What do you think?
Rate this book
Strange Adventures (2020-2021) #1-12
Strange Adventures
Bestselling writer Tom King is back with a new epic that reinvents one of DC's classic science-fiction adventurers, Adam Strange, examining whether his actions were heroic or disgraceful.
This new science fiction epic written by bestselling author Tom King reinvents one of DC's classic adventure characters, Adam Strange. Born on Earth and hero of the distant planet Rann, Adam Strange is 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 with cheers, awards, and parades. But not all is as it seems, as the decisions Adam made during battles on Rann come back to haunt his family. It will take an investigation by one of the most brilliant heroes in the DC Universe, Mr. Terrific, to uncover the truth and reveal whether Adam Strange is a hero or a disgrace.
The Mister Miracle team of writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads are joined by fan-favorite artist Evan "Doc" Shaner to bring you an epic tale in the tradition of Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and DC: The New Frontier--a story of blood, war, and love that readers will be talking about for years to come.
Collects Strange Adventures #1-12.
This new science fiction epic written by bestselling author Tom King reinvents one of DC's classic adventure characters, Adam Strange. Born on Earth and hero of the distant planet Rann, Adam Strange is 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 with cheers, awards, and parades. But not all is as it seems, as the decisions Adam made during battles on Rann come back to haunt his family. It will take an investigation by one of the most brilliant heroes in the DC Universe, Mr. Terrific, to uncover the truth and reveal whether Adam Strange is a hero or a disgrace.
The Mister Miracle team of writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads are joined by fan-favorite artist Evan "Doc" Shaner to bring you an epic tale in the tradition of Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and DC: The New Frontier--a story of blood, war, and love that readers will be talking about for years to come.
Collects Strange Adventures #1-12.
376 pages, Hardcover
First published December 14, 2021
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 347 reviews
July 4, 2022
Sadly, I found this to be pretty dull.
I don’t usually read or watch superhero stuff - it just never interested me, really - but since this was Hugo-nominated and I had a free copy, I figured why not?
But it just failed to make me care. I don’t think the concept that most heroes have dark sides to them, and that the difference between good guys and bad guys can be nonexistent, and that history is written by the victors, and that the end doesn’t always justify the means is anything new —but it can be often given a new spin. Here though it’s done without much subtlety and a bit woodenly. The bad guys are there just to be stock bad guys, their motivations are nonexistent, and most plot just falls apart once you actually start thinking about it.
Not to mention that this was a book way too long for the story it tells, which did cause quite a few pacing issues.
But at least I got a brief kick out of the idea that all those superheroes pretty much are work colleagues and can engage in the equivalent of water cooler gossip while flying around and shooting their weapons of choice. (Yes, I apparently learned what Justice League is 🤦♀️). And Batman is respected by everyone.
The art was decent though, but not enough to compensate for the lackluster story.
(Oh, and if I never see another “Pew Pew!” to indicate gunshots, I’ll be happy.)
All in all, I just don’t care.
2 bored stars.
—————
Buddy read with Dennis who wasn’t impressed either.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
——————
Recommended by: Dennis
I don’t usually read or watch superhero stuff - it just never interested me, really - but since this was Hugo-nominated and I had a free copy, I figured why not?
But it just failed to make me care. I don’t think the concept that most heroes have dark sides to them, and that the difference between good guys and bad guys can be nonexistent, and that history is written by the victors, and that the end doesn’t always justify the means is anything new —but it can be often given a new spin. Here though it’s done without much subtlety and a bit woodenly. The bad guys are there just to be stock bad guys, their motivations are nonexistent, and most plot just falls apart once you actually start thinking about it.
Not to mention that this was a book way too long for the story it tells, which did cause quite a few pacing issues.
But at least I got a brief kick out of the idea that all those superheroes pretty much are work colleagues and can engage in the equivalent of water cooler gossip while flying around and shooting their weapons of choice. (Yes, I apparently learned what Justice League is 🤦♀️). And Batman is respected by everyone.
The art was decent though, but not enough to compensate for the lackluster story.
(Oh, and if I never see another “Pew Pew!” to indicate gunshots, I’ll be happy.)
All in all, I just don’t care.
2 bored stars.
—————
Buddy read with Dennis who wasn’t impressed either.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
——————
Recommended by: Dennis
April 27, 2023
If The Omega Men & Heroes in Crisis had Tom King's bastard baby, it would be Strange Adventures.
In other words, if you're a fan of King's maudlin retellings of superheroes as human beings, complete not only with flaws but with terrible secrets and serious mental health problems, then you will eat this up with a spoon.
The good?
The art. Loved it!
And Mr. Terriffic has never been cooler. In fact, this was maybe the best story I've read about him to date. He was (for me) the highlight of the whole thing and well worth reading about.
Also, I never felt like I was drowning in flowery verbal diarrhea.
I'm giving this a hat tip to this one for being less up-its-own-ass with the wordy bullshit that sometimes overtakes his comics.
The bad?
I just found the end very unsatisfying. At this point, I'm kind of over King's depressing take on the characters.
I'm assuming there will be a lot of readers who will really dig this, though.
It's going to come down to personal preference with this one, so check it out and decide for yourself.
In other words, if you're a fan of King's maudlin retellings of superheroes as human beings, complete not only with flaws but with terrible secrets and serious mental health problems, then you will eat this up with a spoon.
The good?
The art. Loved it!
And Mr. Terriffic has never been cooler. In fact, this was maybe the best story I've read about him to date. He was (for me) the highlight of the whole thing and well worth reading about.
Also, I never felt like I was drowning in flowery verbal diarrhea.
I'm giving this a hat tip to this one for being less up-its-own-ass with the wordy bullshit that sometimes overtakes his comics.
The bad?
I just found the end very unsatisfying. At this point, I'm kind of over King's depressing take on the characters.
I'm assuming there will be a lot of readers who will really dig this, though.
It's going to come down to personal preference with this one, so check it out and decide for yourself.
October 13, 2021
Tom King's big thematic sequel to Mister Miracle and Sheriff of Babylon didn't disappoint. It's yet another book about war, war crimes, misinformation and deep dark secrets of supposed heroes. It's also about how Adam Strange is a piece of shit — and while it wasn't 100% clear that this is where the story was going in the early issues, it was a bit of a tough read, but thankfully everything clicked into place soon enough. Not only is this the best Tom King book since Mister Miracle, it's also the best work by both Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner to date, they did an absolutely outstanding job illustrating and intersecting the two 'worlds' where the story takes place. Doc's more cheery and iconic visual style is in a jarring contrast with the horrors he often has to draw, creating a dissonance that works so incredibly well for the story. Meanwhile, Mitch absolutely outdoes himself in the more 'realistic' half of the book with sublime facial expressions and acting, bringing so much raw emotion and vulnerability to the characters. I particularly loved the way he draws Mister Terrific, who, I might add, is the real star of the show here — now I really want a sequel all about him and that other character he ends up paired with at the end. Overall, Strange Adventures was a fantastic read, narratively complex and visually spectacular. And as always, I can't wait to see what's next in store for all of its creators, three of the most talented people working in comics today.
October 23, 2021
Adam Strange is the hero of two worlds: Earth and his adopted homeworld Rann, which he saved from alien invaders, the Pykkts. Following the publication of his memoir, allegations of war crimes surface about Adam’s actions during the Pykkt war and his squeaky-clean hero image is called into question. Adam’s life is strange… but is it fiction?
Tom King, Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner’s Strange Adventures is a mixed bag of good and bad stuff, but, like Mister Miracle, King’s managed to write a fairly decent book about a relatively-unknown DC character.
This is a book about duality - about the versions of ourselves we present to the world and the reality behind that image. Adam is the hero of two worlds. Gerads/Shaner split art duties with Gerads drawing the more realistic, gritty present and Shaner drawing the idealised, more cartoony, possibly fictional, past, presenting us with two sides of the same character’s life. And, as Mister Terrific discovers, there is much more to Adam’s story than he lets on.
Mister Terrific/Michael Holt is the surprise addition to this story. He plays a large role here and he’s also by far the best part of this book. Given that there aren’t many books on this character out there (and I’ve only read the New 52 Mister Terrific book), it’s interesting to learn about him essentially from scratch. He’s got a sad past, he works his mind as rigorously as he does his body through constant quizzing from his T-Spheres (kinda like flying Alexas), and King writes the character very similarly to his Batman (who also cameos here and there). I like that he’s an unabashed iconoclast and his investigation into Adam is easily the most entertaining part of the story.
Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner’s art is fantastic throughout. I especially liked the way Gerads drew the Earth invasion scenes in the third act and Shaner’s art is a revelation - so many gorgeous splash pages on Rann, showing the landscape beauty and incredible battle scenes. Hats off to both artists for producing such a stunning comic.
I’m gonna stop here for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet and say SPOILERS because I can’t talk about my criticisms without giving away huge plot points. For those of you who’re dipping out now, I’d say Strange Adventures is long-winded and tedious at times, but there are enough decent moments here to be worth the journey - but don’t expect a masterpiece.
Alright - (Catherine) zeta-(Jones)beam in 3, 2, 1…
By far the biggest flaw is how heavily Tom King leans on contrivance at major story beats, glossing over aspects and underwriting others to make his shaky story structure work. The Pykkts are THE stock bad guys from Central Casting. They’re invading Rann for no other reason than ‘cos, and then they’re invading Earth later on, again just ‘cos. That doesn’t make for compelling villains though, nor does it make their behaviour understandable in the least. Why Rann? And, if not Rann, why Earth - a planet 25 trillion miles away with who knows how many other planets in between?!
The distance is relevant to note as this is a key reason for Adam’s motivation. So he’s only able to get to Rann for brief moments once a week thanks to the mysterious zeta-beam that teleports him there - I don’t know the character that well so I don’t know why this is, it’s just how it is. Then the Pykkts invade Rann and Adam’s stuck on Earth waiting for the beam to send him back so that he can help repel the invasion.
First of all, Adam is just a dude with a jetpack and laser gun - how is he the saviour of an entire planet?! If it’s just the power of the jetpack and laser gun, why not give it to some dude on Rann who won’t get teleported away again every week? I never understood why Adam is considered such an amazing figure - he always seems so ordinary.
