Adastra in Africa

by Barry Windsor-Smith

Originally conceived for X-Men , this story was re-invented by Windsor-Smith and recast with his character Adastra as a compelling, touching and magnificently drawn fable, with informative and amusing extras! Barry Windsor-Smith originally conceptualized this self-contained adventure as the third "Lifedeath" story for Marvel Comics' Uncanny X-Men. The book was shelved for several years when Marvel claimed that Windsor-Smith's ending condoned and/or promoted suicide, an assertion that Windsor-Smith says is as laughable as it is unfounded. He refused to acquiesce to the editor's demands to change the story and pulled the book from them. He liked it so much, however, that he decided to rework it as an Adastra story shortly after undertaking the BWS: Storyteller series a few years ago. Now, more than a decade after it was begun, it is finally in print.

Adastra in Africa spotlights the young, exiled goddess traveling to an African village and striving to bring salvation to the famine-stricken area. It's a compelling tale of an outsider attempting to use her own non-traditional methods to help a defiantly proud people regain its vitality, without compromising the tribe's heritage and values. This stand-alone graphic novel features some of the most beautifully intricate and graceful drawing of Windsor-Smith's legendary career. Black-and-white comics throughout

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Fiction, Comic Book, Marvel, The United States Of America

56 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Barry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States. He is known for his work on Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian from 1970 to 1973, and for his work on Wolverine – particularly the original Weapon X story arc.

Reviews

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adastra na África é uma adaptação da terceira parte da trama de Tempestade, dos X-Men, na África. Na época, os editores da Marvel vetaram a trama porque lidava com temas polêmicos, como o suicídio. Então, Barry Windsor-Smith resolveu produzir a história novamente, só que agora com Adastra, uma personagem de sua criação e muito menos interessante que Tempestade, como protagonista. Não preciso mencionar que os desenhos são deslumbrantes. Já a história vai ficando mais e mais interessante com o passar das páginas, até ficar realmente emocionante de dar um nó na garganta. Quem acompanhou as histórias de Tempestade vai perceber que os elementos que BWS e Claremont introduziram estão todos lá, com a exceção de Ororo Munroe. A edição caprichadíssima da Editora Trem Fantasma conta ainda com alguns extras, como um texto sobre a cultura africana por Marcio dos Santos Rodrigues, esboços da personagem principal e uma inusitada entrevista com Adastra, publicada na revista Young Gods, a equipe super-heróica que a protagonista pertence e criada por BWS. Adastra na África é um boa pedida e uma ótima pedida para fãs de X-Men.

[Ignacio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tormenta pasa un día con los kikuyu, acaba con la sequía y descubre sus duras costumbres. Un tebeo bellamente dibujado, no del todo bien entintado (algunas viñetas tienen la tinta demasiado gruesa y se come detalles), y con un guión mediocre que BWS intenta salvar dándole a la máquina de poner adjetivos.

[Tropo Alegro]

Reelaboración a modo de Spin-off de su serie creator-owned de una historieta que BWS estaba realizando para Marvel pero quedó trunca por censura editorial.

[Dominick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Beautifully rendered, as you'd expect from Windsor-Smith, but the conversion of a typical over-wrought X-Men story into a marginally more thoughtful eco-fantasy is awkward at best, and the after material is just plain weird. Windsor-Smith needs a good writer to bring out his real strengths; he shouldn't be left to his own devices.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG, OMG, OMG. The secessionist art in this is beyond fantastic. Then, throw in a story of an African legend and a mock modern interview. So glad I picked this up!

[Alasondro Alegré · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★½

[Fugo Feedback]

Genial descubrir que esta obra está en castellano, aunque siendo de Planeta y de 2005, veo difícil conseguirla. Como sea, sigue siendo Windsor-Smith, así que quedará to-read hasta nuevo aviso.
UPDATE: ¡Apareció a un precio pagable! A saca :D

[Aninha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Windsor-Smith's art is so beautiful it overshadows his not-so-awesome writing.

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barry Windsor-Smith's wrap up of his "Lifedeath" issues from Claremont's Uncanny X-Men run comes in the form of this standalone comic. Initially told as a story about Storm losing her abilities and coming to terms with it in issues #186 and #198, the "Lifedeath" story was never completed within the pages of Claremont's run. Years later, BWS does so with Adastra in Africa a story about an exiled goddess who seeks to bring salvation to a famine-ridden African village. The story itself isn't all that appealing unfortunately - Adastra may be a stand-in for Storm, but hardly as compelling since the book does little to establish her as a character. There are strong ideas in this book, but the writing is clunky.

BWS' artwork is quite great, especially in black & white, but for those expecting the vibrant colors he used during his X-Men issues it can be a bit of a letdown. BWS would go on to do much better black & white work later on, but Adastra in Africa is still a great looking book.

[Devin Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

(I should mention that I know almost nothing about BWS's Storyteller stuff.)

