Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures was pretty awesome! Adam Stranges thought process, Alanna’s political engagement, media shenanigans, Mr Terrific’s brilliance, the slight roles Batman and Superman have, cameos from other characters, the turmoil of war, the evolution of Adam and Alanna’s relationship, this book is damn cool.
Have to praise the art. Mitch Gerads nailed it. Loved his art in other works as well. Guy’s a gem. And of course gotta give credit to Evan Shaner as well. They made the comic bloom.
Love the mystery of the story. At first I went in thinking it’s about Adam’s travelling stories, maybe an anthology. But nowhere near that! Adam is this messianic “hero of two worlds,” a pristine, pure hearted superstar in his book “Strange Adventures.” At a certain point someone harasses him and incidentally gets killed later on. Strange says investigation will prove he’s innocent and asks Batman to go through this. Batman says he’s biased towards Adam as he is Batman’s friend. So Batman assigns the task to Mr Terrific. Instead of investigating in a sandbox, Terrific goes all out on Strange. As the story unfolds, things get real dirty. The way my perception of Adam naturally changed as the pages turned felt exhilarating. A man misunderstood.
There’s a strong rumor in the streets that this book is being developed as a series. They can absolutely kill it with this story as the base. I do not expect them to go absolutely onboard and add Superman and Batman to it, but some Batman and Mr Terrific interactions were gold; would love to see them in live action. Even if they don’t add any JL characters apart from Terrific, this story has huge potential for a series, it’s that good.
The ending though, was a tad bit unsatisfying. It’s kinda f#%$ up but still works ig. Well, reading comics you gotta make a habit of ignoring some things. Pyykts, the supposed antagonists who are name-dropped infinite times, didn’t have much development. Their purpose of attacking Rann or Earth isn’t much clear, which makes it weird. Tom King mainly focused on the bigger picture so he didn’t do the Pykkts. They eventually became side stuff. Adam and Alanna’s (Adam’s wife) love story was also pushed excessively; too much repetition. Mr Terrific on the other hand, was badass. Kierkegaard, Aquinas, Tolstoy, Spinoza and the freaking slap! He’ll enrich your mood.
Lastly I’d like to say that, there’s a certain poetry in this book and the general perception of Adam Strange. There’s a line spoken by Alanna at the near end which goes like, “To save me, you murdered me.” Well Adam Strange is a minor character in DC considering the general audience, which includes me. With this book, Tom King made him highly recognizable, but at the same time totally killed off his reputation. Previously it was like, “Adam Strange? Sounds cool” and now it’s like “Adam Strange? That Nazi mothe#$%&??” Welp at least we got his name in the circulation haha. Might even become a household name with the rumored series (which might change the story significantly, tho). Nevertheless, I’d say this book is a jewel.
