I'm thinking of reading a few Adam Strange comics from over the years, but I'd like to know what was the best representative story in which he appeared in the 70s?
I know he didn't star in his own stories in the 70s, but perhaps a JLA/JSA crossover, or a Brave and The Bold?
Most importantly, it'd have to be a story that I could reasonably get my hands on, so one that is available in reprint would be good.
Has Adam Strange's first appearance in Mystery in Space #53 - 'Menace of the Robot Raiders!' been reprinted anywhere? What about Mystery in Space #82 "World War on Earth and Rann!" as well?
Replies
According to Comic Book DB, Mystery In Space #53 was reprinted in Adam Strange Archives vol. 1 (not surprising) and Showcase Presents Adam Strange vol. 1 (also not surprising). #82 was reprinted in Adam Strange Archives vol. 3 and the aforementioned Showcase Presents vol. 1.
Ah thanks. Hadn't realised they'd done a Showcase of Adam Strange. And I see that his first appearance was in the original DC Showcase series #17 back in 1958.
I don't know if I can justify buying 30+ Adam Strange stories just to read 2-3 of them, though.
Poverty is a terrible thing!
I have the Adam Strange Archives #1-3 and they are DC's sci-fi apex from the 60s. In many ways, he was the "purest" Gardner Fox hero because he thought then fought. Every menace he fought had a weakness that he had to figure out and he always did. The Champion of Two Worlds teamed with the JLA that he should have been listed as an honorary member. He was nominated in Justice League #4, losing out to Green Arrow. Had he joined, he would have been the only one (besides J'onn J'onzz) with no link to the Golden Age except for his "father", Flash Gordon.
The Cerebral Crusader appeared in the 70s through guest shots in Justice League and reprints. He had a two solo adventures in World's Finest #262-263 (My-Jl'80) and was the back-up feature for Green Lantern. He appeared three times in B&B; #90 (Jl'70), a really offbeat tale, #161 (Ap'80), more on that, and #190(S'82) with Infantino art! And twice in DC Comics Presents; #3 (N'78) and #82 (Jl'85).
As for his best Bronze Age appearances, I would go with Justice League # 120-121 where he battles various Mystery In Space menaces and Kanjar Ro, is grief-stricken over Alanna's "death", thinks he caused half the JLA to be killed, will die if he touches the Earth, overcomes his doubts, saves the day and gets married! *Whew*
B&B #161 is a great story, too where he switches places with Batman who has to clear Adam of murder charges on Rann while Adam has to figure out who a random serial killer is in Gotham City!
The oddest or "Strangest" sighting was the cover of Flash #210 (N'71) where Adam is seen jetting through the 30th century. This inspires JLA #138-139 for an explanation!
Hope this helps!
Fantastic, Philip. That's exactly the kind of list of guest appearances I was wondering about for the Bronze Age.
Some of those sound great, but mightn't be easy to get just yet.
I'd be most interested in getting the Superman Team-up in DC Comics Present #3, as I'd quite like to get the whole Showcase Presents DCCP vol 1 sometime.
Adam's Rann is a bit like Flash Gordon's Mongo, but I think Adam owes a big debt to Buck Rogers. He was a brainier hero than the early Flash Gordon (I must concede Flash became more of a thinking hero later on), commonly used a flying belt (after the strip's early phase, where he wore a jumping belt), and wore headpieces that resemble Adam's a bit. He looks particularly like Adam on this Famous Funnies cover.
Space Ranger, introduced immediately before Adam in Showcase, was surely modelled after the pulp hero Captain Future. He had a long run in Tales of the Unexpected and was moved into Mystery in Space when Jack Schiff became its editor.
In the '60s Adam also appeared in a team-up story in Hawkman after the cancellation of his feature (Hawkman's feature briefly appeared in Mystery in Space before he got his own book). I think that should be in the second Hawkman Showcase.
New Adam Strange stories appeared in Strange Adventures #222 and #226, when this was mostly a reprint title (reprinting Adam's adventures, among others). The latter tale is reportedly an illustrated text story. Adam also appeared in the Hawkman issues from the '70s revival of Showcase (##101-103) and in the team-up story in Showcase #100.
The story I heard was DC wanting to create two new science fiction heroes; one about an Earthman that goes to another planet in the present like Flash Gordon which, of course, was Adam Strange. The other was to take place in the future like Buck Rogers and that was Space Ranger.
Granted they are not remotely close analogues to their predecessors, but that was supposedly the inspiration.
According to Michael Uslan's introduction to the 1980 paperback Mysteries in Space, their creation stemmed from "a DC editorial meeting in late 1957 -- the same year the Russians launched Sputnik. The publisher wanted to launch two new space heroes -- one to be set in the present and one in the future -- and he wanted Schiff and Schwartz to each create one of them."
I don't know whether the people involved will have thought of Flash Gordon as a hero of the present. The TV show, from the mid-'50s, was set in the future. Somewhere along the line, I don't know when, that also became the time-period of his strip adventures.
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
5
of 29 Next