Customer Reviews

The Rann-Thanagar War (Countdown to Infinite Crisis)

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3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
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I bought this as well as all the other countdown to Infinite Crisis books, and I must say this one disappointed me the most. Other than the fact that it was revealed in IC #4 that (**** SPOILER *******) Superboy-Prime moved the planets with his bare hands, and that OA is no longer in the center of the universe, this book has no other relevance.

The story really drags, to the point that you forget what the heck it is even about. This books is packed with beautiful art, but lackluster writing.

If you want to have a complete library, go for it. If you think you are buying this to get a larger more fuller understanding of Infinite Crisis, you will be disappointed.

PS. I also bought the Rann/Thanagar Infinite Crisis Special one-shot for $5, and I wish I had spent that money on some Archie comics, or given it to the needy, cause that book sure wasnt needed.

Of the four mini-series' that lead up to DC's mega event Infinite Crisis, the Rann-Thanagar War was the most promising. A massive, interstellar war written by the artist of Watchmen and creator of the the Originals? Needless to say, this was the mini I was looking forward to the most. That's what's so disappointing when you pick up this TPB and start reading, realizing just how much potential got wasted and lost in translation. Rann, the home planet of space hero Adam Strange, gets involved in a brutal war with Thanagar; home planet of heroes like Hawkman and Hawkgirl. In between all this is Strange, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern's Kyle Rayner and Kilowog; all of whom are trying to make sense of the whole thing, which you'll be doing too. What really kills Rann-Thanagar War is the convoluted storyline and weak dialogue, with the best moments coming in the concluding chapter, which sets the stage for Infinite Crisis. The book's saving grace is definitely the artwork by rising star Ivan Reis, which is excellent. Other than that though, unless you absolutely need every Infinite Crisis tie-in TPB, the Rann-Thanagar War is better left on the shelf.

The Rann Thanager War is another of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis storylines that will probably upset a lot of readers by its incomplete ending. This is honestly a stand alone story and its status as being part of the Infinite Crisis is a bit tenuous at best and only hinted at in the last few pages. The story opens as Adam Strange of Rann has tracked down Hawkman to give him the grim news that his home planet of Thanagar has been destroyed. Seems a rogue Thanagarian zealot has used a planetary teleportation device to move Rann into Thanagar's orbit, sending that planet into its sun. Rann helps evacuate thousands of Thanagarians to their world before they are incinerated.

The fragile peace on Rann does not last long as Thanagar survivors soon begin a revolt again Rann and war erupts. The war soon has other major races lining up and taking sides in what could be a galactic battle. Tamaran, Durla, Throneworld, Colu, Khund, the Dominion, Psions of Vega, even the L.E.G.I.O.N. all become involved, not too mention Kyle Rayner and Kilowog of the Green Lantern Corps, and Captain Comet. Back on what's left of Thanagar a high priest has summoned forth one of the mythical seven devils, the soul-eating Onimar Synn whose vast power can tip the balance in the war against Rann at the cost of thousands of souls. Synn's goal is to eventually claim the Rann Zeta beam technology for his own so he can virtually have the whole universe to devour.

With so many races involved and so much back door politicking and negotiating between all of these races, it borders on tedious to keep everyone, and every plotline straight. Synn's role as a major villain in the vein of Darkseid comes up short. He simply does not seem all that intimidating or all that much a serious threat. He's eventually dispatched in relatively short order so the final lead in to Infinite Crisis can be surprised on the reader. Writer Dave Gibbons almost seemed rushed to get to the books inconclusive ending. A pity because there is a pretty good story here. The art by Ivan Reis and Marc Campos is very good and the action is handled well. Solid without trying to be to "showy". The Rann Thanagar War is a good idea but not without some major flaws.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This story is a direct follow up to the events taking place in the fantastic Planet Heist mini and the ramifications that arose from it. At first one may think they need a scorecard to keep track of all the diverse pieces in this cosmic chess match. There are more involved than just the two main opponents of Rann and Thanagar. Every major faction of the universe has chosen sides, with Thanagar itself being divided into two separate and opposing forces, along the lines of the Seven Devils religious cult, and in the process creating major loyalty problems for Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Shayera. The question often asked is "Whose side are you on?" The strategic element also comes into play on two fronts, first with the search for the powerful Nth metal and its' significance to the cult and the revival of their proposed savior Onimar Synn, and also the military and practical importance of Rann's highly coveted zeta beam. Of course it was the omega beam, a more advanced version of the zeta beam, that apparently initiated this war in the first place, or did it. The prominence of Synn originally seemed overdone, until one understands the relevance of fanatical religion and the major role it plays in Thanagarian culture. Dave Gibbons does a superb job of juggling the varied cast of characters while keeping the complex happenings quite cohesive and rational. The story fortunately does not resort to a series of pointless action scenes. The ones contained here, and the art in general, are fantastic thanks to the superb pencils of Ivan Reis, whose artwork has never looked better. This story was a natural extension of the aforementioned and highly recommended Planet Heist mini, and itself led directly into Infinite Crisis, plus still has current relevance with the new R-T Holy War series just started. Kudos to Gibbons and Reis for creating this entertaining space opera and their continued solid contributions afterwards on Green Lantern Corps and GL respectively.