So he approaches the Justice League for help in getting to Rann to join the fight rather than wait for the zeta-beam and they all shoot him down. Which is a very convenient excuse from characters who have many times previously dropped everything to go save some random aliens. But that gives him his motivation for selling out Earth to the Pykkts - because the superheroes didn’t help him in his hour of need so he’s bitter.
Well, and also because the Pykkts are holding his daughter Aleea captive, so he’s ensuring she’s kept alive at the expense of EVERYONE ON EARTH! Hmm.
Here’s what happened: Rann was losing the war against the Pykkts until Adam negotiated to give them Earth in exchange for sparing Rann. The Pykkts took Aleea to ensure Adam followed through. But why do the Pykkts want Earth more than Rann? And, if they were going to defeat Rann, whom Adam’s wife Alanna describes as being far more technologically advanced than Earth, why would they need any help from anyone - including Rocketeer Flash Gordon - in defeating Earth anyway? That’s what I mean by underwriting - we have no idea what these villains want or why, they’re just whatever the plot needs them to be in the moment.
You might be asking yourself, how does Adam Strange make the difference in winning or losing in a war against Earth? So it’s implied that Adam would betray Earth by giving away secrets of Batman’s plans (he’s apparently the Supreme Commander against the Pykkt invasion), and, without Adam, the Pykkts lose. Which assumes that Batman would share every detail of every defence plan with Adam, a character he’s heavily suspicious of - that’s one helluva assumption to base a full scale invasion on!
But Adam also wanted to be found out and stopped before that happened, hence why he asked to be investigated. But if that was the case, why not just come right out and ask Batman/Mister Terrific/anyone all about this - lay his cards out on the table? Because Alanna and Terrific have no trouble freeing Aleea once they know she’s being held captive!
Speaking of Alanna, she’s the worst character here. She’s either a generic love interest in the Shaner sections or a complete idiot in the Gerads sections. It’s her moronic claim that the Pykkts are invincible when they’re clearly not - and easily manipulated to boot. And her “reasoning” in palming off her daughter onto Michael (which has a kind of poetry to it I suppose, given Michael’s own loss) is absurd, putting Adam’s death on Michael and criticising his choice to save Earth instead of letting the Pykkts win! She was awful and always managed to drag the story down.
Adam and Alanna pushing back against Terrific’s investigation almost immediately, and after they insisted on it, made no sense. Rann keeping Pykkt records that held damning evidence against Adam made no sense, even if no-one could translate it - they obviously didn’t know about Terrific’s handy brilliance. Just destroy it - problem solved. Why Adam published a memoir in the first place is unclear. To be found out, maybe - except why get Alanna to write it then?!
And, as beautifully illustrated as Shaner’s sections were, nearly all the flashbacks are utterly pointless. It’s just Adam and Alanna doing corny Edgar Rice Burroughs/Princess of Mars crap over and over. It added little and rarely entertained - they’re in love, I get it already! All it did was repeatedly underline the duality theme and beef up the page count unnecessarily.
I did like how Tom King essentially trashes Adam’s character so badly that it makes me wonder that, despite death hardly mattering to superheroes, whether Adam’s death won’t stick because he does so many irredeemable things in this book - as if DC were like, sure, turn Adam Strange into a Nazi equivalent, we weren’t gonna use him anyway! It’s probably because Adam Strange is such a minor character in the DC Universe that they allowed King to portray him as such a loathsome person, but it’s still refreshingly different to see something this ballsy in a mainstream superhero comic.
There’s the pseudo-mystery of the man at the book signing right in the opening chapter cussing out Adam and then shortly winding up dead with a laser gun blast to the head. Yup, Adam killed him. Because he thought he was a Pykkt in disguise! So King is saying that all the shit that Adam goes through has completely warped him and he’s suffering from PTSD, which is why he commits so many war crimes and betrays Earth. That aspect of the book was compelling but kinda one-note too - what are we meant to make of this? Is his behaviour excused? Is this a banal anti-war message? It doesn’t seem to be anything beyond what you see on the surface.
Strange Adventures is not a particularly deep or entertaining book. It’s far too long, huge stretches of it are irrelevant or repetitive or both, and the plot is convoluted to say the least. It’s not wholly boring though with occasional sections here and there that are compelling, and the art and Mister Terrific parts are certainly standouts. As a Tom King fan, I’d say it’s not amongst his best books but it’s also worth checking out - head in with expectations lowered and a lotta patience and you’ll get something out of it.
Tom King, Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner’s Strange Adventures is a mixed bag of good and bad stuff, but, like Mister Miracle, King’s managed to write a fairly decent book about a relatively-unknown DC character.
This is a book about duality - about the versions of ourselves we present to the world and the reality behind that image. Adam is the hero of two worlds. Gerads/Shaner split art duties with Gerads drawing the more realistic, gritty present and Shaner drawing the idealised, more cartoony, possibly fictional, past, presenting us with two sides of the same character’s life. And, as Mister Terrific discovers, there is much more to Adam’s story than he lets on.
Mister Terrific/Michael Holt is the surprise addition to this story. He plays a large role here and he’s also by far the best part of this book. Given that there aren’t many books on this character out there (and I’ve only read the New 52 Mister Terrific book), it’s interesting to learn about him essentially from scratch. He’s got a sad past, he works his mind as rigorously as he does his body through constant quizzing from his T-Spheres (kinda like flying Alexas), and King writes the character very similarly to his Batman (who also cameos here and there). I like that he’s an unabashed iconoclast and his investigation into Adam is easily the most entertaining part of the story.
Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner’s art is fantastic throughout. I especially liked the way Gerads drew the Earth invasion scenes in the third act and Shaner’s art is a revelation - so many gorgeous splash pages on Rann, showing the landscape beauty and incredible battle scenes. Hats off to both artists for producing such a stunning comic.
I’m gonna stop here for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet and say SPOILERS because I can’t talk about my criticisms without giving away huge plot points. For those of you who’re dipping out now, I’d say Strange Adventures is long-winded and tedious at times, but there are enough decent moments here to be worth the journey - but don’t expect a masterpiece.
Alright - (Catherine) zeta-(Jones)beam in 3, 2, 1…
By far the biggest flaw is how heavily Tom King leans on contrivance at major story beats, glossing over aspects and underwriting others to make his shaky story structure work. The Pykkts are THE stock bad guys from Central Casting. They’re invading Rann for no other reason than ‘cos, and then they’re invading Earth later on, again just ‘cos. That doesn’t make for compelling villains though, nor does it make their behaviour understandable in the least. Why Rann? And, if not Rann, why Earth - a planet 25 trillion miles away with who knows how many other planets in between?!
The distance is relevant to note as this is a key reason for Adam’s motivation. So he’s only able to get to Rann for brief moments once a week thanks to the mysterious zeta-beam that teleports him there - I don’t know the character that well so I don’t know why this is, it’s just how it is. Then the Pykkts invade Rann and Adam’s stuck on Earth waiting for the beam to send him back so that he can help repel the invasion.
First of all, Adam is just a dude with a jetpack and laser gun - how is he the saviour of an entire planet?! If it’s just the power of the jetpack and laser gun, why not give it to some dude on Rann who won’t get teleported away again every week? I never understood why Adam is considered such an amazing figure - he always seems so ordinary.
So he approaches the Justice League for help in getting to Rann to join the fight rather than wait for the zeta-beam and they all shoot him down. Which is a very convenient excuse from characters who have many times previously dropped everything to go save some random aliens. But that gives him his motivation for selling out Earth to the Pykkts - because the superheroes didn’t help him in his hour of need so he’s bitter.
Well, and also because the Pykkts are holding his daughter Aleea captive, so he’s ensuring she’s kept alive at the expense of EVERYONE ON EARTH! Hmm.
Here’s what happened: Rann was losing the war against the Pykkts until Adam negotiated to give them Earth in exchange for sparing Rann. The Pykkts took Aleea to ensure Adam followed through. But why do the Pykkts want Earth more than Rann? And, if they were going to defeat Rann, whom Adam’s wife Alanna describes as being far more technologically advanced than Earth, why would they need any help from anyone - including Rocketeer Flash Gordon - in defeating Earth anyway? That’s what I mean by underwriting - we have no idea what these villains want or why, they’re just whatever the plot needs them to be in the moment.
You might be asking yourself, how does Adam Strange make the difference in winning or losing in a war against Earth? So it’s implied that Adam would betray Earth by giving away secrets of Batman’s plans (he’s apparently the Supreme Commander against the Pykkt invasion), and, without Adam, the Pykkts lose. Which assumes that Batman would share every detail of every defence plan with Adam, a character he’s heavily suspicious of - that’s one helluva assumption to base a full scale invasion on!
But Adam also wanted to be found out and stopped before that happened, hence why he asked to be investigated. But if that was the case, why not just come right out and ask Batman/Mister Terrific/anyone all about this - lay his cards out on the table? Because Alanna and Terrific have no trouble freeing Aleea once they know she’s being held captive!
Speaking of Alanna, she’s the worst character here. She’s either a generic love interest in the Shaner sections or a complete idiot in the Gerads sections. It’s her moronic claim that the Pykkts are invincible when they’re clearly not - and easily manipulated to boot. And her “reasoning” in palming off her daughter onto Michael (which has a kind of poetry to it I suppose, given Michael’s own loss) is absurd, putting Adam’s death on Michael and criticising his choice to save Earth instead of letting the Pykkts win! She was awful and always managed to drag the story down.
Adam and Alanna pushing back against Terrific’s investigation almost immediately, and after they insisted on it, made no sense. Rann keeping Pykkt records that held damning evidence against Adam made no sense, even if no-one could translate it - they obviously didn’t know about Terrific’s handy brilliance. Just destroy it - problem solved. Why Adam published a memoir in the first place is unclear. To be found out, maybe - except why get Alanna to write it then?!
And, as beautifully illustrated as Shaner’s sections were, nearly all the flashbacks are utterly pointless. It’s just Adam and Alanna doing corny Edgar Rice Burroughs/Princess of Mars crap over and over. It added little and rarely entertained - they’re in love, I get it already! All it did was repeatedly underline the duality theme and beef up the page count unnecessarily.
