Adam Strange
Created by Gardner Fox, Ed Hamilton &
Mike Sekowsky
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NAME + ALIASES:
Adam Strange
KNOWN RELATIVES:
Alanna (wife), Aleea (daughter), Sardath (father-in-law)
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GROUP AFFILIATIONS:
Justice League of America, Seven Soldiers of
Victory
FIRST APPEARANCE:
Showcase #17 (December 1958)
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Adam Strange was a mere archaeologist
who was one day teleported
to the planet Rann in the Alpha Centauri
system. Their leader Sardath had invented the Zeta
Beam, which could teleport matter over light years of distance. Rann
was a dying planet and its gene pool needed new blood. Fortunately
for them, Strange fell in love with Sardath's daughter Alanna.
He became the planet's champion, defending against all kind of cosmic
threat.
Adam's time on Rann was always bittersweet. The Zeta Beams radiation
would eventually wear off and he would be returned to Earth.
Adam also began a long-standing affiliation with the Justice League.
This began rather behind the scenes when Adam vanquished
the Tornado Tyrant. This entity was thought to
be destroyed, but instead it began to roam
the universe. (Mystery in Space #61) The
Tyrant watched in the wings as Adam and the Justice League defeated Kanjar
Ro. The Tyrant was overcome by their heroism and repented,
becoming the Tornado Champion. The Champion left
Rann in search of a world of his own. (Mystery in
Space #75) Years
afterwards, the Tornado Champion would come to rest in the android
body of the Red Tornado, giving the android sentience.
But Strange's first encounter with the League was with their help
in defeating the alien Kanjar Ro. Ro was at war with
Hyathis of Alstair, Kromm of Mosteel, and Sayvar of Llarr. (JLofA
#3) Afterwards, Flash proposes to offer Adam Strange Justice
League membership. Adam declined, knowing that his commitment
to Rann would keep him too busy for active JLA duty. He was awarded
honorary membership instead. (#4) Soon
Kanjar Ro returned and the JLA helped once again. (#24)
Adam was part of a one-time assembly of heroes loosely called the
"Seven Soldiers of Victory." This group was arranged on Earth by
Deadman. (The team never actually
uses the SSoV name.) (Silver Age: Showcase)
Their most significant team up was to defeat the
cosmic vampire known as Starbreaker. They successfully
drove the monster away
from the planet Rann, (JLofA #96) but towards Earth instead. Sargon
the Sorcerer helped the League ward him off with his Ruby of Life.
(#97-98)
At the conclusion of their next encounter with Kanjar Ro, Adam and
Alanna were married. (JLofA #120-121) Alanna
sought help from the JLA when Adam became deranged
by residual Zeta-beam energy. They followed Adam to the 73rd Century
and helped Strange overcome his dimentia. (#138-139)
Eventually Adam and Alanna bore a daughter, Aleea.
(Adam Strange v.1 #3)
Starbreaker appeared once again to menace the Justice League and
the planet Almerac. His physical
was dispersed and he drifted bodiless and hungering. (Justice
League America #63-64) His essence was discovered by Sh'ri
Valkyr, a death cultist on the planet Thanagar. Her Cult
of Seven Devils worshipped him as a god, the bringer of total armageddon.
She learned of the Sardath's new technology: the Omega Beam which
was capable of converting huge amounts of matter into energy for
teleportation. She planned to convert the entire universe into energy
and project it into Starbreaker. Sardath knew he had to hide this
technology from her and so he beamed Rann and its three suns into
an empty universe and replaced it with a supernova. (Adam
Strange v.2 #7)
Sardath
knew that Starbreaker could not be destroyed. He had to act so fast
that he had no time to notify Adam of his plans. Adam knew that something
was wrong when
his next regular Zeta Beam didn't materialize. He
knew something was wrong, and sought the help of Superman. The
Man of Steel delivered grim news — the planet
Rann had been destroyed when its sun went supernova. Adam was
dejected, but the answers he craved would soon seek him out.
