By Steve Baxi — Recent discourse concerning questions of Truth assumes that it has lost its value, that we are in an unprecedented time where facts and logic have been thrown out the window, and all that matters is how powerful a shared belief is, one that we can will into being our truth despite reality. However, this is not new, this has always been the case. It's hard to grasp the idea of living in a “Post-Truth” society because that would imply we ever lived in a society that valued capital T-Truth at all. Whether truth means simple facts about who’s alive and dead, or the defining characteristics of humanity and its political history, truth is always a function of power, and that power flows into all spheres of experience. Fundamentally, truth begins with the truth we tell about ourselves, and that will guide everything from who we desire to be, well into what we hold to be true of the world itself. 

Strange Adventures by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Doc Shaner and Clayton Cowles is a triumphant, tragic exploration of every facet of Truth, from the core of our identity to the very essence of what the world is. King applies his signature approach to a character with limited history, and the results are a story that will define Adam Strange for decades to come. The shared art duties of Gerads and Shaner create a unique reading experience, where both artists are allowed to put their own unique stamp on their respective sections.

King plays directly to his audience here, one that was cultivated over the last half decade with The Omega Men, Vision, Mister Miracle and his other DC work. King has made a name for himself as the guy creating sad heroes staring out of windows, where everyone is more pained and anguished than we’ve ever seen, and perhaps some of our favorites might even be less than noble. Oftentimes, however, the stereotype of what a King comic seems to be masks what a King comic actually is. Each book has a singular truth: love pulls us out of darkness. Strange Adventures throws us a curveball, where instead of a hurt person learning to become a better version of themselves through love, that love becomes the catalyst for a downfall in the shape of a classic Greek tragedy. Unlike King’s best intentions trilogy, this is not the story of a person being swept up in forces they can’t control, this is the story of someone digging their own grave with the choices they alone make.

Adam Strange belongs to a tradition of colonial narratives, wherein a white man of unremarkable quality cannot find their place in society and instead ventures off into other lands, appearing as a savior or messiah figure to an indiguous society and becoming their leader. Whether we look at the Sci-Fi version of this in Buck Rogers, or the traditional literary spin in Tarzan, or Heart of Darkness, the trope is a shorthand for imperialistic attitudes about non-western, and non-white countries. For decades, the reality of the people this white character allegedly saves is washed away in service to a colonial narrative. According to King, Strange branches off from a silver age trend where formally unique, Jewish inspired, blue collar characters of the golden age are replaced by bland white characters with minimal distinctive qualities. King does not hide his opinion that the original Gardner Fox stories are highly repetitive and uninteresting for this very reason, that they are colonial morality tales without any thought to their implications.

Thus, Strange Adventures takes as its thesis that Adam Strange not only belongs to this trope, but rips away all of the artifice of nobility or heroism in service to the truth, wherever that may lead. This is not Adam Strange discovering he’s a colonial art object, this is recasting the history of the character to make that fact clear from the very start. The use of Comics Journal quotes with creators throughout the series creates a question of responsibility for one’s role in this colonial narrative.

Artists are tasked with creating entire worlds, but then the question is what exactly they have unleashed and where their role in the developing history of their work starts and stops. To what capacity are they creating a world that someone may take to be the capital T-Truth?

Ultimately, this creates an intricate exploration of truth in the series: the truth of what Adam did, of who he is, and of what the nature of the world is. To Adam, there is a motivation for his war crimes, but that view of the world, his insular picture of reality, is painted by an inability to reconcile his own trauma and his own sense of self. The truth of Adam Strange is something lost to him, and something we grow to discover through our co-leads, Mister Terrific and Alanna. Adam’s relationship to Alanna in one sense is an inverversion of King’s Scott Free and Big Barda. Both men do what they do out of a longing for love, family and a home. The difference is that Adam makes precisely every wrong choice along the way, and that he fails to see Alanna’s own ambitions. Whether these two can ultimately be redeemed, or even need each other to do so is left ambiguous because we can never quite see the whole picture, we can only see how they see each other and how that’s colored by how they see themselves. As Mister Terrific finds out, there is no capital T-Truth here, there’s only a series of narratives that make sense depending on your context.

