marksutherland reviewed Strange Adventures by Tom King
Review of 'Strange Adventures' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
An attempt to confront the nature of colonialist adventure stories that pulls its punches in order to deliver a solid twist. There seems to be some kind of commentary on the golden age of comics through the quotes that are sprinkled through the book, but it's vague enough that I didn't get the point of that.
For much of the book it feels like King is on the brink of justifying war crimes in the name of the greater good, but once the twist is revealed it's more like they are just a distraction, they feel trivialised by the context of the story. There's a lot that is good about this story, especially compared to the disaster of The Omega Men, but in its focus on the personal, the big picture stuff is lost in the wash.
Art from both contributors is great, some beautiful landscapes and figures, vibrant colours, …
An attempt to confront the nature of colonialist adventure stories that pulls its punches in order to deliver a solid twist. There seems to be some kind of commentary on the golden age of comics through the quotes that are sprinkled through the book, but it's vague enough that I didn't get the point of that.
For much of the book it feels like King is on the brink of justifying war crimes in the name of the greater good, but once the twist is revealed it's more like they are just a distraction, they feel trivialised by the context of the story. There's a lot that is good about this story, especially compared to the disaster of The Omega Men, but in its focus on the personal, the big picture stuff is lost in the wash.
Art from both contributors is great, some beautiful landscapes and figures, vibrant colours, they've really done a fantastic job of telling this take as a collective.
