Strange Adventures #2: Terrific

I’m not going to lie, this book is incredibly difficult to read, if you are a parent. I’m just going to open with that right out the gate. I’m someone’s child, as well as a (new) parent and let me tell you right now that this change in status has affected my reading. All kinds of illusions fall apart, when you produce a kid, and you gain a new and deeper insight (for better or for worse) into the minds of the people who gave you life. This book hinges on perspectives; what love does to us. The illusions we throw up for all the world to see, the pain and shames we hide from the people who would like to know us, and the prospect of losing (in flesh, and in metaphor) the people who we love. And reading it is hard (beautiful) going. 

Mr. Terrific and Adam Strange are tied together here, not just through the intimacy of a potential criminal investigation. They’ve both lost children, although that loss has manifested itself in different ways.

Watching the process of Holt’s thoughts, his willingness to examine an aspect of his life which other people would probably rather leave hidden, in his pursuit of justice reveals something truly heroic in his character. This is written beautifully, and the way that it is scripted (the execution of the art) delivers maximum impact to the reader. 

As I said in my last review, the stylistic shift the art, between idealistic narrative and gritty reality serves to propel the narrative in the most effective way possible. And it was nice to see that this story is set within the current continuity. Batman’s fight with Pyg was a nice touch.

Just for the record, I should say that King continues his exploration of colonialism and the politics of war. It’s no accident that the ‘good’ aliens resemble white humans and the ‘bad’ aliens are more lizardlike. The question is, how much of the prejudice Strange enacts is intentional, and how much of it is the product of his own internalized racism. 

I have to say that, given the recent protests in America, I’m more on the side of the revolutionary lizard people than I am the status quo that Strange tried and failed, to protect. 

All in all, this was a fantastic issue. If the story continues in this vein, it will be interesting to see where it goes.