Nice to read, but it has a lot of text explaining all the war background and it becomes boring. The storyline doesn't really add to the Crisis storyline either, so I recommend it only if you're a fan of Hawkman or Adam Strange (a TRUE fan).

The space part of the whole Infinite Crisis saga, as manipulations and supervillainry have led the inhabitants of the Polaris system to erupt into violent conflict.

Adam Strange, Hawkman, Hawkgirl and others get to try and sort that whole thing out, while staying alive and trying to keep a lot of people from both planets the same way.

I liked Adam Strange: Planet Heist, especially with the return of the Omega Men, cameos by L.E.G.I.O.N. and other space-based DC characters and races. So I was expecting something grand and epic in the scale of the great space operas. Yes, it got the Khunds, Spider Guild, The GL Corps, Psions, etc. This could've been a spectacular series. However, I felt the impact of the storyline would've been greater if it the villain wasn't too obscure. I was wishing the villain was someone major, returning from the dead or otherwise like the Anti-Monitor, Darkseid, Universo or even a rebooted Lobo as a kind of DC Galactus (I was actually waiting for the Main Man's appearance). I have a suspicion the writers wanted someone listed above but because they're working on a bigger framework of the confusing Infinite Crisis storyline, they had to come up with someone. I was reminded of Timothy Zahn not being allowed by Lucas to use a Kenobi clone as the main villain of the Dark Empire trilogy. He went with a substitute and you see the cracks lessening the impact of the story. Still, it is worthy read, considering Amazon is selling it as a discount. However, just like all the Infinite Crisis prequels, it ends too quickly and feels like a sampler for DC's offerings.

Before Infinite Crisis began DC advertised that one of the four titles would lead right into Infinite Crisis. It was a perfect half truth! Rann-Thanagar war only talked about it towards the end and it wasn't the major cause of the war or anything. This is what happens at the end. A black hole forms, or somekind of Anoyomalie appears and a few people go out to check on it then the book is over with. THAT IS A "WHAT THE F%^&^* MOMENT!"

Anyway, with that said lets look at this story line.

The planet of Thanagar has been moved out of place by Rann technology, or so the Thanagarians think! Rannians being generous people offer to take the Thanagarians to their homeplanet (bad idea). The Thanagarians soon feel inferior (second class citizens) and they start to revolt on Rann. They also recuirte a few alien species to help them like all of them! It seem they want something called the zeta beam devices. (imagine star trek teleporters) However, the Rannians are unwilling to share this technology with anybody. As is their right, we don't just give our advance tech to any country that ask and neither will anybody else so everybody decides to try and take it by force when these types of situation arrises.

Lets look at the faults of this book,

If the Rannian's have technology that can teleport a being or a group of people from one place in the universe to the next. How come they don't use it to position their men in the perfect place 100 percent of the time? I mean behind the enemy, planet to ship transport or even planet to planet. Here is an idea, why not modify the zeta beam device to look for every quantum signature of the atomic structure of all the Thanagarians on the planet and teleport them to deep space or a distant planet. (Hey it's comics, people)

Characters that I didn't care about, somebody dies and I don't give a damn. They don't take the time and introduce her to new readers like me, I've been a long time Marvel person and coming over to DC I don't know everybody just yet, but they introduce this character who I'm assuming hasn't made an apperance in over year (How long I've been reading DC at this point) and they introduce her in panel three and kill her in panel five or some S(**& like that.

Main Villian is too easily defeated.

The little girl looks like a grown midget ... I mean little person.

There is suppose to be like a thousand different races against Rann but where are they?

One last thing, The Zeta beam device teleports you by giving one a huge dose of radiation. Now I may only be getting my master's soon in phyiscs but huge doses of radiation such as that catman from another planet got should have killed him or he should have shown terrible radiation sickness. Every form of energy that arrives in huge doses has some kind of adverse effect on the indivual, unless of course then they get superpower then it's a positive effect but to have nothing at all happen to this catman from another planet is just a little too much. I can suspend my knowledge of physics and chemistry for a better story but when such atrocities does nothing to help, I can't over look it! This is something I can't over look, Sorry DC

This book was a little to busy and hard to follow. I'm not a fan of Adam Strange and only a fan of Hawkman and Hawkgirl because of their connection to the JLA. I bought this book because of its connection to "Infinite Crisis" but I think you could get by without it unless you are like me and just want to have the complete story line.

i love Hawkman. i love Adam Strange. i didn't think there was anyway this could be bad. but it's really not very good at all. the art is fine, not terrible as far as this sort of art goes. but ultimately, this book does neither character justice. nor the fans.