When I first subscribed to Rann-Thanagar: Holy War, I thought that it was supposed to be one of the build-up series to Final Crisis. But that was back when everything seemed to be building up to Final Crisis when, in fact, basically none of it did. Jim Starlin and Ron Lim are two very famous people in the cosmic side of both DC and Marvel, so this series seemed like it was destined for greatness. The cast was great, even though only Hawkman might be called A-List, and the set-up had been going on for years.
Well, the result was pretty cool, but it was missing one major thing: importance. The whole series should have felt more consequential than it was. Lady Styx and Synnar duking it out for the fate of two worlds and the universe as a whole, with Adam Strange, Starfire, Animal Man, Comet, and their motley crew stuck in the middle. That sounds so much more monumental than the final product. Lady Styx played only a small part in the action, and Synnar was more cryptic than villainous. Sure, there were some cute moments, especially with the Weird. And now there’s the whole idea of Hawkman’s whole existence being a lie, and the questions about Strange’s future. But I just don’t feel like much has changed. With Annihilation, the whole Marvel cosmic scene was screwed up, and there were a wealth of stories to be told. With this? There’ll be another mini-series and not much else. Marvel handles its cosmic side much better than DC does.
Plot: 7.9 Art: 8.5 Dialogue: 7.5 Overall: 7.9