Valkyr sent two alien bounty hunters after Adam. They claimed that
Rann's dissappearance had been faked, and that Adam knew the secret. (#1)
Adam ran for his life in aerial combat with the aliens. He crippled
the last of them, but its suit initiated auto-destruct. Adam was
left without answers, but with a Zeta Beam teleportation
device. Wasting no further time, he used the device to see Rann's
fate himself. He teleported right into the corona of the supernova,
then his device began to malfunction from the heat. (#2) He
was rescued none other than Sh'ri Valkyr herself.
She claimed that suspicion for Rann's destruction had fallen on Thanagar
and helped Adam back to health. They discovered that the supernova
bore no similarity to any of Rann's three stars. In fact, the nova
had been transported to that spot from the Hydra Nebula.
Adam's potential knowledge was useful to the Thanagaians, but he
was more useful as a scapegoat. High
Councillor Thrall ordered
Adam be brought back to their planet to take the fall for Rann's
destruction. Valkyr would serve as his defender, but deliberately
failed him. He was sentenced for execution. (#3) Valkyr
saved Adam from his execution and "let" him escape so she could
track his activities. His first stop would, of course, be
the Hydra Nebula. There he found a device that appeared Rannian,
and also found some unexpected allies — the Omega
Men, who had
predicted Adam's arrival. Together they discovered a powerful containment
chamber, which Adam was able to open. (#4)
Adam discovered that the device they had found was a new Omega Beam,
based on the Zeta Beam technology. It drew power from the very fabric
of space/time which could make it the most powerful weapon ever created.
Naturally, this is what Starbreaker was seeking; the device would
enable him to devour the whole universe. Just then the Spider Guild
came knocking and Adam discovered that someone had used the Omega
Beam to teleport to the planet Maltus (headquarters
of the intersetellar law enforcement agency, L.E.G.I.O.N.) The Spider
Guild, who were clients of the agency tracked the Omega Men to Maltus
and notified L.E.G.I.O.N.'s commander, Vril Dox. The Omega Men mangaged
to dock on the planet and Adam soon discovered a great shock: none
other than Sardath himself! (#5)
In truth, this individual was only a clone
of Sardath. He gave Adam Rann's coordinates without hesitation, but
then the Durlan masqerading as the Omega Men's Doc revealed himself.
The Durlan killed the clone and Adam, Tigorr and Broot were captured
by Dox. They were saved by another shock ally Alanna.
(#6)
Adam was truly reunited with his family and finally found the explanation
for Sardath's actions. His reunion was soon spoiled when Valkyr
tracked them to that empty universe and unleashed Starbreaker on
one of the three suns. They made a
plan to attmpt to return Rann back to normal space and strand Starbreaker
there.
(#7)
Dox returned with a L.E.G.I.O.N. assault fleet and the last remaining
Darkstars pitched in to
stop Starbreaker. They
successfully siphoned a considerable amount of power from him, but
all three Darkstars were killed. Alanna delivered the killing blow
to Sh'ri Valkyr but not before Valkyr changed the coordinates for
the transport. The Omega Beam transported Rann back into normal
space, but into the Polaris System — home
of Thanagar. Adam had also asked Sardath to use the Omega Beam one
last time to teleport some of the supernova elsewhere, but the device
was destroyed. In under
four years, the nova would consume the Sol system and Earth. (#8)
Rann's presence threw the planet
Thanagar off its orbit, hurtling towards the sun. Adam returned to
Earth hoping that his allies, Hawkman and Hawkgirl could help in
this crisis. The Rannians helped save as many refugees as possible,
but Thanagar's atmosphere ignited, and all refugees settled on Rann.
All-our war ensued. Things worsened when they discover
that Komand'r (Blackfire) was nearby and targetting Rann for a new
Tamaranean homeworld. (Rann-Thanagar
War #1)
Adam Strange has no superhuman abilities. He is a superb hand-to-hand
combatant and highly skilled at aeriel combat, using his Rannian
jet pack.
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