Adam Strange
Entry updated 22 December 2024. Tagged: Character, Comics.
A DC Comics Superhero, created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Mike Sekowsky, who first appeared in Showcase in 1958 and soon became the leading character in Mystery in Space. An obvious imitation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars, Strange is an archaeologist working in Peru who is suddenly struck by a strange Ray and instantly teleported (see Matter Transmission) to the distant planet Rann in the Alpha Centauri system (though it was later moved to the Polaris system). Like Burroughs's Barsoom (see Mars), Rann has achieved technological advances beyond those of Earth but now seems to be in decline, requiring the assistance of a hero from another world to maintain its civilization. When he first arrives, he is rescued from a menace by a beautiful woman named Alanna, who he later romances and marries; she takes him to her father Sardath, a Scientist, who explains that he sent "Zeta-Beams" to Earth in an effort to communicate, but these somehow gained the power to teleport the beings struck by them to Rann. Their effect is only temporary, so after dealing with a crisis Strange is soon teleported back to Earth; but Sardath gives him information about where and when the other beams will hit Earth, so he can travel to those destinations and make periodic visits to Rann, while apparently continuing to practice his profession on Earth (though his work receives little if any attention). He acquires a red costume, a jetpack enabling him to fly (see Flying), and a Ray Gun which he employs in battling against the strange threats to Rann that inevitably arise whenever he returns.
Despite the inconvenient fact that he was only a superhero on another planet, he was considered for membership in the Justice League of America and made guest appearances in their comic after his series was cancelled in 1965; he also had one-on-one encounters with the superhero Hawkman, and they subsequently became involved in a War between Rann and Hawkman's home planet Thanagar. The character has subsequently been reimagined in solo stories and as a guest in others' stories in various ways, and two stories set farther in the future feature two of his descendants, named Adam Strange and Alan Strange. His appearance in other media to date are in two animated series, and the live-action television series Krypton (2018-2019), where he advises an ancestor of Superman. A scientist named Strange (his first name never given) also plays a brief role in Smallville, though he seems to be a different character, his only connection to Adam Strange being a desire to develop "Zeta-Beams" to teleport people to other worlds.
It is amusing to speculate that Adam Strange might be related to Marvel Comics' supernatural superhero Doctor Strange (whose real name is Stephen Strange), since they are both highly educated men who happened to take very different paths to achieve their heroic status; perhaps this is something to be explored in a crossover adventure. [GW]
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