In Review: Strange Adventures (2020-) #1

Synopsis: Adam Strange is the hero of Rann, a man 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 by cheers, awards, and parades. But not all is as happy and nice as it seems, as the decisions Adam made during battles on Rann come back to haunt his family and threaten the entire DC Universe. And now a surprise DC hero will have to choose between saving Adam Strange and saving the world.

The Story

The story begins with Adam Strange doing a book signing, which is something that recurs throughout the book. As the story unfolds we see different people singing Adam Strange’s praises about how he saved Rann. But when someone walks up to the signing and accuses Strange of war crimes. Things take a dark turn as the world’s media slowly turns against him. While all of this is going on. Strange makes efforts to get his family to safety as he prepares to defend his good name and honor. Added to that. Strange also has to fight an old enemy.

The Artwork

The art team of Mitch Garads and Evan Shaner provide some gorgeous visuals throughout the book. I love the pages where we see Adam Strange rescuing his daughter from his home on Rann and the moment that he is teleported back to earth right when he is trying to reassure his young daughter. I also loved the few panels where Strange is pleading with The Batman to take on his case.

Overall

Tom King is giving us the beginnings of what could well be an epic story here. If this first chapter is anything to go by. We could wind up seeing a story that examines the nature of truth. The comic also looks like it is looking to examine the traditional true blue heroes like Adam Strange, who is similar to Flash Gordon in that he espouses very traditional values and has a bit of a black and white view of right and wrong, a lense, which suspect is going to get smashed as we see shades of grey coming through. I’m really enjoying the fact that the media is turning on Adam Strange in this first issue.