YMMV / Strange Adventures (2020)

• Awesome Art: The series' artwork was split between longtime Tom King collaborator Mitch Gerads and beloved DC artist Doc Shaner, and both of them knock it out of the park. Despite working in such starkly contrasting styles, Shaner's upbeat, Silver Age-esque depictions of Adam Strange's sci-fi endeavors contrasts beautifully to Gerads' grim and gritty stylism of Strange's present-day.
• Broken Base: The characterization of Adam Strange as a much darker, more tragic, and flawed character than usual is easily the most controversial aspect of the series, unavoidable given that it's the crux the story is built on. Among supporters, the reinterpretation of his character makes for a thrilling and quirky merge of pulpy sci-fi and war drama, providing an interesting exploration on Protagonist-Centered Morality and the nature of biased storytelling. Among detractors, it's a complete butchering that overrides the appeal of Adam Strange to make him yet another conduit for Tom King's tired personal melodrama, with later story developments (namely the reveal that Adam had committed war crimes) putting him firmly in unsympathetic territory.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Even though he only appears for a couple of pages in Issue #4, Doc Shaner's design of Hal Jordan was warmly received by readers.
• Nightmare Fuel: Issue #7 depicts Adam being tortured by the Pykkts, who overload his zeta-beam so that he's teleported in and out of perilous environments without rest. As if that concept alone isn't frightening enough, the various psychedelic visions Adam is treated to as he's beamed back into his cell make things appear even more like an actual nightmare. The climax of this is when he's suddenly ported into a field where his wife and daughter discover him, and just as he assures to them that he's finally free and safe, he's teleported back again, treating the two to a visual of his head exploding.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Issue #9 publicly outs Adam as having committed severe war crimes against the Pykkts, earning his dismissal from the Justice League. Even despite later revelations that Adam was allowing the Pykkts to scorch Earth in exchange for Rann, he's still trying to save his former comrades, and is more than a little wounded when they still refuse his help, especially since their failure to help him in the past is in part what allowed the Pykkt conflict to get as bad as it did.
    Superman: Go home, Adam.
    Adam: Where do you think I am? I'm The Man of Two Worlds. This is my home.
    Superman: All this stuff you're... I fought every threat my whole life. I've been through every pain there is. There's no excuse for it. None. Not to me. We're an example. We fight hard and we fight fair.
    Adam: I BEGGED YOU!
  • Adam's death in issue #11. Adam and Alanna's relationship falls apart once Alanna learns the Awful Truth of what her husband did to Earth and their daughter, escalating into a Gun Struggle that accidentally claims his life. Even with the knowledge of how much Adam betrayed everyone with his decisions, Alanna's reaction makes it clear this was not how it should've gone down. It doesn't help that said gun struggle is juxtaposed to a flashback of the two during the final day of the Pykkt/Rann invasion, making the fate even more tragic and senseless.
    Flashback!Alanna: I love you, Adam, no matter...
    Flashback!Adam: I love you, Alanna. I always will.
    Flashback!Alanna: Oh, Adam...
    Present!Alanna: (embracing his dead body) Oh, Adam...
• Win Back the Crowd: While not without its share of discourse — primarily aimed at King's recharacterization of Adam Strange — Strange Adventures was acclaimed by critics and generally well-received by audiences, seen as a welcome return to form for Tom King after his divisive run of Batman and the widely-panned Heroes in Crisis cast major doubt on his abilities as writer.

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