Best of this Week: Strange Adventures #1 – Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Evan “Doc” Shaner and Clayton Cowles

This is the Tom King I love.

The first book I read by Tom King was the awesome Grayson (2014) series post Forever Evil (2013) after Dick Grayson was “killed” by the Crime Syndicate. That book had a levity and coolness that no other book was really exhibiting at the time and King was kinda on my radar. Soon after, I’d heard that he was writing a solo Vision book and I was skeptical, but after a few issues I was sold and absorbed everything Tom King had written up to that point.

From Sheriff of Babylon to Mister Miracle, I was fully on board up until Batman got long in the tooth and Heroes in Crisis became a disaster. I have slung my fair share of mud, but Strange Adventures is an awesome return to form that blends the two amazing styles of Evan Shaner and King’s longtime collaborator Mitch Gerads. This book forms a tale of heroism and then overshadows it with horrific implications.

Adam Strange has always had something of a STRANGE presence within the DC Universe, mostly having stories in anthology books like Mystery in Space, miniseries or being part of various teams, he’s never quite been consistent. Adam Strange is a product of the sci-fi boom of the 50s and 60s, an archaeologist from the planet Earth whisked off to protect the spaceways and his beloved second home of Rann with his lover, Alanna. He’s always been kinda silly.

Tom King takes this silliness and turns Adam’s story on its head as we open to Strange doing a book signing of his memoir, Strange Adventures. At some point, he seems to have sold the story of whatever he did during some terrible war on Rann (that will definitely be expanded on later) and his name is on the lips of every American citizen, talk show host and politician as he and Alanna bask in their newfound fame.

In just the first few pages, Gerads and Shaner illustrate what kind of contrast we’ll be seeing throughout this series. During Gerads’ scenes, Adam is doing normal things, signing books, accepting awards, doing press and lying in bed (in more ways than one). King scripts the dialogue as being pretty casual in these scenes, the way that people talk when they’re alone or have a spotlight shone on them. Colors are striking, but the scenes aren’t dynamic, more somber with specific focuses.

Shaner, on the other hand, get’s splash pages of Adam flying through the skies and facing down hordes of his enemies with heroic poses, laser gun fire and explosions. It looks like a high action, pulp comic or Saturday morning cartoon and the dialogue is comparably cheesy. These scenes are meant to paint Strange as the persevering hero as he has to face down insurmountable odds and get by by the skin of his teeth and his very handsome smile. Almost immediately, there’s a pit made in the stomach because it’s almost too unbelievable.

The closest real life comparison I’m willing to draw, before the next few issues come out, would have to be that of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle. A few years after leaving the Navy, Chris Kyle published the book which detailed his time during the Iraq War and a lot of the media painted him as a hero for his actions. The book sold gangbusters. He went on to the big talk shows, did the magazine interviews, he even got a great movie made by Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper, but it didn’t come without controversy

Tom King seems to be channeling a little bit of that for Adam Strange and it works to great effect as in one scene, a pair of talk show hosts laud Strange as a hero before their interview. Gerads gives the scene a television like static as if we’re looking at it all like the rest of America. In the background we can get excited too as Adam emerges from the crowd with his jetpack and makes a grand entrance.

However, not everything is smiles and praising as, after a fan carrying volumes of Sheriff of Babylon and Mister Miracle thanks Adam for his service, we see a panel of Adam taking off his boots in the foreground while the focus is on a bloody picture frame in the background. The picture depicts Adam, Alanna and their daughter Aleena, who is conspicuously absent from the present day scenes. The blood on the picture speaks volumes more than could be said in these initial pages.

After another man screams at Strange, calling his depiction of events a lie, the pit in the stomach grows deeper as the first seeds of doubt are sown. Things are made even worse as we get a scene soon after with Shaner’s stellar art. The earlier scene made use of Cowles perfect letters with “BOOOOOOMs” and “PEW PEWs” to sell the sci-fi aspect of it and takes it to a higher level with even better balloons that placed comical emphasis on the more outworldly elements of Strange’s origins like Zeta Beam and Protector of Rann.

This comical heroism is emphasized as Adam screams about protecting his family while firing lasers at a mech created by Rann’s enemy, the Pykkts. Shaner draws Adam as being miniscule by comparison, but also nimble enough to dodge it’s blasts and taking it down with a few shots from his laser pistol. As he raises his hand in victory, one can’t help but wonder…was the event true? 

The same can be said when Shaner draws Adam zipping past a giant lizard creature, flossing his teeth as he goes in and out of his mouth like a real action hero. Adam Strange has always been capable, but this has an air of embellishment to it. Things get even worse for Adam as the man who screamed at him is found dead with what appears to be an exploded head due to laser gun fire. It’s an absolutely horrific scene that only Gerads could pull off.

We get a number of awesome pages of both Adam and Alanna doing damage control. The symbolism of Adam’s jetpack being a focus with a reflection of both Alanna and the picture is powerful as the implication seems to be that whatever happened to Aleena was somehow his fault, but Alanna still carries the scars of Rann, but doesn’t blame him. During a press conference, we see Alanna crying before wiping away her tears as Adam denies killing the man.

Where King scripted and overused the nine panel grid in Heroes in Crisis, he has Gerads use the format twice with powerful effect.

Something about Strange’s denial of war crimes on Rann feels off, much like how people called Chris Kyle a war criminal during the movie’s release, we get that same feeling here. There are almost always horrors in war and Strange has to have left out some of the worst details of things he’s done or seen, especially since this is a Tom King story and he doesn’t shy away from the morbid. 

As the pressure intensifies, Strange turns to Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective, as someone who can help clear his name. Adam is convinced that he didn’t commit the crime, nor anything else that he’s being accused of, but Batman refuses to accept the case. Batman cites their longtime friendship as a reason that he wouldn’t be able to stay impartial and that makes a lot of sense. You never want to show favoritism, especially when there’s a chance your buddy could be a murderer.

The book ends with another nine panel grid showing Adam flipping the bloody picture down, almost as if to avoid looking at his shame and guilt while he meets that man who’ll take his case. There will certainly be some “Fair Play” in his future.

This first issue of Strange Adventures was absolutely phenomenal. I think King does well with characters and stories like this. He did it with Mister Miracle and he did it with Kite Man in the pages of Batman. Adam Strange has always been that character who showed up in the background or the odd Hawkman story to show just how large the Universe was, but I’m glad he’s being given a focus like this. 

Of course, with Tom King, there’s always a worry that as the issues go on, things will start to go off the tracks, but I have hope. Even the worst issues of Mister Miracle or Omega Men were fantastic reads.

Evan Shaner and Mitch Gerads absolutely smashed it with their art. I love the idea of having two contrasting visions of one’s life with one bright and wondrous and the other real and dark. Separately, these two are phenomenal, together they are AMAZING. I would look forward to every issue of this series for their art alone, and with King’s scripts, this is just perfect.

This one gets a high recommend from me!