Biff Bam Pow Comics

DC of late, is consistently surprising me. In one hand, they’re missing the mark totally, spitting out what I’ll call ‘utter garbage’ like Countdown and promoting the hell out of them. In the other hand - they’re pulling together great books like this one that are sadly not mainstream enough to grab the attention that they really deserve.

As you’ve probably guessed, I was mildly happy with this book. I’ve grown to seek out the team-up books between Starfire, Adam Strange and Animal Man, as of late they are rapidly becoming a ’seal of DC quality’.

***SPOILER ALERT***

In this respect - the first issue of Rann-Thanagar: Holy War is no different. The artwork from Ron Lim is wonderfully futuristic with some obvious manga influences, and the script from Jim Starlin is nice and punchy (although there are a couple of moments that don’t quite sit right [Animal Man's comments when Adam Strange is requesting help, for example]).

Much of the storyline picks up from the conclusion of the recent ‘Countdown to Adventure’ mini-series, but the book also touches upon surfacing problems on Thanagar, and pulls in a couple of additional space faring characters along the way (such as the younger Captain Comet) to lay the groundwork for future issues.

I’m fairly sure I’ve said this before - but on the offchance I haven’t - Starfire, Animal Man and Adam Strange need their own team book. DC - feel free to team them up with (almost) anyone - I will buy that book each and every month, if you strap on a pair and create it.

In the meantime - I’ll be on the lookout for the next issue of the series, and any other books where there is consistent great writing.

Pete’s Score: 4 out of 5
(needs its own series - but buy this book in the meantime)