I did like how Tom King essentially trashes Adam’s character so badly that it makes me wonder that, despite death hardly mattering to superheroes, whether Adam’s death won’t stick because he does so many irredeemable things in this book - as if DC were like, sure, turn Adam Strange into a Nazi equivalent, we weren’t gonna use him anyway! It’s probably because Adam Strange is such a minor character in the DC Universe that they allowed King to portray him as such a loathsome person, but it’s still refreshingly different to see something this ballsy in a mainstream superhero comic.
There’s the pseudo-mystery of the man at the book signing right in the opening chapter cussing out Adam and then shortly winding up dead with a laser gun blast to the head. Yup, Adam killed him. Because he thought he was a Pykkt in disguise! So King is saying that all the shit that Adam goes through has completely warped him and he’s suffering from PTSD, which is why he commits so many war crimes and betrays Earth. That aspect of the book was compelling but kinda one-note too - what are we meant to make of this? Is his behaviour excused? Is this a banal anti-war message? It doesn’t seem to be anything beyond what you see on the surface.
Strange Adventures is not a particularly deep or entertaining book. It’s far too long, huge stretches of it are irrelevant or repetitive or both, and the plot is convoluted to say the least. It’s not wholly boring though with occasional sections here and there that are compelling, and the art and Mister Terrific parts are certainly standouts. As a Tom King fan, I’d say it’s not amongst his best books but it’s also worth checking out - head in with expectations lowered and a lotta patience and you’ll get something out of it.
January 12, 2022
Much like other King tales, Strange Adventures features stellar art (kudos to Gerads and Shaner), highly refined storytelling chops, deep emotions, and an ending that, if a bit telegraphed, still punches you in the general vicinity of the solar plexus.
I didn’t love it quite as much as I did Mister Miracle (I'm still baffled that this is not the name of a male libido enhancement supplement sold exclusively through the internet via Canada), but if you dug MM, I think you’ll like this too.
I didn’t love it quite as much as I did Mister Miracle (I'm still baffled that this is not the name of a male libido enhancement supplement sold exclusively through the internet via Canada), but if you dug MM, I think you’ll like this too.
May 9, 2022
Awesome artwork.
And a story I didn't give a single fuck about.
THE END.
Buddy read with Nataliya.
And a story I didn't give a single fuck about.
THE END.
Buddy read with Nataliya.
April 12, 2022
I didn’t love or hate this, I just found it to be pretty middling with some great art and some really good moments involving Mr. Terrific. But, I read this fucking hilarious review for one of the issues on another website, so that’ll be the rest of my review. Check this one out if you like Tom Ding or Black Label titles. FYI I did not edit any of this, the spelling is how it was:
”So tom ding, having castrated batman turned to his wfie and said, ‘darlin, please make me feel like a beta simp again. Please’ and turned his gaze upon adam strange and rorschach. Anyone not familiar with adam strange, he was dc's posterchild for mid 20th century pulpy science fiction stories that didnt take itself too seriously and felt like a light acid trip,like most comics from the 60s. So what Ding decided was ‘screw science fiction, this is the political age. Make him a war criminal. Because who DOESNT want to read a political story over a good old boring science fiction story?’ I mean, would you rather have a boring story like all star superman when you can have him fighting talibans and republicans and lecturing you on why it is essential for you to compulsorily have ptsd to be a valid individual? Hmph. Hmph. I know. I was in afghanastain’. So as covid mutates, so does tom ding, in his dire attempt to become the discount alan moore(which is now geoff johns niche) to give dc the forced "cutting edge" stories that it has been known for. Perhaps he will get his watchmen one day and call it Wimpmen and it will be every bit of that.”
The single greatest comic book review ever. Hmph. Hmph. I know.
”So tom ding, having castrated batman turned to his wfie and said, ‘darlin, please make me feel like a beta simp again. Please’ and turned his gaze upon adam strange and rorschach. Anyone not familiar with adam strange, he was dc's posterchild for mid 20th century pulpy science fiction stories that didnt take itself too seriously and felt like a light acid trip,like most comics from the 60s. So what Ding decided was ‘screw science fiction, this is the political age. Make him a war criminal. Because who DOESNT want to read a political story over a good old boring science fiction story?’ I mean, would you rather have a boring story like all star superman when you can have him fighting talibans and republicans and lecturing you on why it is essential for you to compulsorily have ptsd to be a valid individual? Hmph. Hmph. I know. I was in afghanastain’. So as covid mutates, so does tom ding, in his dire attempt to become the discount alan moore(which is now geoff johns niche) to give dc the forced "cutting edge" stories that it has been known for. Perhaps he will get his watchmen one day and call it Wimpmen and it will be every bit of that.”
The single greatest comic book review ever. Hmph. Hmph. I know.
January 29, 2022
This is my first review of a Big House (DC/Marvel) comics series in a while, but I happen to be in the group that thinks Tom King (Batman! The Vision) is one of the best comics writers of all time, making nods to Alan Moore in his use of what are seen as minor characters to comment on the world and the role of comics in helping us see that world.
Now, I am not steeped in superhero history, so I had to consult my DC encyclopedia to see who in the heck DC’s minor character Adam Strange is (nope, he’s not Dr. Strange, folks!).
Then after writing this review, I was reminded by one of the Goodreads comics historians, Rod Brown, that Alan Moore had written him into his run of Swamp Thing, so I skimmed that over. Moore sometimes? Often? Revives minor supe characters--pulpy monster Swampy himself might be put in this camp--to use in socio-political commentary, to show us how comics can be more than just escapism. King is learning from his mentor; they (and Neil Gaiman) wrote their own runs of Mister Miracle, too.
The world King writes about here is war, which he is personally familiar with as he spent seven years as a counterterrorism operations officer for the CIA, serving primarily in Iraq. He had been working in comics before that, and also studied history and philosophy, ideas from which weave their way into his work. One of his powerful reflections on his time in Iraq is his seriesThe Sheriff of Babylon. Strange in this book is mainly a vehicle for reflecting on the moral complexities of war and how such issues have not been adequately represented in comics.
“There were good guys and bad guys. And the job of the good guys is to kill the bad guys”--Wally Wood
To illustrate that he isn’t just telling a superhero story, King meta-fictionally peppers quotes from comics writers throughout, interrupting the narrative in sort of Brechtian ways I appreciate. Also, Mr. Terrific appears here as a major character, investigating Strange’s reputation as a hero through his battles with the evil Pykkts on the planet Rann, quoting various literary, political and philosophical writers. I like it. King makes commentaries about American exceptionalism and separatism, but he also questions the nature of military actions when they do occur.
Strange’s wife Alanna helps him write a memoir of his time in saving Rann, perhaps romanticizing her husband a bit (as many comics writers do of their characters, for the fans’ benefit). But Strange was not just a good guy; King suggests no one who fights in wars is what we typically associate with “heroes.” Sometimes we have to fight bad guys, we have to get together to save the planet, but Strange makes it clear fighting wars is alwasy ethically compromised in certain ways, and this needs to be admitted. When Strange, a hero on Rann and on Earth, is questioned by some about the historical record of that war, he tries to enlist Batman and Superman on his behalf, but they are reluctant to help him.
Alanna is a tad bitter about this: “Superheroes are just needy celebrities in capes.” Their daughter died on Rann! The Pykkts are evil! Where’s the love, guys? But Alanna learns some things about her husband that challenge her love of and commitment to him.
Sometimes people are sick of King’s dialogue in all these series. He is trying to represent how people actually talk, in fragments, pausing, interrupting themselves, starting again, and some people hate this but I like it. I also love the artwork of Mitch Gerards and Doc Shaner. True, Strange takes a harsh hit here, but it’s in the service of telling the historical truth in that Howard Zinn and Alan Moore vein.
Now, I am not steeped in superhero history, so I had to consult my DC encyclopedia to see who in the heck DC’s minor character Adam Strange is (nope, he’s not Dr. Strange, folks!).
Then after writing this review, I was reminded by one of the Goodreads comics historians, Rod Brown, that Alan Moore had written him into his run of Swamp Thing, so I skimmed that over. Moore sometimes? Often? Revives minor supe characters--pulpy monster Swampy himself might be put in this camp--to use in socio-political commentary, to show us how comics can be more than just escapism. King is learning from his mentor; they (and Neil Gaiman) wrote their own runs of Mister Miracle, too.
The world King writes about here is war, which he is personally familiar with as he spent seven years as a counterterrorism operations officer for the CIA, serving primarily in Iraq. He had been working in comics before that, and also studied history and philosophy, ideas from which weave their way into his work. One of his powerful reflections on his time in Iraq is his seriesThe Sheriff of Babylon. Strange in this book is mainly a vehicle for reflecting on the moral complexities of war and how such issues have not been adequately represented in comics.
“There were good guys and bad guys. And the job of the good guys is to kill the bad guys”--Wally Wood
To illustrate that he isn’t just telling a superhero story, King meta-fictionally peppers quotes from comics writers throughout, interrupting the narrative in sort of Brechtian ways I appreciate. Also, Mr. Terrific appears here as a major character, investigating Strange’s reputation as a hero through his battles with the evil Pykkts on the planet Rann, quoting various literary, political and philosophical writers. I like it. King makes commentaries about American exceptionalism and separatism, but he also questions the nature of military actions when they do occur.
Strange’s wife Alanna helps him write a memoir of his time in saving Rann, perhaps romanticizing her husband a bit (as many comics writers do of their characters, for the fans’ benefit). But Strange was not just a good guy; King suggests no one who fights in wars is what we typically associate with “heroes.” Sometimes we have to fight bad guys, we have to get together to save the planet, but Strange makes it clear fighting wars is alwasy ethically compromised in certain ways, and this needs to be admitted. When Strange, a hero on Rann and on Earth, is questioned by some about the historical record of that war, he tries to enlist Batman and Superman on his behalf, but they are reluctant to help him.
Alanna is a tad bitter about this: “Superheroes are just needy celebrities in capes.” Their daughter died on Rann! The Pykkts are evil! Where’s the love, guys? But Alanna learns some things about her husband that challenge her love of and commitment to him.
Sometimes people are sick of King’s dialogue in all these series. He is trying to represent how people actually talk, in fragments, pausing, interrupting themselves, starting again, and some people hate this but I like it. I also love the artwork of Mitch Gerards and Doc Shaner. True, Strange takes a harsh hit here, but it’s in the service of telling the historical truth in that Howard Zinn and Alan Moore vein.
