Adam Strange
37 years ago - Adam Strange is born.
21 years ago - 16-year-old Adam begins joining local archaeological expeditions in Nevada.
19 years ago - 18-year-old Adam goes to college to study Archaeology.
17 years ago - 20-year-old Adam graduates early to begin working.
13 years ago - 24-year-old Adam is teleported to Rann by a Zeta Beam. He battles Ulthoon, who is cast into deep space.
10 years ago - 27-year-old Adam marries Alanna.
9 years ago - 28-year-old Adam Strange & Alanna fend off a raid by Kanjar Ro's pirates.
7 years ago - 30-year-old Adam is sent back to Earth when the effects of the Zeta Beam degrade. He begins working to discover a new Zeta source.
6 years ago - 31-year-old Adam finds an earthborn Zeta effect & returns to Rann.
4 years ago - 33-year-old Adam's daughter Aleea is born. his Zeta effect is prematurely severed returning him to Earth.
2 years ago - 35-year-old Adam finds his way to Rann without the Zeta Beam, finding the planet phased out of sync with normal space to hide from Komand'r's fleet He saves Rann with help from Arisia Raab & Tigorr. stranding the pirate fleet in Raan's southern continent without ships.
1 year ago - 36-year-old Adam helps the Titans get into space to save Donna Troy. Tigorr starts to work with him regularly when Arisia Raab rejoins the Green Lantern Corps.
There's something intrinsically likable about Adam Strange. He's a throwback to a very early science fiction design, but it's such a wonderful design. A quick google image search for Adam Strange reveals page after page of fantastic fanart: this is a character concept that really speaks to people.
The story itself is an obvious homage to John Carter and Flash Gordon. With that sort of pedigree, the stories told in the pages of Adam Strange are so wide open and fantastic, they're an absolute pleasure to read. He's always existed in the periphery of DC's central continuity, a part of it but forever separate, and that suited the character just fine. He's not really meant to be battling earth-born villains alongside the Justice League, but to be battling bizarre monsters on his adopted alien home. The nature of Rann is something that's remained largely unchanged for years. There was an attempt to update the notion of the planet to make it more xenophobic In Richard Bruning's miniseries, as well as try to make the romance between Adam and Alanna uncertain by introducing an Earth-based love interest, but ultimately that series is really best remembered for giving us Rannian landscapes drawn by Andy Kubert. The ideas of what Rann is, and what type of hero Adam Strange is, are timeless. |
In modern comics there are three separate stories involving Adam Strange and Rann that we needed to address in our timeline. First is the Crisis tie-in series the Rann-Thanagar War. it was a great book that brought in space-centric heroes from all over the DC universe, but unfortunately, our version of Thanagar has been lost for thousands of years, so the story simply has to be set aside.
Next is the involvement of Adam Strange in the post-crisis series 52, where he starred alongside Starfire and Animal Man in a series of episodic adventures. the team was exceptionally successful and continued to be referenced in other comics, and we've used a similar story, bringing the characters together so that they can have an adventure getting Buddy home. Lastly, there is the absolutely amazing 2004 limited series Planet Heist by Andy Diggle, which is an absolute must-read. We've deliberately included it almost in it's entirety, showing Adam finding a way to return to Rann on his own and having to save the planet from the Starbreaker alongside the Omega Men. Other than that, it's simply a matter of getting specific with what happens to him, and when. One of the things that keeps Adam Strange from being a hugely popular character is that we never know just where he is at any given time, whether he's on Earth or on Rann, but by clearly laying out his comings and goings, he becomes an iconic figure of Science Fiction. That he's also a part of the DC Universe is just a bonus. |