Book of Doom: Black Adam: The Dark Age #1

I’m not really sure what to say about Black Adam anymore. When we saw him last in 52, he was a faceless drifter, alone and seething with anger over the deaths of his brother and wife. During World War III, he was unable to hold those responsible fully accountable for their actions. He was stripped of his powers and left wandering the cities of Egypt, mumbling magic words to himself in the hopes that he could regain the powers of the gods and avenge those deaths, as was demanded of him by his wife Isis’ final words.

Then, some weeks later, we saw him in Countdown. Still alone, still angry, but this time, he had his powers back, and he seemed more crazy than anything else. Crazy is something that Black Adam has never been. He’s always had a firm understanding of right and wrong, and, more importantly, justice. What happened to his family was unjust, and he would be willing to kill those responsible in order to uphold that virtue. He’s a classic “eye for an eye” type of character, neither good nor bad, but firm in his ability to decide what is just and unjust. He has that ability, because, frankly, he has the powers of gods within him. But in Countdown, he was just plain bonkers, and he gave his powers away to Mary Marvel with one word and disappeared. It was hinted at that his magic word, which Captain Marvel changed during WWIII, was “sorry.” And now, we’re given this six part book to explain to us how he went from hellbent on revenge to completely remorseful to crazy and killing for no reason (another thing he’s never done). This story has some ‘splaining to do!

Yet, in this first issue, we’re presented with a Teth-Adam who is more interested in playing hide-and-seek than he is in standing up for himself. We’re given a man who is more interested in bringing back his dead wife than seeking vengeance against her killers. It just doesn’t add up. I don’t like seeing him smiling in the face of his enemy and calling him, “Sir.” That’s not something the Adam I know would do. But, I’m willing to hold off on any further critique and let them tell their little story, which I will no doubt buy up.

What’s the rest of the Legion have to say about this?

First, let’s hear from our old pal, Fin Fang Doom:

“Infinite Crisis made Black Adam cool. 52 made him even cooler. Countdown made him considerably less cool. But writer Peter J. Tomasi and artists Doug Mahnke are seemingly making up for that last one by getting Black Adam back to doing what he does best: being ruthless as hell.

I guess I should really call the guy Teth Adam, though. After all, since Captain Marvel took away his powers and changed his magic word, Adam hasn’t had the power of six Egyptian gods pulsing though his veins. As it turns out, those powers weren’t what made Adam a badass…they just made it easier.

Tomasi did a very good job making me want to root for a completely evil character. Teth Adam had his lover, his family, his powers and his country taken away from him in 52, and he’s rightly pissed about it. Revenge stories are always fun, especially if the guy getting revenge will stop at nothing to get it. Teth Adam is like the Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger of the DC Universe, and who actually wants to see the victims escape in those movies?

Mahnke’s artwork also contributed a great deal to the issue. I’ve only really been exposed to Mahnke’s work on Batman: Under the Hood, but I really enjoyed what I saw of it. He’s got a great blend of classic superhero art and the gritty style made so popular by the Image founders, except this doesn’t suck like all that early Image stuff did.

Black Adam #1 was really good. He’s been one of the most interesting characters in the DC Universe for the last two years, and he’s not any less interesting now that he doesn’t have his powers. There aren’t a whole lot of things coming out right now at DC that I’m really looking forward to, but Black Adam #2 is one of them.”

Hrm. I don’t know any of those names. Oh well! Let’s wrap this up with some remarks from our very own Jim Doom:

“I’m a little disappointed to see Black Adam reduced to the status of just your standard 21st century Middle-Eastern terrorist. But I guess if you’re an unimaginative writer and you’re dealing with a mideast villain with no powers, what other options are there?

So Teth Adam is leading a gang of terrorist underlings, to whom he has promised eternal reward in the afterlife in order to get them to protect him from bullets. Maybe, really, in the grand scheme of things, it’s fitting for the character, but it just seems lazy and too easy.

Black Adam was an intriguing character because of how difficult it was to categorize him. He operated on his own internal constitution and defied simple categories like “hero” or “villain.” Maybe there’s some kind of attempted statement here, that without powers, we all fall into easily definable cliches; even if that is the attempt, we still end up with a cliche.

So Teth Adam is on the move in his best Vandal Savage costume, reclaiming the remains of Isis so he can take them to a Lazarus pit. I was under the impression that there was only one pit left and that they made the user crazy. Isis emerged from the pit fully sane.

With the shortcuts I mentioned above, it leads me to believe we just have a lazy story thrown together to capitalize on Black Adam fever. Too bad his disappointing handling in Countdown killed all the anticipation for me.

While it’s not on the same disastrous level, the closest thing I can compare Black Adam’s post-52 existence to is Nightwing’s post-Infinite Crisis series. The first issue of this series is no “Dick Grayson fashion model,” but it is a harsh reminder of how dull a once fascinatingly interesting character has become.”