December 16, 2021
I loved this all the way to the end, and then I didn’t.
Pew! Pew!
No doubt Tom King (he of the five year plus run on Batman) was inspired to write an exceptionally complex character study of the DC hero and King’s experience coming home from war translated well into Strange’s homecoming to earth; and his tongue in cheek humor was perfect for DC’s strange hero (anti-hero?).
Truth be told, I’ve never really understood Adam Strange and where he fits into the DC universe. First introduced in 1958 by Gadrner Fox and Gil Kane, he’s been on the science fiction side of the house for most of his troubled history as his story was mainly told in the “Mystery in Space” title that ran in the 50s and 60s.
For those that don’t know he his an Earth man who gets teleported light years away to the planet of Rann and then he kind of phases back and forth, having adventures with his dual citizenship.
In this series, King describes how Rann’s enemies are threatening Earth and this can be seen as an anti-war allegory with lots of twists and turns and King examines the role of hero, society’s need for heroes both real and imagined. King also explores the complicated intricacies of war, where good guys are often compelled to do ugly things in defense of their country (planet). Finally this series describes Strange’s own family and his complex relationship with his wife Alanna, a princess from Rann.
And then I just did not like the ending. It happens.
Pew! Pew!
Pew! Pew!
No doubt Tom King (he of the five year plus run on Batman) was inspired to write an exceptionally complex character study of the DC hero and King’s experience coming home from war translated well into Strange’s homecoming to earth; and his tongue in cheek humor was perfect for DC’s strange hero (anti-hero?).
Truth be told, I’ve never really understood Adam Strange and where he fits into the DC universe. First introduced in 1958 by Gadrner Fox and Gil Kane, he’s been on the science fiction side of the house for most of his troubled history as his story was mainly told in the “Mystery in Space” title that ran in the 50s and 60s.
For those that don’t know he his an Earth man who gets teleported light years away to the planet of Rann and then he kind of phases back and forth, having adventures with his dual citizenship.
In this series, King describes how Rann’s enemies are threatening Earth and this can be seen as an anti-war allegory with lots of twists and turns and King examines the role of hero, society’s need for heroes both real and imagined. King also explores the complicated intricacies of war, where good guys are often compelled to do ugly things in defense of their country (planet). Finally this series describes Strange’s own family and his complex relationship with his wife Alanna, a princess from Rann.
And then I just did not like the ending. It happens.
Pew! Pew!
January 8, 2022
Tom King tries to do for Adam Strange what he did for Mister Miracle in his amazing 2019 graphic novel, but instead does the same sort of character assassination he ended up doing to Marvel's Vision back in 2015. Adam is tore up and down in this dreary look at heroes with feet of clay and oh-so-bloodied hands. I've never been an Adam Strange fan, but I get no joy out of seeing him treated so poorly.
I can feel myself becoming the old crank who sits in the corner muttering how comics aren't as good as they used to be -- after all 1986 was the greatest year ever in superhero comics. And in 1987 comics god Alan Moore went ahead and did a dark retcon of Adam Strange and the people of the planet Rann, and it only took him two issues of his Swamp Thing run (#57-58). I love that Tom King admires Moore also, but it does feel that he and fellow DC writer Geoff Johns go back to re-plow Moore's fields a little too much. Having read King's Watchmen spin-off,Rorschach, earlier this week, it really feels like he and DC are as fixated with 1986 as I am.
A final annoyance: Why in the #@$% does a DC Black Label book for mature audiences use @&!&% symbols like a $@ all-ages comic book instead of some real %#@ swear words? That's just $@% stupid.
I can feel myself becoming the old crank who sits in the corner muttering how comics aren't as good as they used to be -- after all 1986 was the greatest year ever in superhero comics. And in 1987 comics god Alan Moore went ahead and did a dark retcon of Adam Strange and the people of the planet Rann, and it only took him two issues of his Swamp Thing run (#57-58). I love that Tom King admires Moore also, but it does feel that he and fellow DC writer Geoff Johns go back to re-plow Moore's fields a little too much. Having read King's Watchmen spin-off,Rorschach, earlier this week, it really feels like he and DC are as fixated with 1986 as I am.
A final annoyance: Why in the #@$% does a DC Black Label book for mature audiences use @&!&% symbols like a $@ all-ages comic book instead of some real %#@ swear words? That's just $@% stupid.
December 24, 2021
So this was...really good even if it had some flaws.
This all starts with a mysterious death of a guy who screams at Adam Strange at a book signing event. After saying he's evil, a war criminal, and more a few hours later he's found dead in a alleyway. Strange decides to go to Batman and the rest of the Justice League and let them know it wasn't him, that they can even investigate him. This leads Batman to reach out to a old friend, Mister Terrific, and have him try to learn Adam's Strange's secrets he keeps hiding behind.
Right off this team never fails to give some fantastic arc. The watch it's drawn is as good as mister miracle if not even better. I was loving the art direction, designs, and facial expressions in this book. Felt old and new all at once.
Now the plot. It's intriguing. I wanted to learn about what Adam is hiding. Not only from the league, but also his wife Alanna. Once Mister Terrific gets closer to the truth everything starts unraveling. Through this investigations you get a lot of flashbacks with Adam and learn the truth about how he rose to be a "hero" of the people.
Mister Terrific is easily the standout star in this book. Both interesting and a bit scary, yet very likeable, this character really helped me enjoy this story immensely. By the end every time he discovered something I was right there with him. And the very ending, while a bit too "with a bow and a nice ending" for me it still really worked as a whole thanks to him.
I will say I think 10 issues instead of 12 would have helped the pacing of this some, it felt a bit stretched out in the middle.
I feel like I have to re-read this one day to fully get every little hint of what is happening but for my first read I did enjoy it a lot. A 4 out of 5.
This all starts with a mysterious death of a guy who screams at Adam Strange at a book signing event. After saying he's evil, a war criminal, and more a few hours later he's found dead in a alleyway. Strange decides to go to Batman and the rest of the Justice League and let them know it wasn't him, that they can even investigate him. This leads Batman to reach out to a old friend, Mister Terrific, and have him try to learn Adam's Strange's secrets he keeps hiding behind.
Right off this team never fails to give some fantastic arc. The watch it's drawn is as good as mister miracle if not even better. I was loving the art direction, designs, and facial expressions in this book. Felt old and new all at once.
Now the plot. It's intriguing. I wanted to learn about what Adam is hiding. Not only from the league, but also his wife Alanna. Once Mister Terrific gets closer to the truth everything starts unraveling. Through this investigations you get a lot of flashbacks with Adam and learn the truth about how he rose to be a "hero" of the people.
Mister Terrific is easily the standout star in this book. Both interesting and a bit scary, yet very likeable, this character really helped me enjoy this story immensely. By the end every time he discovered something I was right there with him. And the very ending, while a bit too "with a bow and a nice ending" for me it still really worked as a whole thanks to him.
I will say I think 10 issues instead of 12 would have helped the pacing of this some, it felt a bit stretched out in the middle.
I feel like I have to re-read this one day to fully get every little hint of what is happening but for my first read I did enjoy it a lot. A 4 out of 5.
February 4, 2022
This book is just barely pulling the 3 star rating. I’m noticing a trend with King’s writing style. He does some similar things with Omega Men and Mister Miracle. You can tell that, ok, there is some mystery or some answer to what’s happening that you’re waiting to get. Only problem is, reading his books as you waiting for this “reveal” gets really boring and bland. It can get so far away from the big heroics that you usually find in super hero comics from Marvel or DC, that when other characters from DC make an appearance, it doesn’t even feel like them. I don’t know. So in the beginning, the book sets up the plot, something happened with Adam on that other planet, Rann and as you read along, you’re going to get those answers. Then the book just feels so drawn out getting to the answer of what happened that by the time you get the answer you’re just like, oh. I will say the art was really good and I liked the Mr Terrific character. They also misspelled his daughters name in the beginning of the book. Threw me off when it changed further into the story. However, after three not that great books in a row, I feel like Tom King may not be for me.
May 16, 2022
Although not a regular reader of graphic novels, I made the decision to bring a little attention to this area of the Library’s collection (and there’s a lot more available on Hoopla). That said, I’ve long been a sucker for a well told superhero story, which is a category in which I feel comfortable placing Strange Adventures, even if it does suffer from some of the issues that generally lead me to look for these types of stories in movies/television shows rather than the comic books that are, after all, the original source material.
Strange Adventures is published by DC Comics, and features cameos of many of the better-known characters, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, etc. – characters who have permeated popular culture. However, the story revolves around a character with a somewhat lower profile – Adam Strange. For those who, like myself, had not previously encountered this character, he was an archeologist who ended up being transported to the planet Rann, where he obtained a laser gun and jet pack, became a war hero, and married a princess. I’ll give you a moment to allow your suspension of disbelief to kick in and just go with it.
The character has been retconned several times, but most of the above elements seem to be fairly consistent. In King’s story however, Strange’s designation as a ‘hero’ is called into question over potential involvement in war crimes committed while defending Rann from the invading Pykkt. The story is told through flashbacks to the war intercut with scenes from Strange’s present, in which he is attempting to retire back on Earth and an investigation into his past is launched. Stakes are raised by the fact the Pykkt’s next target is Earth. For the most part the jumps back and forth are clear enough, though there were occasions it got a bit disorienting.
Despite the fact that Strange plays a central role to everything that happens in the book, in my opinion the compelling part, perhaps even the heart of the story, was the evolving relationship between Strange’s wife, Alanna, and the man leading the investigation into him, Michael Holt a.k.a. Mr. Terrific. I had actually set out with the idea of highlighting a graphic novel that was not a superhero story, if only to do something a little different. I picked up this one not realizing it was about a well-established character in the DC Comics universe, but this aspect of the story kept me reading all the way to the end…and, if you’ve read this far, I think it is worthy of your time, too.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
Strange Adventures is published by DC Comics, and features cameos of many of the better-known characters, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, etc. – characters who have permeated popular culture. However, the story revolves around a character with a somewhat lower profile – Adam Strange. For those who, like myself, had not previously encountered this character, he was an archeologist who ended up being transported to the planet Rann, where he obtained a laser gun and jet pack, became a war hero, and married a princess. I’ll give you a moment to allow your suspension of disbelief to kick in and just go with it.
