Harley Quinn being in that story is the least of its problems.
That’s not entirely true. King did come up with the plot. Though I think it would have been a better story with different characters attached.
https://bleedingcool.com/comics/tom-...-did-spoilers/
”As I've said many times before, I don't pick the characters for my story; I give my plot to the editors and then the editors pick the characters for me. So I told them in the beginning, "this is what it's going to be — it's going to be about one hero who's made a mistake and it's going to be about the two heroes that get framed for that mistake." And they said, "okay, it's Booster, Harley, and Wally, those are the three characters."
The writing and story have been good. That said, I do not like what King might be doing to Adam Strange. spoilers:end of spoilers
War criminal is one thing, after all it is a war for survival. But being a traitor to Earth is just too much of hero's fall for me.
The other thing is this just took to long. Given the success of King's series, I understand why DC wanted 12 issues, but the story treaded a lot of water to get here. This easily could have been done in 4 or 5 issues.
There came a time when the Old Gods died! The Brave died with the Cunning! The Noble perished locked in battle with unleashed Evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust!
This was after it had been changed. When he first talked about it it was simply going to be an exploration of how superheroes dealt with mental illness. Then it became an event with a murder mystery.
As for this book, I’m loving it but I think people forget these are Black Label titles so it’s not like this stuff is going to going to stick in universe. I get some Adam Strange purists might not like their hero being portrayed in this way, but personally I love it. I think by the end when we get to see Adam’s perspective and reasoning it’ll be even more powerful.
The only way they can turn this around for me is if this is all a long game plan for Adam.
He's been begging the JLA to get involved and they all decline, so maybe he brought the war to them because there was no other way to save Rann and he knows the JLA will win.
It doesn't absolve him, many people still died, but I can see him making that decision if it saved his adopted planet.
I think you can eventually walk him back from that, but what they're setting up?
This was the record scratch that could kill the book for me. It's been great for Michael Holt but this just feels mean spirited and I'm getting very tired of Tom King mangling DC's characters so he can talk about stuff that doesn't fit them.
You can tell more adult stories, but when you have to move Heaven and Earth to position the character to make this sort of thing work while ignoring characterization, why not just tell an original story with new characters?
Really disappointed of this ends up being what it looks like, which is a shame because I was generally enjoying the book until this issue.
I think ultimately there will be some sort of heroric ending for Adam and Alana before the book ends, because all the creators on the book do seem to like them but I am also disappointed we've been getting this story instead of just a story with them in space on a adventure.
I finally read the issue and I'm not quite as convinced as many here that Adam is that guilty. The issue 10 cliffhanger is Adam and Alanna about to have it out about what really happened on Rann with their daughter, Aleea. I'd imagine that issue 11 will present the true information and issue 12 is going to present the aftermath and ramifications.
I don't think Adam comes off as innocent, but I doubt he's as traitorous as he seems. If so, why ask Batman to investigate? Is Adam naive enough to think he's going to fool Batman? And how does Adam not only get information to the Pykkts, but know the one way to get through Batman's defense? The entire story being told this early doesn't fit and I expect some surprise (hopefully a well-written one) to come up in the next couple of issues.
I’ll don the mask and wear the cape
If I am super, how can I wait?