"Adam Strange" DC Showcase Animated Short Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

From the creative forces behind the DC Universe Movie line, DC Showcase puts the spotlight on favorite characters from throughout the annals of DC Comics in fascinating, short-form tales sure to entertain longtime and new fans alike. DC Showcase Presents...Adam Strange!

DC Showcase: Adam Strange
Included On: Justice League Dark: Apokolips War Home Entertainment Release
Release Date: Digital HD - May 5, 2020; Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray - May 19, 2020

Synopsis: On an asteroid mining colony, mysterious drifter Adam Strange (Charlie Weber) is dismissed as an interplanetary derelict. But when minders accidentally unleash a horde of deadly alien insects, Adam struggles to save the colony as his heroic backstory is revealed.

Comments?

Please post all discussions and comments about the Phantom Stranger animated short in this thread! Please discuss the other aspects of the home video release of Death in the proper talkback, as linked below.

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Note: Remember, this talkback thread is for discussion of the animated short only. If you wish to talk about the home video release, please click on the appropriate link (s) above. We appreciate and encourage discussion, but please keep your posts civil, relevant and insightful. Please do not post any improper or inflammatory material, as we will issue warnings if we believe it necessary. And remember to keep the discussion ON-TOPIC!

 

[Yojimbo]

This was a pretty enjoyable short. Definitely highlights the unforgiving feature of the Zeta Beam. Appropriately almost a similar theme as Apokolips War, a dismal situation that ends on a feeling of renewed hope. He had to have been reunited with Aleea. Had to.

Dug the tags at the start, made me think of the font used in old sci-fi movies like Alien, probably the intent. Didn't expect the colony to belong to the Eden Corps of all the evil DC organizations but if they leaned into Alien, then I suppose that was on purpose to mirror Weyland Yutani, lol, as well as with the antagonistic force being alien bugs as stand ins for the Xenomorphs, acid and all. If you squint hard enough, I could kinda see the Weyland Yutani logo aesthetic in the miner's uniforms.

Loved the Adam Strange vs. Thanagarians fight, very vicious. I really enjoyed the contrast of human, using tech, using a blaster, driven by love vs. aliens, using their own biology to fly, close quarter combat, driven seemingly by conquest. Interesting the crew behind this short did not give Adam an easy time, heh, he really got worked over after failing to vaporize the warriors at mid-range in time but lucky one killed the other by accident and after crashing into the ground, resilient enough to break the last one's neck.

Looked really good for a Digital eMation animated short. Didn't recognize the third character designer credited, Andy Kuhn, at first but previously worked on the Batman vs. TMNT DTV. After some comparison, definitely some similarities in design. Looked really good overall.

EDIT: Hmm, I wonder if the angle of Strange becoming an alcoholic and still doing the heroic thing have any influences from Westerns like hmm, John Wayne in True Grit or Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou or Dean Martin in Rio Grande. Robert Mitchum in El Dorado. Hmm.

 

[Dallas Kinard]

I wonder how much time was supposed to have passed in the story?

 

[Yojimbo]

I wonder how much time was supposed to have passed in the story?

In his script, DeMatteis said 8 to 9 years.

 

[Eldorado]

So how do I watch this?

 

[Yojimbo]

So how do I watch this?

Buy the Blu-ray or 4K sets. Probably iTunes?

 

[RoyalRubble]

This was honestly the Showcase title I was most excited about from the ones announced last year (well, it and the new "Death in the Family" extended short but that hasn't been released yet). All in all, I enjoyed it.

The main story was fairly simple, but I liked how the backstory was more complex. That war with the Thangarians was pretty cool, I would have liked to see more of it, though probably not as the entire plot of an animated movie. I think this is the most savage the Thanagarians have been portrayed in animation. I also liked how they managed to portray Adam Strange within a rather short amount of time - mainly as a hero, but also focused on some other layers, like his depression or his never-dying hope.

 

[Fone Bone]

DC Showcase: Adam Strange

Unfavorable impression.

First things first. I was totally confused by that and had no idea what was going on. Now as a rule, as a fan of Lost and Twin Peaks, a little unexplained confusion and mystery can be a very good thing if the project is strong. That wasn't, so it's annoying instead.

Are the Thanagarians supposed to be the good guys or the bad guys? I've never been clear on that.

I think the thing that annoyed me most is that this short, (and the rest of the DC Showcase shorts) all play as Pilots for characters and continuities we will never, EVER return to. Which makes cliffhanger endings seem quite crazy to me. I don't like the format, I don't like the new continuity every short. Outside of Death, I haven't responded very well to this round of shorts. **.

 

[Yojimbo]

Are the Thanagarians supposed to be the good guys or the bad guys? I've never been clear on that.

When it comes to Rann's perspective, the bad guys. I think it was after Crisis on Infinite Earths in the comics when they started to be betrayed as aggressive expansionists/colonizers/slavers with corrupted institutions and Hawkman and Hawkwoman were portrayed as two of the few noble police officers.