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Tripwire Top 10 Graphic Novels Of 2021: Day Eight

Published

5 years ago

December 30, 2021

Admin

People Are Strange

It’s the end of 2021 and here’s Tripwire’s top 10 graphic novels of the year with one choice a day from now until 1 January 2022…

8. Today’s choice is Strange Adventures by Tom King, Mitch Gerards and Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner, DC Comics.

Our seventh book is Strange Adventures by Tom King, Mitch Gerards and Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner, DC Black Label. The second Tom King book in our top ten list, Strange Adventures takes DC’s silver age sci-fi hero Adam Strange and subverts him for modern sensibilities. The hero of Rann, it seems, isn’t quite as pure as people believe him to be and so Mister Terrific is brought in to investigate his activities during wartime on his adopted home planet. King has shown himself to be one of the finest mainstream comic writers of the past decade thanks to work like Mister Miracle and Strange Adventures, reteaming him with artist Mitch Gerards here, is an even more accomplished series than his previous efforts.

Joining them is artist Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner, who offers a cleaner, classic line here. The presence of both artists offers an intriguing counterpoint to King’s constantly revolving script which enjoys toying with readers’ expectations and making them question everything. Strange Adventures is a brilliantly intelligent and cerebral deconstruction of what it means to be a hero and how the truth is never simple. Gerards’ impressionistic renderings move the story along at a clip while Shaner’s European, Ligne Clair style offer a different perspective to his part of the tale.

Rorschach was ambitious but didn’t quite live up to its potential while Strange Adventures does everything it set out to accomplish. There is real attention to detail here with its hardcover collection too. The dustjacket is designed like a dog-eared trashy 1950s science fiction novel with different textures used on its cover to give it that unique feel. King, Gerards and Shaner are an outstanding creative team and this hardcover should be on the wishlist of every fan of quality modern comics storytelling.