Terrific himself proves to be a more traditional King protagonist, complete with tragic backstory that functions as equal parts brooding and positive forward momentum. The series alternates in perspective from Adam/Alanna to Terrific where he puts together the pieces of Adam’s crimes. If Adam can be seen as a failed image of Scott Free, then Terrific can be seen as perhaps a more refined Batman.If you took away all the trappings, all the anchors of sidekicks and Gotham baggage, you’re left with someone who’s only focus is to be an engine for Truth who does nothing but test himself to be better and better. Terrific almost seems like the perfect King character, as he can be all that while also responding to quotes about philosophy. 

This is the story of three lead characters, and therefore the art duties on this book are divided between Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner who utilize a three panel grid that occasionally subdivides. King and Gerads previously tested this layout on Batman #62, but here Shaner and Gerads are doing something far more complex and far more rich. Because both artists work digitally, they have the ability to draw different parts of the same page. The result is equally an artistic and logistical achievement as the pair are able to maintain eye lines, and carefully lead into each other’s work all on the same page.

The three panel grid forces King to change his writing style drastically. In previous works, each page of a King comic would be roughly one scene, transitions happen at page flips, and the 9 panel grid’s ability to fit large amounts of story is used to slow the pace down and focus on each individual moment of a conversation. Here with large panels, characters have much lengthier conversations, time between panels has to progress quicker because the motion from one moment to the next has to bring with it more ideas and more material for the panel space. At the same time, scene transitions happen here midpage, as we glide between Shaner and Gerads art depicting two different world views that ultimately have to bridge into something new. In one panel, we have Shaner’s depiction of the “glory days,” in another we have Gerads’ contemporary reality, with the truth forming out of how both halves speak to each other.

We’re then left with one question: if this tradition of hero comes from a colonizing narrative, who has the right to tell that story? Who’s place is it to set the record straight? Is it Tom King’s responsibility to write a story about colonization? I don’t think so, but here’s the thing: this is not a story about colonization, this is a story about our relationship to a colonial trope and how it colors our ability to see the truth of a situation. This is less about rescuing Adam Strange from his roots, and more about examining the things we have created, as each artist quoted in this series says to one extent or another. I think King here choosing to focus on a character who represents something so complex and naming it as such is a better Adam Strange story than anything else we might have done with the character in light of all he represents, because at least it’s an attempt to get at the truth.

Strange Adventures is a dense comic, more so than anything else King has done up to this point. It walks us through a political and emotional minefield without a traditional hero at the center all to help us see what our traditional heroes are founded on. In many ways, it's the most Tom King comic you can find, but also takes careful pains to subvert that expectation. At the same time, we have a complex story being told in the art where Gerads and Shaner are doing something only possible if you have complete trust with your collaborator. Strange Adventures is a must read, examining craft and tropes with precision and pushing big two superheroes into a less bombastic, and more emotionally fulfilling direction.

Trade Collection Review: Strange Adventures

Strange Adventures
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Mitch Gerads, Evan “Doc” Shaner
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $39.99
This new science fiction epic written by bestselling author Tom King reinvents one of DC's classic adventure characters, Adam Strange. Born on Earth and hero of the distant planet Rann, Adam Strange is famous throughout the galaxy for his bravery and honor. After leading his adopted home to victory in a great planetary war, Adam and his wife, Alanna, retire to Earth, where they are greeted with cheers, awards, and parades. But not all is as it seems, as the decisions Adam made during battles on Rann come back to haunt his family. It will take an investigation by one of the most brilliant heroes in the DC Universe, Mr. Terrific, to uncover the truth and reveal whether Adam Strange is a hero or a disgrace.
The Mister Miracle team of writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads are joined by fan-favorite artist Evan "Doc" Shaner to bring you an epic tale in the tradition of Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, and DC: The New Frontier--a story of blood, war, and love that readers will be talking about for years to come.
Collects Strange Adventures #1-12.
Publication Date: December 14, 2021
More Info: Strange Adventures

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Steve Baxi has a Masters in Ethics and Applied Philosophy, with focuses in 20th Century Aesthetics and Politics. Steve creates video essays and operates a subscription based blog where he writes on pop culture through a philosophy lens. He tweets through @SteveSBaxi.