Adam Strange, The Man of Two Worlds #3 (1990) Review

Writer: Richard Bruning
Artists: Andy Kubert, Adam Kubert
Release Date: June 19, 1990
Cover Price: $3.95
Digital Copy Price: $1.99
Page Count: 48

Review by Joey Casco of TheWineStalker.net

CONCLUSION! Previously in The Man of Two Worlds, Adam has only one last shot to go back to Earth so he leaves his pregant wife Alanna on Rann to tie up loose ends and say goodbye to his sister and dying father... and he ends up cheating on his wife with his father's doctor, Eve. On his way back to Rann he hallucinates, ends up almost killing Sardath in his confusion, and flees. The building conspiracy to overthrow the Special Council through rebellion is put on hold as the neighboring citystate Zared sees Ranagar's current weakness and attacks, using weapons of mass destruction to incinerate many of Ranagar's people down to the bone.

We start off with Adam on his way back to Ranagar with Alanna's mother, Banttier. She goes through her story and how she was banished. Basically Sardath is a control freak and an asshole. But we also get the story of why it's so difficult to reproduce on Rann.

Out in the wilderness, she found a group of other exiles and survived with them since.

Back in Ranagar, the Special Council is going around killing each other. We find out that they're clones of Sardath and losing their minds without him to lead them. They tried to kill Sardath while he was in a coma but they ended up waking him up, so they went for his daughter, Alanna, instead.

Sardath is back with a new look and he's loopy as all hell! He's the complete opposite of himself. As in he's not a complete bore and instead entertaining and unpredictable. 

Alanna immediately goes in to labor, and Captain Delaken shows up just in time with his captive Eve, who just so happens to be a doctor. Once languages are worked out and Adam makes it home, then it's all "WHO IS THIS WOMAN???" from both Alanna and Eve.

But that all needs to be put aside for right now, because Ranagar is being invaded by Zared. So Adam, Delaken, and Sardath head out to the weapons system.

They're shot down and they can't find Sardath, but they must keep pushing on.

While all this is going on, Eve is attempting to deliver Alanna's baby. But it's not looking good for the survival of Alanna. 

Adam makes it to the weapons system and Sardath is already there. Rather than fix it, he rewired everything to serve a different purpose. Believing that Sardath was a madman and conquer was inevitable, Adam goes back home.

Eve stops him before he could enter Alanna's room and tells him that she tried the best she could but Alanna was gone. Adam screams "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF EVERYTHING GOING WRONG", and Banttier walks out with their daughter. This was a pretty heartbreaking scene, to be honest. 

Then Sardath's change to the weapons system takes effect. A giant egg around the city forms and blasts the city into space.

It then picks up weeks or months after they escape Rann. Eve is pretty established and knows the other characters very well. She's meeting with Sardath, who at this point reminds me of Professor Farnsworth from Futurama. I like his character a lot more now than before Adam beat the snot out of him.

She has a few interactions with some other characters such as Delakan and Krent, but she ends up with Banttier and Adam's daughter. She takes the kid to see Adam, who's just sitting there outside looking at the stars and planets.

He still doesn't want any part of his daughter so Eve lays into him.

Adam: Go away... please...

Eve: Adam. You can't stay out here forever.

Adam: Why won't you stay out of my life?

Eve: HOW CAN I ?! I'm holding part of it in my arms!

Eve: You think your brother was a hero fro running away and your sister a fool for staying, don't you? Well, listen, Strange -- you got that all backwards! You want to be the hero, you tough this out! Sure, it's hell that she's gone... but you have a father-in-law who needs you more than ever and a whole lot of innocent bystanders back there who could use your help! Including me! I'm lonely... so far from home. At least you know these people. You're kind of all we've got. Your wife was a wonderful woman, Adam. How do you she would feel about you deserting your daughter? Banttier asked me to tell you about the meeting tonight. We're trying to figure out a sane system for running this nowhere and. For some reason, she thought you might want to be involved. I'll tell her how wrong she was.

Bits and Pieces

In my review of Issue #2, Simon DelMonte commented "this is a seriously mature SF comic" and he's absolutely right. It gets pretty savage in topic and imagery, it dealt with some heavy topics such as politics and adultery, and the labor scenes were emotionally intense. I also like how the events throughout brought feuding characters together. Delakan was planning a friggin' rebellion and then he ends up fighting alongside Adam Strange.

Yet as much as I really enjoyed this series, the score for this issue is brought down a few notches by the disappointing way they stop the attack by Zared. It comes off like a "hey, I know you expected to have four books but we're cutting it down to three so wrap it up". But after they escape, with Adam's struggle with the loss of his wife and resistance to show affection for his daughter, it was a well done ending and speech by Eve that made you feel for both Adam and Eve and where their relationship would go from there.

7.8/10