Characteristics

Height: 6' 0"

Weight: 175 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blond

Intro of Adam Strange

Adam Strange was created in the 1950s, and represented a good-natured hero that is rare these days. He was mostly situated in space and was an adventurer and with his adventures he represented masculinity with a touch of intelligent technology, like his ray guns and his jetpack. His adventures were also the comic-representation of stories that involved romance and tough monsters to fight on the planet of Rann. He was back again in the 1980s and Adam Strange got his own mini-series in the 90s. Be returned again in 2004 though it was poorly done by writer Andy Diggle and penciller Pascal Ferry. Rumour had it though, that the poorly sold mini-series in 2004 would connect itself to something bigger and better: The Rann-Thanagar War.

Origin Story and Showcase (1959)

Showcase was created by DC in 1957 as it was a try-out for characters that allowed DC to allow certain characters their own series. Adam Strange was featured in Showcase but the readers of DC really had no time for sci-fi adventurers as characters like Flash made his return in Showcase #4. His first appearance was in Showcase was #17 which was released in 1958 and returned in Showcase #18 and 19.

With his origin story, he was teleported by the Zeta Beam and was teleported to the planet of Rann. There he discovered a red suit, a jetpack and a ray gun where he fought off vicious monsters and generic evil geniuses. He soon discovered that he was accidentally teleported on Rann, as the Zeta Beam was originally created as a means of communication with Earth. Sardath explained that he had accidentally discovered a teleporter. Unfortunately, he discovered that the Zeta Beam would wear off and cause him to be teleported back to Earth. With this kind of story and sticking to its traditions, he met a beautiful woman with blue hair named Alanna, who was Sardath’s daughter. Adam Strange was a man who enjoyed the technology on Rann as he was a science man himself, yet he wasn’t stuck in the nerdy archetype, like Spider-Man. He would battle monsters with a simple jetpack and ray gun.

A typical start to Adam Strange’s adventures would involve him working on a calculation where he teleported to Rann by the Zeta Beam. There, he would meet Alanna, with their relationship developing into something romantic. She would inform him of a menace and the both of them would go out to defeat it. After they defeat it, they would attempt to develop their relationship, but the Zeta Beam always wears off at this point, teleporting him back to Earth. Any injuries caused on the mission would also disappear, as if the Zeta Beam healed him.

In Mystery in Space

Mystery in Space #53

Mystery in Space #75

Mystery in Space #87

Guest Appearances

Adam Strange had still made appearances as a guest such as appearing in Hawkman #18. Hawkgirl also joined the plot, which was finding the home planet of Hawkman. This was also a major change in the typical stories during the 1950s as Sardath had developed a new version of the Zeta Beam which allowed Strange to stay on Rann. Other major changes included the changing of his origin story. Menaces never appeared continually with each new issue and Strange had the opportunity to develop his relationship with Alanna now. They were both able to settle down, and from there, he was rarely shown, only showing up to solve a problem.

In Swamp Thing

Swamp Thing #57

In 1987, Adam Strange was involved with the Swamp Thing thanks to Alan Moore who took the stories into outer space, making it perfect to connect it with Adam Strange.

Swamp Thing #58

The Fall of Adam Strange

In 1990, Adam Strange was finally given his own series. Richard Bruning, the writer had a talk with Alan Moore to continue his ideas and works. The series also made a lot of references to Adam’s old days. For example, the layout of the comics in the series would be reminiscent of the 50s but had a great contrast to the 80s sort of dystopia-like city.

The mini-series spans over three issues. With the first issue, the Zeta Beam has stopped working due to the lack of transmission some five years ago. So, Sardath had developed a Mega Zeta Ray, which should permanently keep Adam Strange on Rann. With the marriage and Alanna who is about to have a child, Sardath sends two Mega Zeta Beams in case Adam misses the first one. With the Mega Zeta Beam on his way, he decides to finish things off in Earth. He says goodbye to his father who is dying. His family are sceptical of his story about transporting himself to Rann and never coming back, so he drinks with a woman called Eve until he is drunk and spends the night with her.

