I'm thinking they could (and hopefully would) drop Adam-as-villain. Rann is at war with the Pykkts; Adam died; Aleea is on Earth for her protection, studying under the third smartest man in the world. Maybe she was held captive, or maybe not, because Strange Adventures is a Black Label version of events. Something like that.
I feel I can safely predict with near 100% certainty that next time we see Mr. Terrific get focus, whether it's in the JSA relaunch, or Flash(Where he's Wally's current employer), or wherever, he will not be raising Aleea. Which is by itself a big mark against this being in continuity.
Not to mention if it's in continuity, you actually have to give it a chronological placement. Things have been very busy and hectic in the DC universe while this thing been slowly coming out, and I don't think there's any real good place to jam this in.
Honestly, I further predict if you asked whether it's still in continuity now, they'd either ignore the question or try to dodge the question by say "it doesn't matter whether it's in continuity, just enjoy the story anyway" which is basically an admission it's not in continuity. If by some chance they claim it is and you press them for details around which Issues of JL and Mr. Terrific's appearances it takes place for purposes of chronological filing, they likewise either not answer or try to claim "it doesn't matter".
I hope it's explicitly not in continuity. Like, in canon Adam's memoir is Mystery in Space, dedicated to his daughter with a joyful bible verse.
Maybe I'm just hoping in vain but I'm expecting Adam just makes a random cameo in a cosmic event/book and no one bothers to bring this up .
Or, like, we see a book where Terrific and Adam are best buds .
There is one simple way to fix Adam's reputation. The series was the book written by Alanna and is being pushed by Adam in the last panel. All an imaginary story, but given the last few pages of Alanna talking about stories, it's not a big jump to go with that conclusion.
The pros are obvious. Adam is NOT a war criminal who was responsible for thousands dying in Phoenix. He's also not dead.
The cons start with an imaginary story being rather weak. Especially after the first eleven issues of King's Mister Miracle series were just a dream of Big Barda.
Granted, there is no solid evidence I've found to support this idea. Just conjecture and subtleties that may have deeper meaning. But it tells the tale of a hero who wasn't as clean as he and others made him out to be and how his struggle led to his destruction.
I think if I were handling editorial for DC this would be an option I'd look at for Adam's future.
I’ll don the mask and wear the cape
If I am super, how can I wait?
Just because he's a niche character doesn't mean he doesn't have fans.
It certainly wasn't meant as a shot at King, more so a play on how people always blame editorial. I'd argue it takes a certain amount of skill to pitch a barebones plot and then backfill it to work with specific characters.
Also I've always read that bit from the comicbook.com interview to apply more broadly to his process and not just be HiC specific (plus I'm pretty sure I've heard him say the same thing on Word Balloon before):
https://comicbook.com/dc/news/tom-ki...tion-and-more/
Anyways as for issue #12 specifically, it was kind of meh. I've enjoyed the series overall but this just felt like everything wrapped up too cleanly to quickly.As I've said many times before, I don't pick the characters for my story; I give my plot to the editors and then the editors pick the characters for me.
Niche characters sometimes have the most passionate fans...