Adam Strange is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by editor Julius Schwartz, designed by Murphy Anderson, Gardner FoxAdam Strange Key Collector Comics https://www.keycollectorcomics.com › character › ada... Creation & Design. Adam Strange was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson, first appearing in the 1958 comic 'Mystery in Space #53'.SFE: Adam Strange SF Encyclopedia https://sf-encyclopedia.com › entry › adam_strange 22 Dec 2024 — A DC Comics Superhero, created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Mike Sekowsky, who first appeared in Showcase in 1958 and soon became ...Adam Strange (Comic Book) TV Tropes https://tvtropes.org › pmwiki › pmwiki.php › AdamStra... He was created by Gardner Fox, and first appeared in Showcase #17 (November, 1958). After three try-out issues in Showcase, he became a regular feature in ...Star-Crossed Lover: A Tribute To Adam Strange ComicsAlliance https://comicsalliance.com › tribute-adam-strange 19 Sept 2016 — But Schwartz, along with artist Murphy Anderson and writer Gardner Fox, created Adam Strange, an interstellar hero who endures to this day. and Mike Sekowsky. He first appeared in Showcase #17 (November 1958).
Adam Strange made his live-action debut in the television series Krypton, portrayed by Shaun Sipos. Additionally, Michael T. Weiss, Michael Trucco, and Brian Bloom have voiced the character in animation.
Creation In 1957, DC Comics editorial director Irwin Donenfeld held a meeting with editors Jack Schiff and Julius Schwartz in his office, asking them each to create a new science fiction hero, one from the present and one from the future. Given first pick Schiff chose to create one from the future, Space Ranger. Schwartz was happy with the pick feeling that readers would more readily identify with a hero from the present. He conceived the idea of an Earth man repeatedly traveling to a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system by using a "Zeta-beam" altered by space radiation. Since Adam Strange was the first human on another planet, he named his character Adam after the Biblical first man.Amash, Jim (2003). "Foreword" in The Adam Strange Archives: Volume 1. Pages 5–8. When asked about the inspiration behind the character, Gardner Fox stated "I suppose you could say that John Carter was in my subconscious. You had to think of some interesting way to transfer him from earth up to the planet Rann before you even got started in on a plot, but it was fun to do."
Publication history
Adam Strange debuted in issues #17–19 of the tryout series Showcase, published November 1958-March 1959. The first artwork of the character was a cover for Showcase #17 by Murphy Anderson. Schwartz rejected the drawing and commissioned a new one by Gil Kane, though Anderson's costume design was retained. Schwartz then assigned the scribing of the stories to Gardner Fox and the penciling to Mike Sekowsky. Schwartz and Fox devised the plots for the stories in Schwartz's office and Fox would write the scripts at home. A science major, Schwartz specialized in giving Fox scientific pointers that gave the Adam Strange tales a plausibility that made them stand out from most science fiction comic books of the time.
Sales on the three-issue Showcase tryout were enough to justify giving Adam Strange a slot in Mystery in Space, which ran in issues #53–100 and 102. Though Schwartz and Fox continued their work on the character, Schwartz gave the penciler assignment to Carmine Infantino instead of Sekowsky. Most issues were inked by Murphy Anderson (although Bernard Sachs, Joe Giella and Sid Greene did a few issues each). After his adventures in Mystery in Space were cancelled, Adam Strange continued to have guest appearances in several DC Comics titles. Perhaps the most notable is an adventure written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Murphy Anderson for Hawkman #18 (1967). In it, Hawkman fails to find his planet, Thanagar, and his search leads him to Rann, where he shares an adventure with Adam Strange. In Justice League of America, the Flash mentioned Adam Strange as a possible new member for the Justice League. When a letter to the editor pointed out the group had not met Adam Strange and could not have heard of him, as all his heroics took place on Rann, Schwartz and Fox wrote a story showing how the Justice League came to Rann and how Adam Strange saved them from Kanjar Ro. The story was published in Mystery in Space #75 and won the Alley Award for the "Best Book-Length Story" of 1962.
As of #92, Jack Schiff replaced Schwartz as editor of Mystery in Space and Lee Elias became the artist for Adam Strange. Following the discontinuation of the Adam Strange stories reprints were presented in Strange Adventures #217 through 244 (except for #222, which instead has a new story with Strange, written by Denny O'Neil, while #226 has a new Strange text story by Fox, with illustrations by Anderson).
Adam Strange had stories written by Dave Wood, Jerry Siegel, and Dennis O'Neil, art by Lee Elias and inks by John Giunta.Adam Strange: The Silver Age Omnibus
Through the 1970s the character was a regular presence in the DC Universe despite having no series of his own. In September 1980 Adam Strange began as a back-up feature in Green Lantern (this lasted from #132 to #147). Later in the 1980s Alan Moore wrote a retcon of Adam Strange's reason for his visits to Rann. In this retcon the population of the planet, the majority of whom view the Terran with contempt, is sterile, and Adam Strange is there to be a breeding stud. In a 1990 limited series, The Man of Two Worlds, Adam learns of the population's opinion of him and Alanna dies giving birth to their daughter Aleea. In 1997, Grant Morrison revived the Justice League of America in the JLA series. During this period, Mark Waid featured Adam Strange when he filled in for Morrison. In JLA #20 (July 1998), Alanna is revealed to be alive and is briefly reunited with her husband and daughter before Adam returns to Earth.
