Strange Adventures #10 Review

“I’ve had suspicions for a while now”--Mr. Terrific

Tom King--Writer

Mitch Gerads & Evan “Doc” Shaner--Interior & Cover Artists

Clayton Cowles--Letter

DC--Publisher

King, Gerads, and Shaner really drop what this story has been leading into for the entire series so far...and it is exactly what I thought would happen. 

I'm not saying that I am Mr. Terrific, but this story is pretty much scripted on where I thought it was going and I was really hoping that I was not going to be right. I was hoping that King would throw a twist in there that left me speechless, but not this time. This story is a letter from Mr. Terrific to Alanna basically explaining the conclusions that he has come to and what he has learned through his investigations. I don’t want to give too much away but it has to do with Adam and Alanna’s daughter and the end of the war on Rann. If you have read comics, or watched suspense thriller movies, or anything really, it is pretty easy to come to the same conclusions that Mr. Terrific, the smartest man in the DC Universe, and that just makes me feel like Sherlock Holmes...and I’m really not!

However, where the story falls flat in this issue, Gerads and Shaner are a fantastic dynamic duo on the art for this story. Shaner draws the stories on Rann and Gerads draws the stories on Earth and they both have drastically different styles. Shaner has a Superman-style quality that is evocative of the best stories of Superman. It is clean and bright and full of hope. Gerads  has a gritter style but it fits so well against the hopefulness of Shaner’s. Gerads has darker colors in this story but the way he draws Alanna and what she goes through in this comic is just stunning. Gerads and Shaner really get to shine in Strange Adventures.,

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this story to be honest. I am hopeful of things coming out by King and Gerads and will honestly support anything that they do together. But, I know where this story is going and now I am just kind of checked out of it. I’ll go ahead and pick up the other two issues to have the full collection but if I had not already had every copy, I don’t think I would search it out. The art is well worth the price of this book but I think I would trade wait if I had it all to do over again. I think it might fit better together once every issue is out. I really can’t in good conscious tell you to get this particular book for the story but if you want beautiful art work, then certainly get this book.