One of my most anticipated upcoming comic series is Strange Adventures, featuring DC space hero Adam Strange. The award winning Mister Miracle creative team of writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads is back for this series, joined by artist Evan “Doc” Shaner. I’m a big fan of all three of these creators, but because the series isn’t scheduled to come out until 2020, we don’t know a lot about it yet. We do know, from a Mitch Gerads tweet, that the series will be mostly based on the original Gardner Fox/Carmine Infantino Adam Strange comics. So, I tracked down a library copy of the Adam Strange Omnibus and read the entire original Adam Strange run. Armed with that knowledge, and a pretty good knowledge of these creators’ previous work, I set out to explain the character of Adam Strange and make some predictions about the upcoming Strange Adventures.
Adam Strange
Adam Strange is one of DC’s lesser known heroes, but he’s a really cool, unique character. Adam is an earth archaeologist who, by chance, is struck by an interstellar “Zeta Beam” that instantly transports him twenty-five million miles to the planet Rann. There, Adam meets female adventurer Alanna, and the two fall in love and team up to protect Rann from all kinds of alien invaders. A typical Adam Strange adventure (which were published in the lates 50s and early 60s in Mystery in Space) begins with Adam waiting in some remote, exotic location on Earth waiting for the scheduled Zeta Beam to strike. He is then transported to Rann and the waiting Alanna by the Zeta Beam. The two of them fight off some threat to the planet, and in almost every issue, as soon as the evil is defeated, the teleportation energy wears off and Adam is unwillingly sent back to Earth. Almost every issue ends with Adam and Alanna alone, waiting until the next Zeta Beam strikes so they can be reunited.
Other Characters
Because individual Adam Strange adventures are short and focus heavily on the relationship between Adam and Alanna, there is not a lot of time devoted to supporting characters or recurring villains. The only real supporting character is Alanna’s scientist father, Sardath. As far as recurring villains, Adam faces off against evil sentient tornado-like Dust Devils, mad scientist Mortan, and Kanjar Ro, the slaver insect and frequent Justice League nemesis. I would expect Sardath to play a role in Strange Adventures, and I think at least one of the recurring villains will as well.
At San Diego Comic-Con, Tom King said that Strange Adventures would be about Adam Strange and a “mystery character”. Of course, we have no way of knowing what that mystery character will be, but if King decides to stick with inspirations from the original Adam Strange stories, the two most likely candidates are Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Adam Strange with Hawkman and Hawkgirl several times to defend Rann and its neighbor, the Hawkworld Thanagar. The two planets and their protectors are pretty closely linked in the comics, going to war in the 2005 Rann-Thanagar War series. Although Tom King did say that Strange Adventures wouldn’t be about war, it is possible that he could include aspects of the conflict with Thanagar as a way of including Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
The art of being Strange
One of the most interesting things about Strange Adventures is that it will feature two very different, but equally talented artists in Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner. Gerads, who previously partnered with Tom King of Sheriff of Babylon and Mister Miracle, has a very dense, shading-heavy style that’s excellent at capturing the griminess of war and violence and making big moments impactful. Shaner, on the other hand, has a very open style with brighter colors. Some people call his art “retro”, although I (and Shaner himself) disagree with that label. His style depicts action in a very modern, dynamic way that’s more evocative of an animated movie like The Iron Giant than an older comic.
When Strange Adventures was announced, both Shaner and Gerads released an image of Adam Strange in their own style. Shaner’s is very shiny and joyful, whereas Gerads’ is dark and monochromatic, featuring Adam with an obscured face covered in graffiti that says things like “SPACE LIAR”, “I KILL”, and “WAR CRIMINAL”. (War crimes are a theme in almost all of Tom King’s comics, which we’ll get to later.). Both artists will be doing interiors for the series, but with these very differing approaches to the characters, it is not clear how they will be dividing the series up. One artist per issue would lessen the impact of the style change, so I think both artists will be featured in each issue. They might be switching off every page or two, or one artist might do the first half of an issue and one do the second half. They could even depict the same events through a different lens.
Another possibility, given that Adam Strange is “the man of two worlds”, could be to have Gerads exclusively draw Earth events and Shaner only draws Rann. I do not think this is the way it’ll go, but with this sketch Gerads posted on Twitter of Adam and Alanna at the Lincoln Memorial, it is a possibility. I think the artists switching every few pages is the most likely outcome, and that in important, meaningful moments the two will share pages.
The Tom King Style
I’m a big fan of Tom King’s writing, and I’ve read most of his previous comics. He definitely has a very defined style, and recurring themes crop up in his work. The big, obvious hallmark of his comics is the nine-panel grid page. This style was made famous by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in Watchmen, and it works well to depict large amounts of dialogue and go frame-by-frame through important actions and expressions. King’s comics are often very dialogue-heavy, so the nine-panel grid helps him fit it in and maintain good pacing. Of course, King did say that for Strange Adventures, he’s “throwing away” one of the comic rules for himself that he’s been following so far. This likely means something more holistic, but it could just mean an absence of nine-panel grids.
Tom King often draws heavily on his personal experience and emotions when writing comics. He was a CIA counterterrorism officer in the Iraq War, which informs the Iraq War setting of Sheriff of Babylon. It also informs Vision’s experiences working with the US government in The Vision, and the war between New Genesis and Apokolips in Mister Miracle. King’s experiences allow his depictions of war and espionage to feel genuine to the reader, and I’m certain that will continue in Strange Adventures.
Tom King also focuses a lot on realistic, romantic relationships in his comics. Mister Miracle centered around the marriage of Scott Free and Barda, and his ongoing run on Batman has centered on Batman forming a relationship with Catwoman. The relationship between Adam and Alanna is one of the most important parts of the Adam Strange comics, and I would expect it to hold just as much importance in Strange Adventures. The tragedy of Adam Strange is that he is constantly being ripped away from the woman he loves, and that the only thing he can do is sit helplessly and wait. This sadness and longing is tailor-made for a Tom King comic, and I think he’s going to explore it in detail. Alanna is also the kind of strong female character King typically portrays. Even in the 50s, she was almost always cast as an equal partner in Adam’s adventures, not a damsel in distress.
This concludes my introduction to Adam Strange, and my best-guess predictions for the upcoming Strange Adventures, coming some time in 2020. If Strange Adventures seems like something you want to read, I recommend reading any of Tom King’s previous work, especially Mister Miracle, The Vision, and The Omega Men. If you’re interested in more Shaner art, check out his work on Future Quest. Of course, I recommend the very fun, original Adam Strange comics as well.