The character has been retconned several times, but most of the above elements seem to be fairly consistent. In King’s story however, Strange’s designation as a ‘hero’ is called into question over potential involvement in war crimes committed while defending Rann from the invading Pykkt. The story is told through flashbacks to the war intercut with scenes from Strange’s present, in which he is attempting to retire back on Earth and an investigation into his past is launched. Stakes are raised by the fact the Pykkt’s next target is Earth. For the most part the jumps back and forth are clear enough, though there were occasions it got a bit disorienting.
Despite the fact that Strange plays a central role to everything that happens in the book, in my opinion the compelling part, perhaps even the heart of the story, was the evolving relationship between Strange’s wife, Alanna, and the man leading the investigation into him, Michael Holt a.k.a. Mr. Terrific. I had actually set out with the idea of highlighting a graphic novel that was not a superhero story, if only to do something a little different. I picked up this one not realizing it was about a well-established character in the DC Comics universe, but this aspect of the story kept me reading all the way to the end…and, if you’ve read this far, I think it is worthy of your time, too.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
January 3, 2023
One of those books which I am very divisive about like okay it has two time periods one is where Adam strange and his wife Alanna are together fighting the Pykkts this evil group of aliens that want to take over their planet of Rann and its so well drawn by Doc shaner and it looks like a million bucks and I just freaking love the story of them uniting the various factions on the planet and fighting these villains but a big cost here but thats the twist in the present day. The world building in this part of the story is so well done I love it!
Okay on the other hand its got the present timeline where Adam is accused of a murder and now JL investigating it and they sent their top member Mr Terrific to investigate and what he finds and uncovers through the issues ties well with the past story drawn by Doc shaner and yeah it leads to some cool, tense moments but kinda is the point where my divisive POV comes in.
He does something with Adam that totally changes his character and could be called character Assassination like King does something thats so not what its creator would have wanted for their character but then its a black label book, aka elseworlds and maybe like Injustice shows the dual minded nature of the characters, the two folded approach, the war crimes, the unforeseen consequences or things men do to win wars, but yeah Adam strange isn't this type of character so don't let your perception of him be this. This is elseworlds Adam strange and not real one.
But there are some good moments especially with the cameos of different Justice league members and I liked the Batman one more lol, its fun and some narrative stuff is good too and shows how King builds this complicated yet interesting plots.
So overall a mixed bag of opinions on my side but still a good one time read and maybe I didn't like the conclusion or twist but for most of it, I enjoyed the book and the artwork was phenomenal!
Okay on the other hand its got the present timeline where Adam is accused of a murder and now JL investigating it and they sent their top member Mr Terrific to investigate and what he finds and uncovers through the issues ties well with the past story drawn by Doc shaner and yeah it leads to some cool, tense moments but kinda is the point where my divisive POV comes in.
He does something with Adam that totally changes his character and could be called character Assassination like King does something thats so not what its creator would have wanted for their character but then its a black label book, aka elseworlds and maybe like Injustice shows the dual minded nature of the characters, the two folded approach, the war crimes, the unforeseen consequences or things men do to win wars, but yeah Adam strange isn't this type of character so don't let your perception of him be this. This is elseworlds Adam strange and not real one.
But there are some good moments especially with the cameos of different Justice league members and I liked the Batman one more lol, its fun and some narrative stuff is good too and shows how King builds this complicated yet interesting plots.
So overall a mixed bag of opinions on my side but still a good one time read and maybe I didn't like the conclusion or twist but for most of it, I enjoyed the book and the artwork was phenomenal!
December 7, 2022
“You should never meet your heroes.” —Allan Carr
My only other exposure to Adam Strange was in an old Swamp Thing comic book, and that issue was written by Alan Moore. Apparently, Moore’s Strange was a slightly weirder, darker version of the science fiction hero created in the 1950s.
Strange was an Earthling who somehow stepped into the path of an interstellar “Zeta-beam” which instantly transported him to the planet Rann, where he became a hero to the Rannians.
Tom King’s “Strange Adventures” is a graphic novel that examines the notion of heroism and asks the question: How far are you willing to go to be a hero?
“Strange Adventures” begins with Strange and his wife, Alanna, living on Earth. The death of their daughter, Aleena, is still fresh after the war on Rann against an alien race called the Pykkt. Strange has just published his memoirs to great acclaim and is enjoying celebrityhood when a man, on live television, accuses him of lying and committing war crimes against the Pykkt. Not long after, the man is found murdered. Strange is, of course, the prime suspect.
Strange asks his friend, Batman, to take on the investigation. Batman calls in Mr. Terrific, who may have a unique perspective that could be helpful to the investigation. He receives a very cold response from Alanna and Strange, making him wonder if the couple really are hiding something.
Thus begins a 12-issue mystery that delves deep into the Adam Strange mythos. It is definitely not a typical superhero comic book series. Scenes alternate between past and present, gradually uncovering a truth about the Stranges that will have major repercussions for their future.
King cleverly dissects American hero-worship and exposes the man behind the myths, something that most Americans are rather loathe to do when it comes to our real heroes.
My only other exposure to Adam Strange was in an old Swamp Thing comic book, and that issue was written by Alan Moore. Apparently, Moore’s Strange was a slightly weirder, darker version of the science fiction hero created in the 1950s.
Strange was an Earthling who somehow stepped into the path of an interstellar “Zeta-beam” which instantly transported him to the planet Rann, where he became a hero to the Rannians.
Tom King’s “Strange Adventures” is a graphic novel that examines the notion of heroism and asks the question: How far are you willing to go to be a hero?
“Strange Adventures” begins with Strange and his wife, Alanna, living on Earth. The death of their daughter, Aleena, is still fresh after the war on Rann against an alien race called the Pykkt. Strange has just published his memoirs to great acclaim and is enjoying celebrityhood when a man, on live television, accuses him of lying and committing war crimes against the Pykkt. Not long after, the man is found murdered. Strange is, of course, the prime suspect.
Strange asks his friend, Batman, to take on the investigation. Batman calls in Mr. Terrific, who may have a unique perspective that could be helpful to the investigation. He receives a very cold response from Alanna and Strange, making him wonder if the couple really are hiding something.
Thus begins a 12-issue mystery that delves deep into the Adam Strange mythos. It is definitely not a typical superhero comic book series. Scenes alternate between past and present, gradually uncovering a truth about the Stranges that will have major repercussions for their future.
King cleverly dissects American hero-worship and exposes the man behind the myths, something that most Americans are rather loathe to do when it comes to our real heroes.
January 1, 2022
Adam Strange is a war criminal. Adam Strange is a war hero. Both of these statements are true...aren't they? Or...is Adam Strange just a liar? Mister Terrific sets out to find the truth, no matter what it takes.
Tom King strikes again. His latest twelve issue maxi-series drives the magnifying glass right over Adam Strange and the horror of war as we see just how far both he and his wife Alanna will go to save the worlds and the people that they love. Like Mister Miracle, it's hard to tell exactly what's true and what isn't, even right up until the final issue. It definitely keeps you guessing, and while the unreliable narrator trope can be irritating, here it really works since it's the same story being told from multiple perspectives. Like the rest of King's maxi-series, re-reading is a must to discover what you missed the first time around.
The artwork's split between Evan Shaner and Mister Miracle artist Mitch Gerads, whose two styles couldn't be further apart. Shaner's bright and shiny visuals are beautiful, but hold darkness beneath, while Gerads' grittier lines and colours contrast brilliantly to tell the darker side of the story without trying to cover it up.
Strange Adventures, like King's other work, will be divisive. But, also like King's other work, it's well worth reading it yourself to form your own opinion.
Tom King strikes again. His latest twelve issue maxi-series drives the magnifying glass right over Adam Strange and the horror of war as we see just how far both he and his wife Alanna will go to save the worlds and the people that they love. Like Mister Miracle, it's hard to tell exactly what's true and what isn't, even right up until the final issue. It definitely keeps you guessing, and while the unreliable narrator trope can be irritating, here it really works since it's the same story being told from multiple perspectives. Like the rest of King's maxi-series, re-reading is a must to discover what you missed the first time around.
The artwork's split between Evan Shaner and Mister Miracle artist Mitch Gerads, whose two styles couldn't be further apart. Shaner's bright and shiny visuals are beautiful, but hold darkness beneath, while Gerads' grittier lines and colours contrast brilliantly to tell the darker side of the story without trying to cover it up.
Strange Adventures, like King's other work, will be divisive. But, also like King's other work, it's well worth reading it yourself to form your own opinion.
June 21, 2022
Unsettling, surreal, vaguely depressing...all the hallmarks of a Tom King/Mitch Gerads joint (this time with Doc Shaner, too, because why not?)
What to say without spoiling the journey? Be prepared for some trippiness and the obligatory boatload of DC cameos, and just go with it.
What to say without spoiling the journey? Be prepared for some trippiness and the obligatory boatload of DC cameos, and just go with it.
November 27, 2021
О ні! Ще один герой у кризі! Адам Стрендж, національний герой Землі й Ранну, на автограф сесії свого роману був звинувачений у жорстоких непотрібних вбивствах піктів, жорстокої войовничої раси, яка завоювала не одну планету.
Чи, справді, людина, яка відома на всю галактику своєю хоробрістю і честю могла вчиняти так? Адам просить найвідомішого детектива, Бетмена, провести розслідування, щоб очистити своє ім’я. Думаю ви знаєте, як такі історії закінчуються. Вітаю у коміксі «Пригоди Стренджа» #1-12, 2020 Тома Кінґа.
Ідея, як багато в Кінґа, є цікавою. Навіть розв’язка мене здивувала і, мабуть, такі речі хотілося б побачити в основному всесвіті DC. Але Кінґ — майстер лити воду та ще й із нудними діалогами.
Цю лімітку можна було скоротити удвічі й ми б нічого не втратили. Або ж зробити детективну історію, де по крихтах дізналися б правду. А не імітацію, яка вийшла. А так, тільки й думав, коли нарешті уже розв’язка.
Цікава ідея, погана реалізація.
