A new exploration of a classic character.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom King
Art: Mitch Gerards, Evan Shaner
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
Adam Strange is the hero of Rann, a man famous throughout the galaxy for his bravery and honor. After leading his adopted home to victory in a great planetary war, Adam and his wife Alanna retire to Earth, where they are greeted by cheers, awards, and parades. But not all is as happy and nice as it seems, as the decisions Adam made during battles on Rann come back to haunt his family and threaten the entire DC Universe. And now a surprise DC hero will have to choose between saving Adam Strange and saving the world.
A story like no other, Strange Adventures is an ambitious, thrilling, shocking, and beautiful 12-issue saga that will push Adam Strange to the breaking point – and beyond!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the things I said when I finished Omega Men a few years ago was that I’d buy almost anything that Tom King does to at least try it. The only thing I haven’t is his extended run on Batman as I’m just not keen on sprawling ongoings for the most part of the really big characters. With the success of Mister Miracle, it’s no surprise that we’d delve into something similar again – and that’s really the greatest weakness here in the fear that it’ll just be too similar to that book. Working with Mitch Gergards once again but changing things up by also having Evan Shaner involved, the opening installment of the series basically works some of the stage setting and introducing us to our cast. It’s not hugely compelling but it’s pulling back on a prologue.
The creative has essentially put together a two-track story here that will expand and influence the other more as time goes on – and hopefully there’s a big twist somewhere along the way since this is a twelve-issue series. The present day aspect focuses on Adam Strange as he goes through the publicity process for the book that he’s written about his time on Rann where he was basically a hero and saved that world. We see the adoring fans, we see the way he and Alanna work together in this environment so that Adam handles it well, and we see how the media interprets him since everyone loves a hero, especially one as quirky as him. We also see the way people deal with this because of it being a war “far away” from them but also when something more personal happens, such as the arrival of someone who claims to know what really happened out there and what he’s responsible for. You can see plenty of easy war storylines factoring into the narrative that all fit naturally.
The storyline from the past focusing on Rann is certainly interesting as it has an old school feeling to it but you know that King is going to rework it as time goes on. We see him being taken to Rann by the ZEta beam where Alanna and her father go on about how the Pykkts have returned and it’s causing chaos around the world. That gives us Strange as a one-many army against these forces, which is made up of machines and creatures as opposed to just rank and file soldiers, but his skillset and intense desire to protect the people gives him the advantage. Especially since he’s got a daughter with Alanna that lives here. Everything he does is fairly standard superhero fare but as it ties into the accusations in the present, calling him out for war crimes basically that has someone murdered and Strange to blame for it, there’s an intriguing loop that’s set up. And with a neat little Batman cameo that actually makes sense.
In Summary:
With the first issue of this series, I’m taking Strange Adventure on faith. I thoroughly enjoyed the last two maxi-series that this team did and that gives this a lot of room to let it showcase what it wants to do and be. And some stories take time to do so, hence the twelve-issue run. It’s a solid opening issue, one that naturally feels a whole lot like Mister Miracle in a lot of ways, but is stretching its fingers out and beginning to reveal its intent. I enjoy this kind of storytelling and I love the visual design with what Gerards and Shaner bring to the page. I’m excited to explore the twists and turns of this over the next year in order to discover what the real story is as opposed to the pieces that we’re presented with here to set the foundation for it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: DC Comics
Release Date: March 4th, 2020
MSRP: $4.99
