Strange Adventures #3 – Tom King, Writer; Mitch Gerads, Evan Shaner, Artists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Tom King on main-line properties tends to be controversial, but Tom King on his own self-contained miniseries is a thing to marvel at. He’s developed a reputation for getting into the heads of B-list heroes and breaking them down in ways we haven’t seen before. Now he’s doing that with two at the same time: Adam Strange and Mr. Terrific. As the investigation into Adam Strange’s supposed space war crimes progresses, tension starts to rise between the two sides. Alanna Strange, who has rarely been portrayed as an independent character in past Adam Strange stories (with the exception being Jeff Lemire’s reinvention of her a few years back), is almost shaping up to be the third lead in the story. While Adam is bristling under the investigation but doing his best to remain transparent, it’s Alanna who takes on the role of defense attorney, challenging Terrific and the Justice League at every turn—even going to the media.
Mitch Gerads does an amazing job on the present-day segments, but Doc Shaner continues to be the unsung star of the series with his art segments on Rann. This issue focuses on a particularly intense battle early in Adam’s time on Rann, as he fought a vicious warrior in a tribal contest. Rann has until now been mostly portrayed as an idyllic planet of science, but one of King’s best innovations has been exploring what’s going on outside the main city. This issue isn’t quite as fast-paced and doesn’t have the shocking reveals of the last few issues, but it makes up for it in strong character work and action scenes. King’s stand-alone masterpieces always read better when they’re collected after the complete story is released, and this will probably be the same thing. But the slow burn of the main story is working well enough issue to issue to keep me hooked every month.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