Чи, справді, людина, яка відома на всю галактику своєю хоробрістю і честю могла вчиняти так? Адам просить найвідомішого детектива, Бетмена, провести розслідування, щоб очистити своє ім’я. Думаю ви знаєте, як такі історії закінчуються. Вітаю у коміксі «Пригоди Стренджа» #1-12, 2020 Тома Кінґа.
Ідея, як багато в Кінґа, є цікавою. Навіть розв’язка мене здивувала і, мабуть, такі речі хотілося б побачити в основному всесвіті DC. Але Кінґ — майстер лити воду та ще й із нудними діалогами.
Цю лімітку можна було скоротити удвічі й ми б нічого не втратили. Або ж зробити детективну історію, де по крихтах дізналися б правду. А не імітацію, яка вийшла. А так, тільки й думав, коли нарешті уже розв’язка.
Цікава ідея, погана реалізація.
September 16, 2022
You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.
The past always finds a way to torment you in the most inconspicuous fashion. It crawls out of the darkest recesses of the mind and sends you spiraling straight into the eye of an emotional storm. While deep within you might be compelled to seek help and do everything in your power to rid yourself of such agony, instinct sends you down a lonely and self-destructive path, especially as you convince yourself of the futility of the situation. For some, keeping secrets simply seems like the most appropriate response. That is until one of the world’s smartest superheroes comes digging into your past to find out the truth. Collecting issues #1-12 of this limited comic book series, writer Tom King, artist Mitch Gerads, and artist Evan “Doc” Shaner tag together to deliver a compelling and intimate story of a hero who might have lost his footing.
What is Strange Adventures about? The story is centered around Adam Strange, a man born on Earth who was teleported to the planet Rann where he finds himself in the middle of an invasion with his jetpack and laser gun. Having successfully saved the people of Rann during a terrifying planetary war, he is greeted on Earth with love and praise as he publishes a book called Strange Adventures. During a book signing event, he, however, is accused of having committed war crimes by a random person who happens to be found dead the next day. What follows is a superhero investigation where Mr. Terrific is tasked to uncover the truth behind this battle on Rann and determine the fate of Adam Strange’s life on Earth as another invasion is impending and determine if the world is amongst a war criminal or a distressed hero.
Once more, writer Tom King offers a thought-provoking deconstruction of superheroes through this latest stand-alone adventure as he focuses his attention on Adam Strange’s character. Through a disjointed dual-timeline narrative, one exploring current-day events while the other revisits core moments during the planetary war alongside his now Rann wife, Alanna, King explores the dichotomic nature of the hero’s life. In fact, the story heavily focuses on the conflictual identity he embraces as the hero of two worlds, the facet he tries to maintain while hiding the controversial persona that led him to make difficult decisions during traumatic times, and the romantic issues he has cultivated with Alanna because of the barrier he’s built around himself. Throughout the story, although writer Tom King mildly fails to immerse the reader and allow them to properly connect with the characters because of the underlying disconnect felt in the narration and characterization, he explores Adam Strange’s life and exposes the unbearable pressures of being a hero of the people while trying to pursue his own happiness.
On top of writer Tom King’s excellent depiction of human nature, even within superheroes, as he brilliantly reminds readers of their humanity, he keeps a steady and slow pace dripping with intrigue that has you sitting on the edge, continually questioning Adam Strange’s heroism and wondering about the veracity of the words spoken by the hero. Mr. Terrific’s character does steal the show as the primary investigator of Adam Strange’s life through his calculated, rational, and straightforward confrontations, giving readers the chance to better understand the cold yet fascinating character that he is. The artwork, however, plays for a lot in this story’s ambitious yet captivating premise. Original, fantastic, and beautifully organized, with artist Evan “Doc” Shaner drawing the vivid, utopic, and colourful past timeline, while artist Mitch Gerads portrays the more intimate, depressive, and suspicious current-day timeline, they do a phenomenal job in allowing writer Tom King’s vision to be brought to life. While the resolution isn’t spectacularly compelling, described as very matter of fact, the journey makes for a fantastic and original story around heroes, war, and love.
Strange Adventures is a compelling, authentic, and riveting foray into the life of Adam Strange as his actions are scrutinized, his past demystified, and his integrity elucidated to determine if he was heroic or disgraceful during a planetary war.
January 5, 2023
Re-Read: 21/11/22-04/01/23
God I needed to fucking chill. My original review from just under a year ago can be found below. I rushed reading this book like I so often do, reading it in three days and hating it the entire time but refusing to give it the time it needed to sit and stew. Because why would I want to enjoy anything?
Well with this book sending me into a months long depression and loss of passion in reading after I finished it the first time, I finally began to give books their time. Instead of reading them in one day, I now read three simultaneously over a week and I’m so glad I do.
This book is fantastic. Slow at times but the story is thrilling, engaging and depressing with a hint of hope that makes it a true pleasure to read. While yes, King does need to venture outside his usual comfort zone of war and politics, this book is well written enough to keep me interested and a year ago I sure as hell didn’t give it enough credit. Speaking of not giving enough credit, Superman Up In The Sky is incredible. Forgive me, I was really stupid a year ago.
The one thing I got right in my original review was that the art is Eisner worthy. Evan Shaner is the star of the show and he took it away. And Mitch Gerads. What a guy.
To finish it off, a fun little fact. I hated this book when I first read it because I rushed it so much. So when I re-read it, I took my time as much as I could. Often going a week between chapters or issues. And while that helped me come a long way to seeing it for it’s true brilliance and giving it the credit it deserves, it was also a hinderance at the end. I won’t give spoilers but some real interesting stuff happens at the middle to end of issue 10. And I waited a week to finish the book. Big mistake. I took way too much time to think about it and the book kinda lost its momentum as issue 11 and 12 is reliant on the steam of issue 10 pushing it forward.
So I rushed it back in January of 2022 and I hated it. I then took too much time in January of 2023 and that kept it from a 5 star book. Kinda funny when you think about it.
Anyways. Read 10-12 in one sitting if you can, and give the rest its time.
Damn it feels good to give a positive review. Damn it feels good to be wrong.
This book is worth your time and not King, nor anyone in this book disappoints.
Happy Holidays Everyone
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
What a bitter disappointment.
When I got into reading comics seriously in 2019, my favourite book for a long time was Mister Miracle. And so suffice to say, I was amped up for this book. Even though most of King’s books weren’t anything that made a top 10 list (except maybe Vision) he was still a talented writer who wrote about mature topics. Something I appreciated. So I was excited for this book for a long time. And I was let down.
This book is a meandering mess. It takes 12 issues for 8 issues (at most) of storytelling. This damn book takes so long to cut to the chase that by the time the big mystery is revealed. I couldn’t care less. And the ending is somehow worse. This book reminds me a lot of the Lighthouse (2019). A very good looking film with an ending that I’m not even sure the director understands.
Tom King keeps going back to the same well for all his stories. It’s always about war, politics, secrets and more war. It was great in Mister Miracle but that’s because it was new and it had more to it than “war is bad” the only redeeming thing about this book is the art. Evan Shaner does incredible work and Mitch Gerads deserves an Eisner for this book. But goddamn, this writing is unbearable. They say the sequel is never as good as the original. This is in many ways the spiritual successor to Mister Miracle. And sadly, what they say is true.
I’m sorry I hate to be negative but I had such high hopes for this one. I wanted to love it so much. I wanted so bad to see what everyone else saw. But I was greeted with a sad, boring, meandering book, that has me questioning just how good an author Tom King is after the mixed bag of Heroes In Crisis, the nonsense of Superman: Up In The Sky and so many other books that left me saying “this isn’t as good as Mister Miracle”
Don’t let what I have to say colour your view. Love it if you love it. And if you’ve not read it, give it a try. Every book is someone’s favourite book. At the end of the day, I give it one star. I probably will not read it again.
God I needed to fucking chill. My original review from just under a year ago can be found below. I rushed reading this book like I so often do, reading it in three days and hating it the entire time but refusing to give it the time it needed to sit and stew. Because why would I want to enjoy anything?
Well with this book sending me into a months long depression and loss of passion in reading after I finished it the first time, I finally began to give books their time. Instead of reading them in one day, I now read three simultaneously over a week and I’m so glad I do.
This book is fantastic. Slow at times but the story is thrilling, engaging and depressing with a hint of hope that makes it a true pleasure to read. While yes, King does need to venture outside his usual comfort zone of war and politics, this book is well written enough to keep me interested and a year ago I sure as hell didn’t give it enough credit. Speaking of not giving enough credit, Superman Up In The Sky is incredible. Forgive me, I was really stupid a year ago.
The one thing I got right in my original review was that the art is Eisner worthy. Evan Shaner is the star of the show and he took it away. And Mitch Gerads. What a guy.
To finish it off, a fun little fact. I hated this book when I first read it because I rushed it so much. So when I re-read it, I took my time as much as I could. Often going a week between chapters or issues. And while that helped me come a long way to seeing it for it’s true brilliance and giving it the credit it deserves, it was also a hinderance at the end. I won’t give spoilers but some real interesting stuff happens at the middle to end of issue 10. And I waited a week to finish the book. Big mistake. I took way too much time to think about it and the book kinda lost its momentum as issue 11 and 12 is reliant on the steam of issue 10 pushing it forward.
So I rushed it back in January of 2022 and I hated it. I then took too much time in January of 2023 and that kept it from a 5 star book. Kinda funny when you think about it.
Anyways. Read 10-12 in one sitting if you can, and give the rest its time.
Damn it feels good to give a positive review. Damn it feels good to be wrong.
This book is worth your time and not King, nor anyone in this book disappoints.
Happy Holidays Everyone
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
What a bitter disappointment.
When I got into reading comics seriously in 2019, my favourite book for a long time was Mister Miracle. And so suffice to say, I was amped up for this book. Even though most of King’s books weren’t anything that made a top 10 list (except maybe Vision) he was still a talented writer who wrote about mature topics. Something I appreciated. So I was excited for this book for a long time. And I was let down.
This book is a meandering mess. It takes 12 issues for 8 issues (at most) of storytelling. This damn book takes so long to cut to the chase that by the time the big mystery is revealed. I couldn’t care less. And the ending is somehow worse. This book reminds me a lot of the Lighthouse (2019). A very good looking film with an ending that I’m not even sure the director understands.
