pastiche of pulpy sci fi hero’s but I loved the weird sci fi concepts of Gardner Fox and a sort of scientific optimism.

And this is just…..depressing? Confusing? Dour? I don’t know. Not what I came looking for. Adam low key cheating on Alanna really irks me. I don’t know, it just feels off.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in preparation for Strange Adventures by King/Gerards. I never read a lot of stuff on the character outside of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. I had heard Andy Diggle's run (Planet Heist) was good.

This is one of those "let's modernize" "X" after Frank Miller and the "British Invasion" took route. A lesser known character, they definitely demystify the hero here a bit.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always had a soft spot for the sci-fi/fantasy which makes up the world s of Adam Strange. Brunning and the Kubert boys do a fine job evoking the spirits of Fox and Infantino; however, they take off in rather unique fashion.

[Nigel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well... that took everything I love about the character and killed it.

Art was alright.

[Variaciones Enrojo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reseña de Javi para Atomcomics:
http://www.atomcomics.net/2007/02/14/...


Resumen de Planeta:
Adam Strange ha sido conocido como un héroe de dos mundos: su planeta natal la Tierra y su hogar adoptivo Rann III y ahora corre el peligro de perder ambos! En El hombre de dos mundos se revida la infancia de Strange en la Tierra, así como se revelan secretos de su familia, de Rann y de la nueva vida de nuestro héroe. Esta nueva edición de la miniserie de 1990 incluye una introducción de Richard Bruning y páginas extras con bocetos de Andy Kubert.

Lo primero que tengo de decir es que antes de leer el tomo no conocía nada de Adam Strange, personaje con tintes de Flash Gordon al cual Planeta ha "dedicado" el mes de Enero con la publicación de varios tomos.

En El Hombre de Dos Mundos se nos narra como Adam decide quedarse en Rann y olvidar para siempre la Tierra. El ser el héroe de su planeta adoptivo y el amor de Alanna, su esposa, le llevan a tomar dicha decisión. Sin embargo, realiza una última visita a la Tierra para despedirse de su familia, en especial de su moribundo padre. Cuando este vuelve otra vez a Rann sufre una especie de alucinación y ataca Sardath el padre de Alanna. Finalmente, Adam tendrá que hacer frente a sus elecciones, salvar a su esposa y su nuevo hogar del ataque de los zaredianos, verdaderos villanos de la entrega.

La historia esta bien narrada por Richard Bruning, el guionista explora la vida de Adam: su infancia, la difícil relación con su familia y su nueva vida en Rann. En cuanto al dibujo vemos a un Andy Kubert que no tiene nada que ver de lo visto de sus posteriores trabajos: X-Men, Kazaar, 1602 o su reciente colaboración en Batman -por ahora inédita en España-. Además, cuenta con el apoyó en las tintas de su hemano Adam, que también ha logrado ser un gran dibujante. El resultado final es un estilo clásico, muy cercano al del padre de ambos y uno de los autores más importantes de todos los tiempos en los USA: Joe Kubert. Sin duda, los jóvenes Kubert aún tenían que desarrollarse como dibujantes y generar sus propios estilos.

En definitiva, para los que quieran experimentar o descubrir viejos héroes olvidados del cómic este tomo es un buen comienzo. Para los fans del cómic clásico de aventuras, acción y épica, esta puede ser una buena oportunidad para recuperar antiguas sensaciones.

Nota : 7/10

[Zac · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read this because it vaguely ties into Swamp Thing #57-58 (1987), but I enjoyed this more than I expected. The Kuberts' art/colouring was very nice in parts, with a lot of details and somewhat reminiscent of Dave Gibbons' work on Give Me Liberty. The story is a bit grim, as was the style at the time, and got a bit out of control with subplots (also reminiscent of Give Me Liberty). The concept that Strange was brought to Rann primarily to breed is an interesting one but was first suggested by Alan Moore, so Bruning can not really get the credit for this. Sardath's technocratic rule and the rebellion of Ranagarians is not explored as deeply or intelligently as in the Hawkworld miniseries (set on fascist Thanagar). The end wraps up pretty quickly and Bruning does not really give the series or main character anywhere to go. SPOILER ALERT: the author basically kills off a whole bunch of characters, dramatically changes another, introduces a couple of new ones to replace the dead ones, and traps them all in a glass-encased city floating in space.

Despite all of these glaring problems, it was pretty readable. I'm tempted to give it a 3 because I actually 'liked it' on some level, but I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone and I have given that rating to much, much better books. Maybe one to file under 'guilty pleasure'.

[Richard Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, Alan Moore provides the spark for others to follow. In this case, it's Moore's reviving of Strange in the pages of Swamp Thing that inspires this mini-series.

And it's broadly good stuff - the art is very much drawn from the Neal Adams sketchbook, which is a very good thing, great alien landscapes, great weird monsters, great heroic heroes and great beautiful alien princesses.

It suffers towards the end, the various threads are handled poorly, jumping from scene to scene one page at a time makes for confusing reading. And where the hell did the revived Sardath with one eye come from?

The highlight for me was seeing that Swamp Thing's visit was still remembered, a pity that Strange himself was less well used.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspired if uneven exploration of a very 50s, cool looking but quite 2-dimensional action hero. Many interesting ideas being brought down by Bruning's lack of craftsmanship. Narration feels cluttered, some plot points aren't flashed enough or are getting lost in the proceedings, sometimes it feels like pieces of dialogue or even whole panels are missing. Still I appreciate Bruning's achievement of breathing new life to a stale and tad boring character. And his work must have felt daring in it's time, even if today he's stirring with Strange's history seems quite a standard procedure. Beautiful if a little bit unpolished illustrations by Kubert brothers enhance the story and add some pathos and gravitas. Worth taking a look, especially if you're into deconstruction of classic genre heroes.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Questa miniserie è il seguito ideale degli avvenimenti accaduti su Rann dopo il passaggio di Swamp Thing nel suo rientro sulla Terra dall'odissea spaziale scritta da Alan Moore. Vediamo al lavoro i figli di Joe Kubert, ancora in parte influenzati dal tratto del padre, e Brunning ai testi e trame.
Se vi piace il personaggio di Adam Strange, come piace a me, non potete perdervela.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't really familiar with this character but this story was pretty good. The art was really nice too.

[Fugo Feedback]

Este es uno de esos libros que si no hubiera visto a bajo precio quizás habría dejado pasar indefinidamente. Igual, si está la mitad de bueno que el tomo de Diggle y Ferry, seguro me guste mucho.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición española de Planeta DeAgostini que recopila los tres tomos originalmente publicados por separado por Ediciones Zinco.

[Zaira's Bookshelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why couldn't he be faithful to his wife? Why?