Tom King took to Twitter to hype up his upcoming Strange Adventures series, posting four pages from Heroes in Crisis to offer some hints as to who will co-star the book with Adam Strange. Unfortunately, the four pages are each nine-panel grids, with every panel displaying a different hero undergoing therapy in Sanctuary. As a result, there are thirty-five possibilities - not counting the previously revealed Adam Strange. So just who could be the star of the series?
Unfortunately, the four pages offer up a veritable Who’s Who of superheroes, including A-Listers like Aquaman, Cyborg, Catwoman, and Robin, as well as lesser-known characters such as Tommy Tomorrow, Detective Chimp and Kole. There are a ton of different possibilities for Strange’s co-star, to say the least.
What is known is Strange Adventures will reunite the Mister Miracle creative team of Tom King and Mitch Gerads, as well as artist Evan “Doc” Shaner. The story will heavily center around Adam Strange, a scientist from Earth-turned-superhero of the planet Rann. The series is said to explore Strange’s secrets and past, which will threaten both Rann and the DC Universe as a whole.
One possibility - however unlikely - is the series will simply feature all or some of the characters included in pages. After all, why would Tom King include four pages of possibilities instead of simply one? The series could feature a rotating cast, similar to shows like Justice League: Unlimited, with Adam Strange grappling with the personal implications of his decisions, while one or more characters deal with the wide-ranging impacts throughout the DC Universe. This theory does suffer from logistical considerations, however, since the series is only twelve issues, it would hard to support a cast this big. It also doesn’t fit with King’s previous statements on Strange’s singular partner, but it does answer one question: why were these four pages posted on Twitter in particular?
There are several fan-favorites amid the list who could certainly fill the role, especially as the series will likely be centered in deep space. Green Lanterns Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, and Jessica Cruz are seen in the panels, and while Cruz has been featured in Justice League Odyssey, Gardner and Rayner have been left out of major events for a while. Martian Manhunter, recently resurrected, is another possibility.
Perhaps the most likely possibility is a lesser-known character. After all, obscure heroes like Gnark, Hotspot, and Protector bore the brunt of the body count in King’s Heroes in Crisis. Spotlighting one or more in Strange Adventures could bring some of the lesser-known heroes front and center. Tommy Tomorrow seems a particularly easy fit, given that he’s a space cop from the future who might have experienced the impact of Strange’s decisions first-hand. Another intriguing possibility is French Checkmate agent Mademoiselle Marie, who says “Those Jupiter wants to lose, he starts by taking away their reason” in French on the panel. Whether Marie’s words are simply a bilingual bonus or a hint of something more remains to be seen.
Ultimately, the identity of Adam Strange’s elusive co-star remains anyone’s guess, although several promising possibilities have been revealed. Whether the hero is a well-known A-lister, a fan-favorite, an obscure superhero - or all of the above - Strange Adventures looks to be a wild ride through the farthest reaches of space - and darkest regions of the past.
Strange Adventures #1 will debut sometime in 2020.
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