Tom King keeps going back to the same well for all his stories. It’s always about war, politics, secrets and more war. It was great in Mister Miracle but that’s because it was new and it had more to it than “war is bad” the only redeeming thing about this book is the art. Evan Shaner does incredible work and Mitch Gerads deserves an Eisner for this book. But goddamn, this writing is unbearable. They say the sequel is never as good as the original. This is in many ways the spiritual successor to Mister Miracle. And sadly, what they say is true.
I’m sorry I hate to be negative but I had such high hopes for this one. I wanted to love it so much. I wanted so bad to see what everyone else saw. But I was greeted with a sad, boring, meandering book, that has me questioning just how good an author Tom King is after the mixed bag of Heroes In Crisis, the nonsense of Superman: Up In The Sky and so many other books that left me saying “this isn’t as good as Mister Miracle”
Don’t let what I have to say colour your view. Love it if you love it. And if you’ve not read it, give it a try. Every book is someone’s favourite book. At the end of the day, I give it one star. I probably will not read it again.
September 17, 2023
As DC Comics' first science-fiction title, Strange Adventures, which began publication in 1950, started out as a sci-fi anthology title with some continuing features and eventually became a supernatural-fantasy title. Amongst characters that made a recurring appearance in that comic included Animal Man, Deadman and most notably Adam Strange, a character who felt like an extension of pulp characters like Buck Rogers and John Carter of Mars. Whilst Strange Adventures has been cancelled and revived numerous times throughout the decades, the latest incarnation is a DC Black Label series by writer Tom King and artists Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner.
Born on Earth and hero of the distant planet Rann, Adam Strange is famous throughout the galaxy for his bravery and honour. After leading his adopted home to victory in a great planetary war against the Pykkts, Adam and his wife, Alanna, retire to Earth, greeted with praise by its people. During the promotion of his novel “Strange Adventures”, recounting his life on Rann, Adam is confronted by a man who accuses him of intergalactic war crimes. When that man is found dead, suspicion falls upon Adam, who seeks the help from his fellow Justice League to investigate the situation, only for Mr Terrific taking on the task.
Having read plenty of Tom King’s work, there are tropes that keep cropping up, from the twelve-issue format, the constant passage quoting from various sources, the Alan Moore-ish cynicism towards superheroes. Strange Adventures delivers on all that, but how King presents them in interesting ways, if not always successful. Regarding the cynicism towards superheroes, I don’t think King is entirely cynical towards superheroes, but interested in exploring the different perspectives on what it means to be a hero, whether it is through public opinion or the heroes themselves, with Strange having conversations with the Justice League, always leading to disagreement.
Similar to what he did with The Vision and Mister Miracle, King’s deconstruction towards superheroes is to domesticise them, showing the cracks in their lives that aren’t about the heroics. For Strange, who calls himself “the hero of two worlds”, there is a contradictory to that statement and raises the question of where his duties as a hero truly lie. As for his wife, Alanna, essentially an outsider to Earth, becomes the public face for her husband’s defence and ends up receiving the love from the general public and even politics.
Whilst there is a level of antagonism from Adam and Alanna, understandably so considering the tragedy they went through, you have Mr Terrific as the third wheel to solve what’s really going on. Regarding Terrific himself, he is the one that receives the constant passage quoting as a way of testing his high IQ, and despite his cold, calculated persona, he surprisingly brings moments of levity, particular a brief partnership with Batman.
The conflict over one’s duties for one world or the other is definitely represented in the two art-styles, with Doc Shaner drawing everything that takes place in Rann, whilst Mitch Gerads draws all the Earth stuff. With Shaner’s cleaner, Silver Age-ish style, Rann is depicted as this colourful pulp sci-fi planet with a variety of monsters for the Stranges to confront, eventually getting bloodier and psychedelic as the series goes on. As for Gerads’ grittier style, seeing these costumed heroes in a mundane fashion is always fun, while showing horrific implications on an alien invasion towards our planet. Considering how different the two styles, they do complement one another as both artists draw on the same page, whilst the majority of the book is done through three wide panels per page.
Despite King’s preference to write twelve-issue miniseries, Strange Adventures could have benefitted from not having that many issues as since this series isn’t that action-orientated, it relies too heavily on dialogue, whilst a lot of the Rann stuff can feel like pulp sci-fi surface. That said, while it may not reach the brilliance of Mister Miracle, this is an excellent story that explores the domestication and greyish morality that you can have with superhero narratives.
Born on Earth and hero of the distant planet Rann, Adam Strange is famous throughout the galaxy for his bravery and honour. After leading his adopted home to victory in a great planetary war against the Pykkts, Adam and his wife, Alanna, retire to Earth, greeted with praise by its people. During the promotion of his novel “Strange Adventures”, recounting his life on Rann, Adam is confronted by a man who accuses him of intergalactic war crimes. When that man is found dead, suspicion falls upon Adam, who seeks the help from his fellow Justice League to investigate the situation, only for Mr Terrific taking on the task.
Having read plenty of Tom King’s work, there are tropes that keep cropping up, from the twelve-issue format, the constant passage quoting from various sources, the Alan Moore-ish cynicism towards superheroes. Strange Adventures delivers on all that, but how King presents them in interesting ways, if not always successful. Regarding the cynicism towards superheroes, I don’t think King is entirely cynical towards superheroes, but interested in exploring the different perspectives on what it means to be a hero, whether it is through public opinion or the heroes themselves, with Strange having conversations with the Justice League, always leading to disagreement.
Similar to what he did with The Vision and Mister Miracle, King’s deconstruction towards superheroes is to domesticise them, showing the cracks in their lives that aren’t about the heroics. For Strange, who calls himself “the hero of two worlds”, there is a contradictory to that statement and raises the question of where his duties as a hero truly lie. As for his wife, Alanna, essentially an outsider to Earth, becomes the public face for her husband’s defence and ends up receiving the love from the general public and even politics.
Whilst there is a level of antagonism from Adam and Alanna, understandably so considering the tragedy they went through, you have Mr Terrific as the third wheel to solve what’s really going on. Regarding Terrific himself, he is the one that receives the constant passage quoting as a way of testing his high IQ, and despite his cold, calculated persona, he surprisingly brings moments of levity, particular a brief partnership with Batman.
The conflict over one’s duties for one world or the other is definitely represented in the two art-styles, with Doc Shaner drawing everything that takes place in Rann, whilst Mitch Gerads draws all the Earth stuff. With Shaner’s cleaner, Silver Age-ish style, Rann is depicted as this colourful pulp sci-fi planet with a variety of monsters for the Stranges to confront, eventually getting bloodier and psychedelic as the series goes on. As for Gerads’ grittier style, seeing these costumed heroes in a mundane fashion is always fun, while showing horrific implications on an alien invasion towards our planet. Considering how different the two styles, they do complement one another as both artists draw on the same page, whilst the majority of the book is done through three wide panels per page.
Despite King’s preference to write twelve-issue miniseries, Strange Adventures could have benefitted from not having that many issues as since this series isn’t that action-orientated, it relies too heavily on dialogue, whilst a lot of the Rann stuff can feel like pulp sci-fi surface. That said, while it may not reach the brilliance of Mister Miracle, this is an excellent story that explores the domestication and greyish morality that you can have with superhero narratives.
May 23, 2023
Another fricking gem from talented King with art by absolutely brilliant Gerads and Shaner. He knows what he’s good at and these complex, emotional, superhero things is that.
January 6, 2023
The artwork is magnificent; the storytelling, not quite so.
October 14, 2021
I've deeply mixed feelings about this comic & Tom King in general. On the one hand, he's written some of the very best recent superhero comics (*Mr. Miracle*, *Omega Men*, *Vision*) & I really appreciate his attempts to normalize long yet limited series as a regular part of superhero comics. On the other, he's written some of the worst recent superhero comics too (*Heroes in Crisis* &, I assume, *Rorschach*, although I don't read or watch *Watchmen* sequels on principle), he's a former member of one of the most evil & blood-soaked organizations in human history, the CIA, & he's a cringey liberal on Twitter. King also tends to be pretty repetitive in his themes: expect PTSD, war, sincere but strained marriages, & elliptic endings in every King comic; however, that repetitiveness isn't all bad: not enough superhero comics intelligently & effectively deal w/ marriage & parenting, which King mostly does, & his elliptical ends are probably much better than the other options for endings that the superhero comics companies might allow him.
All that said, *Strange Adventures* seems to draw from both King's best & worst tendencies. Like *Mr. Miracle*, it does some great homages to prior comics: it reestablishes the greatness of Alanna from the Gardner Fox & Carmine Infantino Adam Strange stories, it's the best version of Mr. Terrific probably since John Ostrander & Tom Mandrake created this version of the character, & it does some fun callbacks to my favorite era of JL comics, the Bwhahahaha era. Like *Vision*, it says some smart but not too preachy things about race in the US. Like *Omega Men*, it overcomes the writer's liberalism to say some interesting things about war, although it's still too much in the shadow of the liberal imperialism that makes up the common sense of US intellectual life today.
But, on the bad end, & like *Heroes in Crisis* did to Wally West, *Strange Adventures* casually assassinates the character of Adam Strange to make cheap & uninteresting points about trauma that all but guarantee this series will have to be ignored for any future adventures of the Stranges (Adam, Alanna, Aleea).
On the more hilarious end, & like I understand to be the case in *Rorschach*, this comic gets really ridiculously meta & political. On the meta front, that the main inspiration of it, especially in issue #1, seems to be Tom King is upset at people yelling at him on Twitter for being a spook in Iraq, which he shouldn't've been, but, at some point, you can't let us haters live rent free in your head, even or especially when we're right. On the political front, the comic becomes something of an allegory about the Muller investigation, Russiagate, & contemporary political media's spin, which hilariously climaxes when Alanna cuts a deal w/ Trump. Although this aspect of the story seems to come from a deep place of liberal Russiagate hysteria, I must commend King for not letting that hysteria overwhelm the comic & still telling a pretty effective & non-preachy story w/ it.
