Comments on: John Seavey’s Storytelling Engines: Adam Strange

By: Carl

Carl — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:07:31 +0000

The “loner” Batman angle doesn’t work either. It presumes that the other heroes are too callous to care if a major disaster hits Gotham. Superman should just say, “Screw what Batman wants, I’m saving lives.”

By: Thenodrin

Thenodrin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:30:50 +0000

This is why I liked the loner-Batman who didn’t play well with others. It explained why something massive could happen in Gotham and only he and his hand-picked allys responded.

Yes, Superman or Green Lantern could fix the problem in half an issue. A full issue if you drag it out. But, that’s no fun. Far better (IMHO) to have Batman distrust Superman’s intentions and for Green Lantern to be scared of Batman.

Theno

By: suedenim

suedenim — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:07:12 +0000

One bit of the Adam Strange engine that I miss (they apparently started just ignoring this aspect at some point) is that the Zeta Beam only hit Earth’s *Southern* hemisphere, so Adam hung out in Earth locales we don’t see all that often in comics.

By: ryan s.

ryan s. — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:30:22 +0000

Hey, I’m in the middle of Adam Strange. Fun stories. DC’s 50′s/60′s ‘superhero’ style is weird if you’re not used to it. Way different than Marvel stuff.

I read Showcase Presents JLA a while ago, and I think Gardner Fox’s writing works much better for sci-fi space adventure than for superhero teamups.

I also just read the Adam Strange crossover in Moore’s Swamp Thing. I don’t know how the character was written in the interim, but I thought it was an interesting modern take on the whole situation.

By: comixkid2099

comixkid2099 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:07:44 +0000

my thoughts exactly, slaz. i just finished “A Princess of Mars” recently, and i think the only difference between these two books is that Adam Strange was always meant to be an open ended engine, as Mr. Seavy calls it, and the John Carter stuff, i think was suposed to end with the first book. But, then the popularity revived the series, i guess.

By: slaz

slaz — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:00:22 +0000

Isn’t the Adam Strange “engine” pretty much the same set-up as Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars?

By: Ro b

Ro b — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:55:44 +0000

Good points made, as usual.

One thing about “The Cult” was that it was reportedly intended to have the plot holes that were to be taken up by the typical Batman and Detective Comics writers. However it never happened. I have not read that series since it came out so I really do not recall what plot holes there were.

By: Anthony Cheng

Anthony Cheng — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:54:49 +0000

Your Batman example made me guffaw. I just got done reading The Cult last night, because someone somewhere decided it was one of the top 25 Batman TPBs. Sad, considering the plot holes in this thing are so massive, light can’t escape their gravitational pull.

An army of drugged, starved homeless people singlehandedly expel the Gotham police force and half the city’s population? Really? And after the National Guard descends on the city (to presumably gun down homeless people), the status quo is restored so quickly and neatly that the fictional anchorwoman seems as incredulous as we are by story’s end.

Your broader point is well-taken, but for most one-of cases, “they were all in space that weekend” works; other heroes have their own lives/adventures, which are documented in their own books.

Anything that has a longer time to gestate though, like Adam Strange’s predicament, become problematic. The writers should have explained his return trips with some other contrivance–he can’t breathe Rann air for long before becoming poisoned, he has a sick grandmother to take care of on Earth, etc.–to avoid the “Why doesn’t Superman just drop him off sometime?” question.