Graphic Novel review: Strange Adventures Written by Tom King Mitch Gerads (Illustrator), Evan Doc Shaner (Illustrator)

 

Strange Adventures Written by Tom King  

Mitch Gerads (Illustrator), Evan Doc Shaner (Illustrator) 

Hardcover, 376 pages

Published December 2021 by DC Comics

I am not a huge comic reader but at some point on Twitter, I saw the cover art for this graphic novel and was intrigued. I knew it was DC comics but they were invoking golden age sci-fi. I was curious I assumed He was a new character and not in the full DC universe. I have no idea the history of the character, who is totally new to me. That said however The Justice League, Superman, Batman, Flash, and Mr. Terrific are in this book. So it is full-on a DC comic book, that said it also has a bit of cosmic feel and scope as Adam is the hero of war fought on the planet Rann. I suspect that his origins are in the Green Lantern comics where much of the DC cosmic stuff comes from.
I don’t totally understand his back story, and I didn’t really need to.  I think Adam is human, from the earth, ended up on Rann, who people look human but his wife who is a native clearly talks about their experiences being very different from different worlds. How he ended up on this other world fighting a brutal war, happened in another story. Cool.

He is back on earth, and importantly he is helping the Justice League with an invasion from the same aliens that terrorized Rann. While he does this he promotes his book of war stories and at a book signing, he is accused of war crimes. Adam and his wife who Cleary is managing his affairs want Batman to investigate but the JL sends Mister Terrific.

Based on a 12-issue saga by comic writer Tom King, whose work I now want to read more of. The book is packaged in a beautiful hardcover. The cover art has that golden age look, with an aged look and a giant tagline on the back “Amazing Science Fiction?!” Under the slipcover, it has the fake cover of Adam Strange’s memoir. Very neat design.

I enjoyed the story, at first, I was not excited to have the DC characters but it paid off nicely. The way the Justice League mixed with congressional hearings and co-existed with the government was interesting. Adam’s backstory during the war was also interesting. It seems what Tom King was trying to say was something about how the public and reality of these heroes could and probably is much different from the public perception.