HEROES I MISS: Adam Strange

Truly a metaphor of what was so right and then so wrong with the mainstream comic market, ADAM STRANGE remains one of my personal favorites, and yet at the same time most disgusted and frustrated hero properties in the DC Universe. Adam Strange went from genius to misunderstood to sheer waste in his career, and comics are much worse off for the attempt.

Starting as a kind of heroic science fiction adventurer in the pages of DC’s Showcase series (#17, December 1958) Adam Strange was a modern day world traveling archaeologist, traveling the world in a quest for knowledge when, in an opening so much like Raiders of The Lost Arc, he was being chased off a cliff by the local spear throwing natives and was suddenly hit by a mysterious light that transported him to the far planet of Rann. Once having the alien language implanted into him, he becomes involved with Sardath, a single father-mad scientist type (responsible for shooting the zeta-beam ray to earth in an attempt to teleport earth artifacts to him for study), and his lovely daughter Alanna who, in true heroic fashion, is the most beautiful woman Adam has ever seen. What follows are a number of Flash Gordon style adventures with Adam, armed with rocket pack and ray-gun (staples of most any heroic space opera stories of the day) defending Rann from all sorts of baddies using his imagination (something Rann apparently had in short, short supply- as well as guts), until the Zeta Beam wears off, transporting him back to Earth. Luckily Sardath has been making a number of Zeta beam attempts as Adam continues to tack their hit points on Earth, enabling him to return to Rann every chance he gets to do the same thing over and over again.

When I was younger my parents wouldn’t allow me to read superhero comics because of the violence. It took a little bit of explaining to my mom to convince her that Adam Strange really wasn’t a superhero as much as a science fiction space man. Having only appeared in Showcase for the usual 3 issues, Adam Strange them went to the lead spot in DC’s sci-fi anthology book Mystery In Space, then later on, when I was first reading comics, his adventures were reprinted in Strange Adventures (another sci-fi anthology that for whatever reason, DC kept printing long into the 70’s, even though most of the reprints they did were firmly planted in the 50’s). I read a couple of year’s worth of Adam Strange before I read most other superheroes. Sure, the stories were basic formula: get to Rann- hug Alanna- find trouble, solve trouble, and before he could really enjoy his time with Alanna he was teleported back to earth. Thinking about it, it was again a metaphor, this time for most relationships between boy and girl at the time: hang around- fight off all the barriers to get her alone, then just as you were about to get some- the ultimate put off and you were left to try to get to a base on your next date.

It WAS formula, but it remains a solid and entertaining one, and one that with a reboot on DC’s end could be VERY viable given today’s writing structure. Imagine a younger- early twenties Adam doing his lonesome globetrotting waiting, measuring, trying his best at predicting just where that Zeta-beam was going to hit so he could be once more teleported to his true love on Rann, only to meet with whatever catastrophe found there to fight, then in eternal frustration, never knowing just when the Zeta Beam would wear-off- if you leave it more unpredictable, never quite keeping to a time schedule, the possibilities for drama here would be endless. The ultimate young adult story, especially keeping the odd 50’s sci-fi elements when he is on Rann- making them all the more alien and bizarre, it could easily once again become a space-opera style romance/adventure strip.

Instead of keeping the chase alive, and trying to keep a fresh, more modern to this concept DC incorporated Adam Strange into the DC Universe proper, actually marrying him off in the mid to late 80’s to Alanna, and changing his body chemistry, if memory serves me correctly, so that he could never set foot on earth without dying. Now he his some oddball space policeman/protector/leader of the Rann army, decked out in more fierce armor, with a much bigger gun and armor. Gone is the romance, gone is the “fantastic” elements that made the series a joy to read, but most disappointingly of all, gone is the QUEST. The continual FIGHT Adam had in pursuing his own private happiness, not only on Earth, but also on Rann and with Alanna. He is no longer the hero that I knew and loved. That’s where my true frustration comes in. I miss those elements that made him unique and nostalgic to me, elements that could easily be VERY attractive to new readers, particularly I suspect a female audience. DC has from time to time, tried to attract such an audience in the past and they always seem to fail miserably (I’m planning a “Comics My Way” posting soon to address that, so stay tuned if you’re interested).

Classic Adam Strange reprints hold MUCH more than a good formula story. Once his feature was moved from Showcase to Mystery In Space Carmine Infantino became the penciller on the series. It is definitely one of his very best works, especially when Murphy Anderson is inking him and the majority of those old stories have them together- VERY classic stuff there. Additionally most of the stories (if not all of them) were written by comic’s veteran (and sci-fi plotter extraordinaire) Gardner Fox. It is one of those rare occurrences of top-notch talent working on a top-notch concept- he has never looked or read as good as with them three on him, in fact any story of Adam Strange without one of those three on it just seems a pale imitation.


DC, in a rare case of intelligence, acknowledges how great this series was with multiple reprints of this classic series, in hardbound Archive editions, as well as at least one Showcase Presents volume to date. There’s only enough good stuff to last one more Showcase Presents volume, and I sincerely hope they get around to producing that soon. If you get the chance either one of those reprint venues are great to read and I recommend them both highly, and know they are all available on Amazon. Take it from me, the Adam Strange currently shown in the DC Universe is also a pale imitation of what was, and we as comic readers are MUCH worse off because of it.

Enjoy, and WAKE UP!