Writer: Dave Gibbons
Art: Ivan Reis and Joe Prado
Publisher: DC comics
The Rann-Thanagar War has been the Infinite Crisis story that required the greatest amount of knowledge on the readers’ part. Without awareness of arcane elements of DC’s Space based characters it would be difficult to enjoy the series. The series helped set up a large element of the Infinite Crisis series, yet could not function on its own as a standalone work. This highlights a problem with the scope of the DC crossover event, namely that the main audience is older fans who remember the older characters of the DC library. The Rann-Thanagar War Special continues in this tradition.
The special covers the ground not covered in the Rann-Thanagar series. It starts in the middle of the conflict between Rann and Thanagar at which point the leadership on Thanagar, led by queen Blackfire of Tamaran, still wants to take over Rann and wipe out the heroic space hero coalition, led by Adam Strange, Hawkman, and Green Lantern. While the battle goes on, a growing temporal rift is in the area and a group of earth based heroes, with Donna Troy at their head, ventures in to stop the rift from growing and hopefully alert someone that the universe might end.
What transpires is a rapid resolution of events and questions detailed over the span of the special. A hero dies a cheesy but heroic death. The threat gets larger. The warring factions try to up the ante of the war. The instigator of the war is revealed, and it seems like a left field choice to boot. One hero has an awkward ex-girlfriends’ moment. This same character then becomes greater than they were before. The events in the book covered a lot of ground in 40 pages, yet it felt like it was too fast for its own good.
The Rann Thanagar War Special was written by Dave Gibbons. The story Gibbons whips up was at times perplexing, at times nostalgic and sometimes mean. The characters maintained their voice through the tale, yet at times it all felt a bit by the numbers in terms of plot resolution. The by the numbers thoughts are diminished because Gibbons is sly enough to give a long time reader something to cry about, and it reminded the reviewer why one can enjoy an old school superhero romp. The stories in Rann Thanagar are well resolved going back into Infinite Crisis, where the action would continue.
The art, by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, was serviceable to the story. Reis, as an artist, has improved in the last couple of years. His line carries the detail of realism and the craft of imagination that lures the reader into both the fantastic and real elements of this tale. Prado’s contribution has subtle differences to Reis’, but it blends so effectively that to the untrained eye the differences would barely be noticeable.
This special did what it needed to do. It covered the narrative needed in order to go back into the main crossover, while resolving elements from the precursor miniseries. It worked well in that manner, but it was really only for those who care about DC superheroes in space or the Crossover mania in general.
- Francis Davis a career drunk with a love of comics and movies, lives in and works for the City of Chicago. Confidentiality agreements prevent him from saying exactly what he does, but it is important.