I feel bad that Tom King's persona & past work has so dominated my review of this book, so I'll just say that Mitch Gerads & Doc Shaner both do a hell of a job on the art, & the conceit of Gerads doing the cynical Earth scenes & Doc doing the poptimistic Rann scenes works well, although I must confess that I'd hoped & I'd've rathered this comic had just been a mod update on the great late 50s/early 60s Fox & Infantino planetary romance comics w/ Adam & Alanna all drawn by Doc.
All that said, *Strange Adventures* seems to draw from both King's best & worst tendencies. Like *Mr. Miracle*, it does some great homages to prior comics: it reestablishes the greatness of Alanna from the Gardner Fox & Carmine Infantino Adam Strange stories, it's the best version of Mr. Terrific probably since John Ostrander & Tom Mandrake created this version of the character, & it does some fun callbacks to my favorite era of JL comics, the Bwhahahaha era. Like *Vision*, it says some smart but not too preachy things about race in the US. Like *Omega Men*, it overcomes the writer's liberalism to say some interesting things about war, although it's still too much in the shadow of the liberal imperialism that makes up the common sense of US intellectual life today.
But, on the bad end, & like *Heroes in Crisis* did to Wally West, *Strange Adventures* casually assassinates the character of Adam Strange to make cheap & uninteresting points about trauma that all but guarantee this series will have to be ignored for any future adventures of the Stranges (Adam, Alanna, Aleea).
On the more hilarious end, & like I understand to be the case in *Rorschach*, this comic gets really ridiculously meta & political. On the meta front, that the main inspiration of it, especially in issue #1, seems to be Tom King is upset at people yelling at him on Twitter for being a spook in Iraq, which he shouldn't've been, but, at some point, you can't let us haters live rent free in your head, even or especially when we're right. On the political front, the comic becomes something of an allegory about the Muller investigation, Russiagate, & contemporary political media's spin, which hilariously climaxes when Alanna cuts a deal w/ Trump. Although this aspect of the story seems to come from a deep place of liberal Russiagate hysteria, I must commend King for not letting that hysteria overwhelm the comic & still telling a pretty effective & non-preachy story w/ it.
I feel bad that Tom King's persona & past work has so dominated my review of this book, so I'll just say that Mitch Gerads & Doc Shaner both do a hell of a job on the art, & the conceit of Gerads doing the cynical Earth scenes & Doc doing the poptimistic Rann scenes works well, although I must confess that I'd hoped & I'd've rathered this comic had just been a mod update on the great late 50s/early 60s Fox & Infantino planetary romance comics w/ Adam & Alanna all drawn by Doc.
March 4, 2022
The magnificent Tom King delivers a real rarity: a comic book with an unreliable narrative. He does so by breaking his story in half, between Adam and Alanna on Earth, and the two of them on Rann, the latter actually being a book written by Adam (perhaps). The discrepancies between these two time frames are the main point of the story, artfully unveiled as it goes on.
Beyond that, this is a terrific story about the character of Adam, a wonderful reveal of Alanna as a fully featured character, and surprisingly the story of Mr. Terrific as well. It's about war and how it destroys our souls; reading it in the era of Putin's horrendous war crimes in Ukraine just makes it that much more powerful.
Beyond that, this is a terrific story about the character of Adam, a wonderful reveal of Alanna as a fully featured character, and surprisingly the story of Mr. Terrific as well. It's about war and how it destroys our souls; reading it in the era of Putin's horrendous war crimes in Ukraine just makes it that much more powerful.
March 31, 2022
4.5 stars
January 27, 2023
King comes along and takes another esoteric character I had never heard of and manages to make a pretty subversive and transgressive narrative. At the start, we have Adam Strange’s return to earth and the publication of a fictional book, about the account of the war on Rann, where he met his wife, had a daughter, and repelled an alien invasion. He’s now a celebrity, and the limelight is ever so bright.
When an accusation from a fanatic about How he won the war on Rann raises questions about his account, Mr Terrific (another esoteric hero I’d never heard of) is commissioned to dig up the truth; with the notion from Strange endorsing this, ostensibly, to have him exonerated. But things get far more twisty. There’s a dual narrative of past and present, the past possibly being the actual fictional book that was printed, but I’m not sure that was ever expressly said - it just seems initiative based on what unfolds.
As the truth is being dug up an alien invasion is also coming for earth, and we slowly learn who this Adam Strange is, who is leading the force against the invasion, as he did on Rann.
What makes this very nearly perfect is how it transgresses from the comics to the real world immediately. It’s about fiction itself. The veracity of memoir and the stories we tell ourselves being who we actually are, and then the commodification of that. Comics are absolutely a form of story that resonates with the morality tales of myths, which is why they’re so successful. But What is a hero in modern times in modern war? What is good and bad? Through the interrogation of Strange and his actions, as well as what happened to him, his subsequent trauma from the war, we end up with an allegory that’s able to explore a lot of questions while delivering a super hero comic that is actually new and interesting.
It is so hard to find compelling stories that aren’t just regurgitating their own past. Everything about this is interesting because it’s not really a story that would be compelling to read to most readers of super hero comics. It does have some similar beats and some action, but it’s also methodical and slow, as is King’s way. It pokes at nationalism in a way that very few comics do. They gesture at it rather than actually do it, typically. And it’s willing to subvert more expectations, particularly around the hero archetype. It’s absolutely a story for me, but maybe that’s because I’m very bored with typical super hero stories and I am steeped in the lore of comics as a format.
When an accusation from a fanatic about How he won the war on Rann raises questions about his account, Mr Terrific (another esoteric hero I’d never heard of) is commissioned to dig up the truth; with the notion from Strange endorsing this, ostensibly, to have him exonerated. But things get far more twisty. There’s a dual narrative of past and present, the past possibly being the actual fictional book that was printed, but I’m not sure that was ever expressly said - it just seems initiative based on what unfolds.
As the truth is being dug up an alien invasion is also coming for earth, and we slowly learn who this Adam Strange is, who is leading the force against the invasion, as he did on Rann.
What makes this very nearly perfect is how it transgresses from the comics to the real world immediately. It’s about fiction itself. The veracity of memoir and the stories we tell ourselves being who we actually are, and then the commodification of that. Comics are absolutely a form of story that resonates with the morality tales of myths, which is why they’re so successful. But What is a hero in modern times in modern war? What is good and bad? Through the interrogation of Strange and his actions, as well as what happened to him, his subsequent trauma from the war, we end up with an allegory that’s able to explore a lot of questions while delivering a super hero comic that is actually new and interesting.
It is so hard to find compelling stories that aren’t just regurgitating their own past. Everything about this is interesting because it’s not really a story that would be compelling to read to most readers of super hero comics. It does have some similar beats and some action, but it’s also methodical and slow, as is King’s way. It pokes at nationalism in a way that very few comics do. They gesture at it rather than actually do it, typically. And it’s willing to subvert more expectations, particularly around the hero archetype. It’s absolutely a story for me, but maybe that’s because I’m very bored with typical super hero stories and I am steeped in the lore of comics as a format.
April 13, 2022
LIke Mister Miracle and Rorschach before it, Strange Adventures absolutely feels like an important read, but it's a tad meandering and ultimately soulless. Tom King has a signature style: take a relatively unknown DC superhero and knock them down a peg while big things happen off-screen. I dig King's style, even if it is predictable, because it's always engaging and makes me feel like I've encountered something momentous rather than your run-of-the-mill superhero comic.
Strange Adventures fits the bill in terms of vague momentousness. Half the book details Adam Strange's time fending off a Pykkt invasion on Rann while the other half details his later fending off a Justice League investigation () on Earth. The back-and-forth is hard to follow at first, but the pairings of events slowly come into focus so that it becomes clear that someone is not telling the truth. Is it Adam Strange? His wife? Mister Terrific? And what's the non-truth they're telling?
King keeps you guessing, though it's fairly obvious early on what the big surprise will be (there are only so many options). Twelve issues gives King a huge canvas on which to paint his space epic, and though the stakes are seemingly not super high for humanity in general, the few battle scenes are decidedly impressive. That said, Strange Adventures tends towards wordiness (another Tom King special) and the path is never straightforward. It'd be easy to lose interest if not for the exceptional artwork. Truly, King lucks out in terms of collaborators. They consistently raise his books by at least a star rating.
Strange Adventures is heady and weird and worth a read. I'm doubtful that it'll have any repercussions in the wider DC universe, but if you're looking for a not-your-typical-comic-book read, this (or anything else by Tom King) will fit the bill.
Strange Adventures fits the bill in terms of vague momentousness. Half the book details Adam Strange's time fending off a Pykkt invasion on Rann while the other half details his later fending off a Justice League investigation () on Earth. The back-and-forth is hard to follow at first, but the pairings of events slowly come into focus so that it becomes clear that someone is not telling the truth. Is it Adam Strange? His wife? Mister Terrific? And what's the non-truth they're telling?
King keeps you guessing, though it's fairly obvious early on what the big surprise will be (there are only so many options). Twelve issues gives King a huge canvas on which to paint his space epic, and though the stakes are seemingly not super high for humanity in general, the few battle scenes are decidedly impressive. That said, Strange Adventures tends towards wordiness (another Tom King special) and the path is never straightforward. It'd be easy to lose interest if not for the exceptional artwork. Truly, King lucks out in terms of collaborators. They consistently raise his books by at least a star rating.
Strange Adventures is heady and weird and worth a read. I'm doubtful that it'll have any repercussions in the wider DC universe, but if you're looking for a not-your-typical-comic-book read, this (or anything else by Tom King) will fit the bill.
October 25, 2021
Další Mister Miracle se nekoná, ale přesto jde o skvělé čtení plné hlubokých myšlenek. Už se těším, až si to dám v papíru podruhé.
May 28, 2022
Black Label/ DC Comics
Adam Strange was always very retro looking ...so bringing him into current focus with the same look and a huge secret is probably why this came about.
I can't remember the last time I read a comic book like this and that's a good thing....it's a coherent storyline ...action...some fine character development...looks great
And....
As a fellow reviewer said on here;
Adam Strange is a piece of shit..
Adam Strange was always very retro looking ...so bringing him into current focus with the same look and a huge secret is probably why this came about.
I can't remember the last time I read a comic book like this and that's a good thing....it's a coherent storyline ...action...some fine character development...looks great
And....
As a fellow reviewer said on here;
Adam Strange is a piece of shit..
Displaying 1 - 30 of 347 reviews