This series of DC Comics Presents specials was produced after legendary DC editor Julius Schwartz passed away. Each of the titles in the series features a character somehow related to Schwartz, and served as a tribute to his legacy and influence on the industry. The first story, by Maggin and Williams, is a fairly straightforward adventure featuring Adam Strange, Ralph Dibney, and the dear, departed Sue Dibny dealing with corrupt governments on both Earth and Rann. Williams' artwork is, as always, completely fantastic, and as a whole, the story is remarkably "Silver Age." Morrison's story, illustrated by Jerry Ordway, is, unsurprisingly, a little stranger. There seem to be 3 different stories going on. In one, Adam Strange has been kidnapped and is being used to track a Zeta beam that will transport a military team to Rann on an invasion mission. In another, we're seeing an adventure Adam is having on Rann, but this adventure is interspersed with Lichtensteinian panels the caption boxes for which are telling a story of the creation of the character of Adam Strange by Julius Schwartz, so it's difficult to say what's real and what's not. Which, of course, is par for the course with Morrison. He's the PKD of the comics world in many ways.
This isn't my favourite Morrison story. It almost feels like it was written specifically as a "Grant Morrison Story," complete with metatexts and confusing, intertwining storylines. The strangeness feels forced. That said, as I've repeatedly claimed over the years, even a sub par Morrison story is light years ahead of most other comics, so it was still pretty brilliant. The short pieces I've selected for this week are culled from all across his career, with this one, from 2004, actually being the latest. It will be interesting to see how far his short comics story writing has come since the 2000 A.D. days of the 80s.
Year 2, Day 1. Onward!
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