DC Comics highly anticipated Strange Adventures maxiseries from the creative team of Tom King, Mitch Gerads, and Evan “Doc” Shaner has finally hit the shelves. The series is a murder-mystery that finds Adam Strange confronted by and forced to face his decisions and actions he made as protector of Rann.
Like their previous collaborations, the creative team that gave readers Mister Miracle, once again take a lesser-known character from the DC Universe and push them into the spotlight. Now Adam must put his fate in the hands of Mister Terrific, who has been tasked with proving his innocence or guilt and ultimately will have to choose between saving Adam Strange or the world.
10 A Return To His Silver Age Origin and Costume
In Strange Adventures, Adam returns to his original origin and classic costume. Adam Strange was created by Julius Schwartz and Murphey Anderson in 1958, as an American archaeologist. When Jeff Lemire introduced him in the New52 series Justice League United, Strange’s nationality and occupation were changed to him being a Canadian professor who is ina relationship with his student Alanna.
In the New52, Strange also received a new costume and look, which was more of a modern space costume. Adam recently made cameo appearances in Action Comics and Superman, appearing in both his classic and the New52 costumes (respectively).
9 A Split Narrative Story
The issue tells two-stories that unfolds in two different timelines but connect the stories to tell one tale. The main story takes place in the present as Adam, and his wife Alanna have retired, now live on Earth, and are out promoting Adam’s new autobiography. The second timeline follows Adam as he returns to Rann and finds that he must defend against the invading The Pykkt Empire.
The story in the present features the art stylings of Mitch Gerads, who brings his realistic and gritty realistic approach to the page as the story unfolds. In stark contrast, the parts of the story that takes place on Rann are done by artist Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner, whose vibrant, colorful, and crisp art make the action pop off the page using the classic comic book art style.
8 A Tragic Event!?
Those who are familiar with the history of Adam Strange may have noticed that Adam and Alanna’s daughter Aleea is absent from the parts of the story which take place in the present. In past continuity, Aleea was the first child born naturally on Rann after years of sterility plagued the Rannian society. The Rannians saw Aleea as a symbol of hope and the living symbol of the connection between Rann and Earth.
From the beginning, there are clues to suggest that Aleea is no longer alive and suffered a tragic end. The first clue is the woman who tells him that the part about losing his daughter was special to her. There is also the blood-spattered family picture on the nightstand, and the third indication comes as Adam and Alanna are returning from the press conference, and the talking heads debate whether Adam is a hero or war criminal.
7 Adam Strange…Best Selling Author
After successfully preventing the Pykkt invasion of Rann and the loss of their daughter, Adam and Alanna have retired to Earth where Adam has written a book entitled Strange Adventures, about his last year on Rann and the terrible war. Adam is shown at various book signings meeting fans and at least one who accuses him of torturing and killing the Pykkts.
This incident, which is captured by onlookers, doesn’t prevent the book from debuting at number one on the sales charts. Alanna, who seems to be handling the public relations end of the book tour, mentions that the incident has made Adam even more popular with the public.
6 Adam Strange… War Criminal and Murderer?
The action kicks into high gear as Adam and Alanna watch as the news reports that the man who was seen in the video that went viral accosting Adam was found dead in downtown Los Angeles. The report mentions that the man was killed by what appears to be an off-world laser-gun blast to the head. As expected, this turn of events causes a public relations nightmare for Adam and Alanna. Adam contacts Batman and asks him to prove that he innocent of the crimes against the Pykkt and the murder of his accuser.
5 Batman Recuses Himself
Adam meets with Batman and asks him as the “world’s greatest detective” to help him. Adam tries to hand him his weapon as Batman asks what he is supposed to do with it. The scene then shifts to Adam telling Alanna that Batman turned down his request telling him that because they were old friends and that Adam has saved his life a bunch of times, that it wouldn’t be right for him to judge him as people wouldn’t care or believe the results. Adam then says that he asked him to find someone that was as fair and smart as him to look into everything.
Turning down, Adam was a very un-Batman type move as Batman is usually the first one on the scene if any of the heroes are suspected of committing a crime. While this may be out of character, it was still a subtle nod to the fact that King recently completed his 85 issue Batman run.
4 Enter Mister Terrific
Even though he is unwilling to get involved, Batman does come through for Adam and finds someone to investigate and do so in a fair manner. That person is none other than Michael Holt, aka Mister Terrific is not dropping by for a social visit, as it made clear that Mister Terrific will be the one putting Adam’s life under the microscope.
Mister Terrific is the perfect choice for the impartial investigator to investigate this murder mystery as he is not only the third smartest man in the DCU but also is a skeptic who searches for the truth. How these two characters interact as the story progresses, should be interesting.
3 A Carmine Infantino Tribute
Included in a panel of the final pages of the issue, is a quote by Carmine Infantino about one of the many contributions he brought to the world of Adam Strange. Infantino was one of the creators that helped kick off the Silver Age in comics. After co-creating Barry Allen in Showcase #4, Infantino would go on to be the main artist on Strange Adventures and help Julius Schwartz flesh out the world of Adam Strange with scientifically accurate themes.
The quote that is attributed to Infantino talks about the idea of cities that were floating in the air and built-in layers. The idea of the floating city would become a standard trope in the world of Science Fiction. Tom King is well-known for adding homages like this from his previous works. Readers will have to wait to see if this trend continues in later issues.
2 Embracing the Black Label
One of the last announcements made before Strange Adventures hit the stands was the series would be published under DC’s Black Label imprint, allowing for more mature themes to be part of the story. In this first issue, the creative team takes full advantage of the imprint without overdoing it. The panel of Adam and Alanna having sex is done in a tastefully and furthers the storyline of how close the two are. The second time the issue takes advantage of the mature label is when the news shows the footage of the man who accosted Adam has been killed and sets the scene for the murder mystery.
1 Lingering Questions
The first issue sets the tone of the maxiseries and leaves many unanswered questions and mysteries to play out as the series goes on. The biggest question is who killed the man from the viral video, and why would they want to frame Adam for it. The next question is what happened to Rann. In one of the flashback sequences, we see Adam and his family preparing to escape as the Pykkt Empire overrun Rann, but later, Alanna mentions that they stopped them, and now they are headed to Earth. These questions, along with the fates of Alanna and Sardath, are just some of the themes to be addressed as the series continues.