Adam appeared in stories set in the Silver Age: Legends of the DC Universe 80-Page Giant #1 (1998); Silver Age: Showcase #1 (2000); DC Universe: Legacies #5 (2010); and DC Retroactive: Justice League - The '70s (2011).
In 2013, Jeff Lemire said he intended to introduce a New 52 incarnation of Adam Strange at some point in Justice League Canada, a series scheduled to launch in Spring 2014. Lemire's series was instead titled Justice League United, featuring Adam and Alanna.
The series Strange Adventures vol. 5, written by Tom King and illustrated by Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner was launched in 2020, focusing on the character of Adam Strange.
Fictional character biography Strange is an archeologist suddenly teleported from Peru, Earth, to the planet Rann through a "Zeta-Beam". Upon his arrival, he is attacked by one of the planet's predators and rescued by a dark-haired woman named Alanna. She takes him to her father Sardath, who explains that the Zeta-Beam was transmitted to Earth in the hopes that whatever form of intelligent life lived there would trace it back to Rann, and he also theorizes that in the four years it took the Zeta-Beam to reach Earth, it was exposed to radiation and transformed into a transportation beam. Called on to protect the planet from extraterrestrial threats using Rann's technology, Strange grows to care for the planet and its inhabitants, especially Alanna. Eventually, the effects of the beam's transportation wear off, returning Strange to Earth at the exact point of departure. However, Sardath gives him a schedule of beam firings, allowing him to periodically return to the planet.Showcase #17 in The Adam Strange Archives: Volume 1. Pages 9–34.
Years later, during an exile in space, Swamp Thing arrives on Rann, where he meets Adam Strange. In this story it is revealed that centuries ago the planet's population suffered nuclear wars and left them not only with the loss of a large part of their ecosystem, but also with a genetic problem that made the majority of the population sterile. Alanna is among the last Rannians born before the event and maintains fertility.Swamp Thing (vol. 2) #57-58
Over time, Sardath perfects a beam he would call the "Mega Zeta-Beam" which would allow Adam to permanently transport himself to Rann. Adam learns that he was transported to Rann on purpose to serve as Alanna's husband and repopulate the planet. Alanna gives birth to a girl named Aleea, but apparently dies in the process.Adam Strange #1-3
Years later, Adam is on Rann raising Aleea and helping to restore the planet, when he learns that Alanna was placed in suspended animation and captured by the En'Taran Slavemasters. Adam convinces the conquerors that he must kidnap the Justice League to rebuild the planet more quickly, and thus, together with the group, he not only rebuilds Rann but defeats the En'tarang and frees Alanna. In the process, Adam loses all traces of the Mega Zeta Ray in his body and returns to Earth.JLA #20-21 (1998) Adam returns to Rann and reunited with his family shortly after.JLA: Heaven's Ladder (2000)
Planet Heist Planet Heist, a 2004 eight-issue limited series, written by Andy Diggle, penciled by Pasqual Ferry and colored by Dave McCaig, replaced Adam Strange's costume with a spacesuit that allows for interstellar travel. Adam is preparing to relocate to Rann permanently when he learns that Sardath transported the planet to another dimension to protect it from Starbreaker. Adam, with the help of the Omega Men and the Darkstars, among others, saves Rann and defeats Starbreaker.
Rann-Thanagar War
When Rann is moved from Alpha Centauri to Polaris, its orbit is believed to have pushed the planet Thanagar closer to its sun, destroying much of the surface. Many Thanagarians relocate to Rann, but enmity between the two races results in a war. Strange, working with Hawkman, Hawkwoman, Kyle Rayner and Kilowog, ends the war after discovering Superboy-Prime's role in Thanagar's relocation.
52
In 52, Adam is stranded on another planet with Animal Man and Starfire and is blinded in a Zeta-Beam accident.52 Week Seven After being attacked by Devilance, the three escape and battle Lady Styx, who is ravaging planets across the galaxy. With Styx presumably defeated and Animal Man seemingly killed, Strange and Starfire continue their journey back to Earth and Rann while Styx's followers pursue them. With Starfire wounded in one such battle, and their ship breaking apart and malfunctioning, Adam is rescued by Mogo and a rookie Green Lantern. He is then brought to Rann, where his vision is restored.
Countdown to Adventure Adam Strange joined Animal Man and Starfire in the series Countdown to Adventure written by Adam Beechen in August 2007.
In issue #1, Adam is replaced as Rann's protector by former actor Champ Hazard. However, Hazard has no regard for any life and is responsible for ending his battles in a horrifically bloody way. It appears Champ was infected by a madness plague created by Lady Styx before leaving Earth, and has infected one-third of the people on Rann, causing them to riot and say "Believe in Her". Adam and his family escape to Earth, where he enlists the aid of Animal Man and Starfire, eventually discovering a way to cure the plague and restore the infectees to normal.
Rann-Thanagar Holy War Adam Strange, along with many of the DC space heroes including Hawkman, Starfire, Weird, and Starman (Prince Gavyn), battles Synnar the Demiurge. Adam Strange's actions in this story result in the depopulation of Gavyn's Throneworld at the hands of Lady Styx. Later, to defeat Synnar and Styx, Rann's atmosphere was explosively discharged into outer space with Rann's entire population Zeta-beamed to Throneworld. Strange also discovers in this story that he is a member of the so-called Aberrant Six.
Strange Adventures