Literal and metaphorical character assassination. Hated every inch of this issue.
Literal and metaphorical character assassination. Hated every inch of this issue.
Treat it like an Elseworld.
I'd read it.Both sound reasonable. There’s no plans for Adam in outside media and no plans for him elsewhere in the DCU. Why not let King work out his anger on the character, especially since it was bound to sell more than any traditional Adam Strange book ever would?
I saw art of Ice being framed as like a Film Noir Heroine for the Human Target book so either Tora is going to get murdered or kill somebody because that's usually what happens with Film Noir heroines from my experience.
The past two issues have been... interesting. My emotional support fantasy turned into mouthpiece for my depression.
I don't want to rail on Tom King. It's solid character work, however unflattering. And I feel like if you draw the line at Adam Strange (in an OOC story no less), you're essentially saying every hero is untouchable.
Still. It bothers me that THIS is the Adam Strange revamp. And I wish King had more affection for the character.
Totally fair. I of all people don’t begrudge people getting angry about how characters they like get treated in out of continuity books
Which are great sales for a C-Lister which is why King gets to keep doing these. He’s one of the few writers left with a “brand name” for better or worse. And yeah he’s got more minis coming up, but he’s said this is the last of his “angry” phase along with Rorschach, and Supergirl is kicking off a lighter phase for him.
I expect they will keep this as an Elseworld if they ever decide to use Strange again.
I know you would lol, I probably might too, but it wouldn’t sell well.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
This won't effect Adam Strange in the main DCU in the slightest, aside from increasing Alanna's importance as an equal partner. As far as I know, this was always meant to be Black Label, so there was never any intention of this being a way for DC to shitcan the character.
As for the story itself, there's still another issue left, of course, but I simply don't have enough confidence in Tom King to find a way to make this story worthwhile. The art was gorgeous, and the characterization was great, but I still fail to see the value in King's weird obsession with warping optimistic children's characters into morally compromised metaphors for the horrors he was a part of in the War on Terror.
This is not to say that these characters can't be used to tell more complex stories that explore morality, but they're better suited to err on the side of aspirational hopeful conclusions rather than this kind of dark defeatist nihilism. I'm just not that interested in reading yet another story from King about how horrible our heroes really are. And I say this as someone who has no strong feelings about Adam Strange one way or another.
That art is gorgeous though. This is career best for both Gerads and Shaner.
Is Strange Adventures officially outside of the main DCU?
Because I recall both King and Gerads mentioning it was still within continuity back when it began despite the move to Black Label. It seems easy enough to ignore and say it took place in an alternate universe, but the intent seemingly was that it was to be canon to the main DCU.
Last edited by Rend20; 07-29-2021 at 08:20 PM.
I find thinking that anything written by Mr. King is best thought of as Elseworlds stories.
I was in his corner for a while, Batman was alright, Omega Men was great, Vision was a blast - but he completely lost me with Heroes In Crisis.
From reading everyone's thoughts I'm glad I skipped this as I am a fan of Adam Strange.
"My name is Wally West. I'm the fastest man alive!"
I'll try being nicer if you try being smarter.
That would be the only way to save Adam (and Alanna). Have it so he and Terrific were playing some fourth dimensional chess with the Pykkts. Though we’ve seen in flashbacks that Adam was a pretty cold blooded warrior that did whatever it took to win and even enjoyed seeing his enemies get dismembered.
curious to see if theyll bring up the psychological torture the Pykkts put him through while captured. It showed the noble hero what depth he would have to sink to in order to defeat this type of enemy. Still doesn’t redeem Adam.
This story is Black Label so should we chalk this up to being a modern day Elseworld?
Batman has lots of out of continuity books, but how many of them have turned him into irredeemably evil character? Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't remember a single one that does it. Fact that DC was ok with King doing this to Adam shows what DC editors think about Adam in general. Best case scenario this was Didio's idea that will be ignored going forward.
King and Gerad's intentions are irrelevant at this point. As with most stories that land with a resounding thud, they tend to be ignored pretty quickly (just ask Steve Orlando). Strange Adventures's status as a Black Label book only makes it easier for everyone to ignore. Heroes in Crisis's status as DC's big event meant they had to at least acknowledge it before it got rolled back almost immediately, but this one won't even get the chance to become canon before being exiled to the "not canon"-verse
Johns & Fabok's Three Jokers has suffered the same fate, although neither of those guys seem to have any illusions about how little impact that book was going to have upon the larger DCU. Had Geoff Johns not been dethroned within the corporate hierarchy, though, we absolutely would be dealing with the many turds that story tried to shat upon the DCU proper.
Everything he wrote at DC was immediately ignored, like his ill-conceived "reimagining" of Martian Manhunter or his Electric Warriors or any of his Wonder Woman stuff. Didio kept giving Orlando chances and yet he never managed to gain any traction, despite his many, many, many chances to do so.