It's as unmistakably dramatically sensitive and beautifully drawn as it is unmistakably (and weirdly) an unofficial third book in Storm's Lifedeath saga.

What still may not be sensitive (as I wrote regarding the second X-Men issue) is the entire depiction of African people here. BWS isn't Black or from Africa, so it's just hairy territory, especially when such serious themes are in play.

But again: this is at least a dramatically sensitive work. These themes are approached earnestly and ambitiously, I feel.

But whether it's culturally sensitive isn't up to me and I'm not equipped to give it an unqualified endorsement.

I'll also add that, while it looks great anyway, it's a little bit of a shame that BWS's work doesn't have color here to elevate it even further, especially because there are some panels where different planes of the image get confusing. Lots of panels are very busy, sometimes being pleasantly overwhelming but sometimes being more confusing than that.

[Dani Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a shame this story wasn't picked up for Storm but, upon reflection, it's really easy to understand why. As someone who loves works by creators like Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Mike Carey, etc- this story falls right in line with that elusive genre of beautiful modern mythology.

The writing is as sumptuous as the artwork. I loved the richness of the storytelling; the mixture of old and new- the juxtaposition of sorrow and joy. The messages of sacrifice, duty, and faith that are based on the hands and hearts of the people.

So, as much as it would have been awesome to see Storm in this role, I'm also glad that this became its own standalone comic because tying this into the mainstream Marvel universe would have likely lead to more cheap spandex antics to satisfy the publisher.

Well done. Very well done.

[Shanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful design and artwork, story a little flat. But the detail in each frame makes it worth the read.

[Dalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Storm in Africa! This story features some of the finest comic book artwork I have ever seen. I rather liked the story too. Read it, even if you're not an X-Men fan.

[Sezer Turgay · Rating 3 out of 5]

E yaaaani canımız ciğerimiz BWS ama sıkıci bir Ororo uyarlaması diyebiliriz.Neyseki çizimleri her zamanki klaslığında da görsel şölen yaşatıyor üstad.

[Komuniststar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretenciozno. Sa dodatkom koji to potvrđuje.

[Nadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kinda glad this wasn't used as a Storm story. Fantastical heritage aside Storm is one of the few mainstream African comics characters that's supposed to be from a real, specific place (Black Panther and Vixen are from fictional countries) and putting her in that backdrop comes with responsibilities to research it properly or it can get messy. As a fantasy story with non-human characters in a totally fictional setting though it's more workable than if we were actually supposed to believe it's rural Kenya. It's apparent that BWS has thoughts about post-colonial times and incorporates the themes here, people that gave half-assed help but their involvement made things worse. But I think that's half the story when it comes to Western "charity" which is no less true in East Africa particularly in the 80s. Removed from that context though I can appreciate this story.

Anyways, Storm as a character always comes closest to making sense as a third culture kid and for the most part I think it works pretty well with her development and characterization: she's of mixed cultural heritage, born in NY, orphaned very young, spent her early years in Egypt and she's had identity issues all her life. Her time in Kenya was never really explored in detail since her very first appearance back in GSXM and until her current series she had only been back once so I think it makes sense to think of it as only a part of her heritage and formation. I'm always wary of attempts (all one of them) to shine a light on that time without really engaging with the issues involved with depicting that kind of a story and setting, particularly without engaging with the implications of how her first appearance was written back in 1975. When Claremont (for all his flaws) took over the title he gave Storm a ton of layers and three dimensions and I think Lifedeath 2 if nothing else are attempting to do the same for the people of this imaginary village. And they are treated as three dimensional intelligent human beings, something Greg Pak attempted also in his Storm series and something that I wish more writers (and fans) of this character would engage with instead of being totally uncritical about it. But I'm not sure if this, if read as Lifedeath 3, really would have added anything to previous incarnations of the story of this village.

In conclusion stars are a really shit way to indicate how good or bad this actually is.

[Batmark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Barry Windsor-Smith's sequel to Uncanny X-Men 198. The X-Men's Storm (known as Princess Adastra here because Marvel refused to publish it and Windsor-Smith had already written and drawn it completely on spec, leaving him to find another publisher) returns to the village she visited back in 1985.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually like Barry Windsor-Smith's art...
but in this case I found it overly busy.
Surprisingly, it probably would have looked less busy had it been colored.
The story is obviously a "rejected" Storm of the X-Men one and the conversion to an eco-message one falls short of the intended mark.

[Drew Canole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final rejected BWS X-men comic reshaped into an original comic. It's not my favourite BWS, and it does feel like it was drawn to be colored. Still its a interesting object to look at. I wonder how many other rejected Marvel/DC projects could be published like this.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Edición española en tapa dura con sobrecubiertas.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edición española de Adastra in Africa.

[Guido · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historia de la Princesa Adastra, exiliada en la Tierra por su madre, la Reina Organa de Orgasma. Originalmente estaba pensada como la conclusión de una historia de Tormenta para Uncanny X-Men.