Up until just a mere few months ago, I honestly thought that Adam Strange was the lamest character ever created in the world of comic books. His costume was terrible, his entire storyline outdated, a relic of ’60’s sci-fi. Nothing, and I mean nothing, could ever turn me into a fan of Adam Strange.

That is, of course, until I read the recently released Adam Strange: Planet Heist.

Thanks to a smart script and crisp dialogue from Andy Diggle, as well as jaw-dropping art by Pascal Farry, this trade paperback that collects an eight-issue miniseries has given me an entirely new (and prior non-existent) appreciation for this character.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still the sci-fi space opera stuff, but it’s done so originally without all the old clichés that I didn’t even mind. It didn’t feel like the typical sci-fi comics of old. Adam Strange is now conveyed as a man in love who crosses galaxies to be with his other-worldly wife, a father willing to do anything to protect his only daughter, a stranger when on Earth, though he’s an Earthling, an alien totally at home when on his adoptive planet of Rann. And when the world he protects is seemingly destroyed, we witness Strange take on a grand voyage in the hopes of finding his loved ones, refusing to accept their demise.

Thank goodness, his costume was updated to one of the coolest looking outfits in all of comics today. He’s now got mind-blowing technology at his disposal instead of one idiotic, pistol-shaped ray gun, and he’s got the attitude of a hero, but also that of a commander of an army bent on protecting those he’s sworn to watch over.

We get lots of old, formerly goofy characters cast in a new, respective light, and we also have a lot of old plot threads summed up, and new plots born that are playing out in other comics even as we speak (figuratively, of course).

I bought this trade paperback for the exquisite artwork alone, but I was more than floored by the excellent storyline. This is a can’t miss. Oh, and, I promise, you’ll never hear me make fun of Adam Strange again.