Just before Adam reaches Rann, there are a few pages devoted to “Meanwhile on Rann” and Alanna discovers that she is the first Rannian in twenty years to conceive. The Rannians also hate Adam Strange, but this time, they have started a movement against him. They are jealous that a human can be such a hero, when they can obviously do it themselves. After a first attempt, Adam Strange doesn’t get make it through the Mega Zeta Beam, but with the second one, he gets through. However, the beam had caused him to become mentally unstable and he started having hallucinations. He thought that the Rannians were monsters and injured Sardath and injured himself in the process and runs off into the desolate areas of Rann.

In the second issue, Adam’s actions in turn makes the Rannians resent Adam Strange even more and things are going downhill in general, with terrorist attacks. Sardath is healing from his injury and Delaken who could have married her, fills in Adam Strange’s absence. In the out ares of the Rannian city, Adam meets a woman who turns out to be Alanna’s mother and he notices that the people there also interact with the monsters that he has fought with. Meanwhile on Earth, Eve, who Adam spent the night with seems to have him on her mind all the time. In a need to contact Adam, she rummages through his notes and finds a location in Rio. She contacts a friend and invites her along for the road trip. Then, the Zeta Beam transports Eve to Rann.

In the third and final issue, Adam hears of Alanna’s story where Sardath had created a high-tech computer, capable of choosing Rannians who were able to reproduce and that is how Alanna came about. Though Sardath and Alanna’s mother had a disagreement, and she was exiled. She muses why a communications beam ends up teleporting someone and the reason why Sardath was treating Adam like a welcome guest. Sardath probably wanted him to reproduce with his daughter.

Eve however is taken prisoner but becomes a midwife, helping Alanna give birth. Sardath’s personality has changed due to the faulty healing machine and has changed his personality from the cold scientist he was to a resplendent man. As Adam and Alanna join the group, Eve scolds Adam for cheating on his wife. While Adam goes out to fight a creature just outside the city, Alanna dies in childbirth. Luckily and fortunately, Alanna recognises and establishes that the woman in Alanna’s mother. A fleet of rebel ships are coming for Rann, and with Sardath’s new personality, he creates a technology that will allow that city to float into space with a force-field. It lifts itself up and flies into space. With Eve on the new Rannagar, Eve is the new expert on democracy, with experience on Earth. She also didn’t go insane due to the radiation as Adam had already had a bit in him. The daughter is named Aleea, and Eve talks to him about overcoming his sadness and convinces him to go to the meeting about deciding on a new government.

Adam Strange in JLA

Adam Strange had a large disappearance gap due to the fact that with the last mini-series of three issues, fans felt there was not much to continue on with Adam Strange. It felt as if Even and Alanna’s mother were not interesting characters and few could imagine Adam being a single father. With JLA during the late 1990s, Mark Waid had been called to fill in Grant Morrison's absence and with this, he took the opportunity to include Adam Strange in the adventures of the JLA, though he had seemed to offend the Adam Strange fans, with the lack of continuity. He had written up Alanna as alive now, and Ranagar was no longer a space colony floating in space. Eve and Alanna’s mother was not mentioned.

#1 of the 2004 launch

DC’s 2004 Launch

It wasn’t a very good time to be launching Adam Strange’s own series consisting only of eight issues. It wasn’t a good time to be launching his own series because he had lost stories due to bad writing and was also being released the same time as Identity Crisis. However, rumours began when it was said that Adam Strange would then tie in with The Rann-Thanagar War. Readers began seeing that the four-issue series was quite good in terms of writing and art and with issue #4, Countdown #1 was released as well, confirming rumours that it would run into each other. This was good for business as sales were starting to rise and rumours of Adam Strange being tied into The Rann-Thanagar War were confirmed. With Adam Strange #8, it was clear that he had sold out as the term “demand and supply” had lost its meaning.

In the end, Adam Strange wasn’t tied to the Infinite Crisis though the Adam Strange series was fine on its own. Andy Diggle, the writer, would provide cliff hangers and Pascal Ferry, who was the artist, created a modern look though so much to losing the sci-fi feel, as the same with the writer. Dave McCaig also created the effect of the traditional sci-fi feel honouring the true origin of Adam Strange.