DC Comics reviews 12/1/20 – Batman Catwoman #1, Justice League Endless Winter #1

Strange Adventures #7

Strange Adventures feels like it’s in a weird holding pattern. Writer Tom King knows where he’s going with the story and he’s gradually passing that information on to the various characters, but for the readers? We’re stick essentially waiting on our turn to learn what everyone else already knows. This makes some aspects of this issue more frustrating than others.

Piecing together the somewhat disjointed plot threads of flashbacks, the current events and retellings of recent event through other flashbacks gets tricky. At some point during the war, Adam got captured and experimented on by the Pykkts. He was tortured and traumatized until he reached his breaking point, which may or may not have something to do with how he saved Rann or why the Pykkts are now invading Earth.

This Earth invasion is imminent and early scouts have began arriving. Adam is concerned the heroes like Batman aren’t prepared to deal with such a ruthless enemy. King wrote Adam less a spineless rube backing down to his wife every scene while also not writing Alanna so harshly, which was an improvement for both characters.

Evan “Doc” Shaner and Mitch Gerads provide the exquisite artwork as usual. It’s hard not to see King in Gerads’ Adam Strange, which is a little weird since King seemed like Gerads’ model for his Mister Miracle as well. Still, his dramatic sense of storytelling gives the current day storyline a grounded, realistic feel. Shaner’s art embraces that cheery Silver Age dynamic and even in the face of this horrible torture Adam endures, Shaner is able to not make it feel as bleak as possible.

This issue laid the groundwork for what’s to come although it’s feeling like King could have told this story in half the time instead of slowly parceling out information.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10