My thoughts on Strange Adventures #2 by Tom King, Evan Shaner and Mitch Gerads:

Two days ago I read Flex Mentallo, Grant Morrison's thesis on what heroes should represent in our society. His idea was that heroes are our modern mythology and should represent a sort of unbridled optimism that can be seldom found elsewhere. This isn't to say that heroes are perfect, but when they're frequently portrayed as damaged, it's hard to believe they're ever anything else. So while this issue is well written and filled with drama, it's almost hard for me to divorce this from my mind as Adam and Alanna come across as almost cartoonish villains. Adam in particular comes across as whiny, and completely against investigation, which makes him look obviously guilty. And Alanna...well, I just have to wonder when did Alanna became so media savvy? In most interpretations she could hardly speak English, let alone speak on talk shows and interviews. It just feels so...I don't know, hollow? Like it wants to deconstruct truth, especially with heroes who we often just blindly accept, but just for the sake of doing it, not because he has something interesting to say about Adam Strange. I mean, I can feel aspects of it there, but I dunno. It almost feels it can't even give you the benefit of the doubt, like we're supposed to be rooting against Adam from the start which, in a story about what is truth, feels almost rigged. It's not that Adam is or isn't innocent, but rather the way he is portrayed, where you don't even get a sense of why anyone would trust him. And that's not stellar writing, if you're trying to show both sides of truth. So going back to Grant Morrison, who shows us that in the end, heroes always rise above adversity (because that's what makes superheroes, well, superheroes) it makes it hard for to read this because it seems very obvious in where the story is going. Maybe it's just a Tom King thing, but I think I'm sticking with Grant's ideology. Maybe that's too simplistic in this day and age, who knows, but at a time when we're most divided and angry (and rightfully so) I think we should have heroes that remind us that superheroes and their optimism can rise above anything, even in the worst of times. Because, again, that's what defines superheroes. Not their baggage or guilt or self importance, but their ability to overcome adversity.

This is mainly focused on the writing, which was where I struggled with the story, but in no way does that cheapen the incredible artwork by Shaner and Gerads, who bring Adam's world to life in the most vivid and incredible fashion. Shaner and his alien arena of combat, and Gerads with quieter scenes on Earth with Adam and the other heroes. more

MASSIVE step up from what felt like a directionless last issue. This maxi is really coming into it's own with the 3rd issue.

This just got spicy. With the conspiracy we are left with in Issue 2, King jumps the gun and kicks the story into high gear. The image of Adam Strange and what exactly happened on Rann, as well as what might happen to Earth is now becoming more and more muddled and elusive as this issue goes on, and thats exactly what King wants you to see. King is hiding something, and he is hiding it damn well.

Art by Both Gerads and Shaner of course superb, some of DC's best art, on top of coloring an panel layouts. Read it for the art styles alone. But how this sci-fi crime hybrid takes is course is very masterfully done. Its becoming more tense as more information is being passed, yet we don't know how it all ties together and what will happen going forward. Its unpredictable, yet increasingly keeps the reader engaged.

Alanna is a bitch, but a bitch that makes this story tenfold more intriguing then it once was. Everything we saw on the surface of this book is now turned 180, and I am here for it. more