# Adam Strange and Space Ranger **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga\ **Created:** [August 16, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788 "2024-08-16T12:13:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/1 "2024-08-16T12:13:04Z")
I attended the NASFIC science fiction convention in Buffalo last month, and one of the panels I was on discussed Science Fiction in 1960s DC Comics. A couple of the topics were the superheroes Adam Strange and Space Ranger, but we didn’t talk abou them a lot. I just wanted to put down some of my random thoughts here. Both heroes were supposedly created circa 1957 when DC editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz held a meeting about creating two “spaceman” characters, one set in the present day, the other in the future. Adam Strange was the present-day one and Space Ranger the futuristic one. Of course 1957 didn’t offer many opportunities for “spacemen heroes” (although Dell comics at the time tried, with _Drift Marlo, Space Detective_; I think it ran for only 2 issues). They got around this with ingenious idea of having the titular Adam being hit by a “zeta beam” from the planet Rann, which brought him to the planet, where he promptly met Alanna, daughter of the scientist who created the Zeta beam. Alanna was beautiful and cool and immediately fell in love with Strange, with whom she had various science fictiony adventures. Adam was, by training, an archaeologist, which you wouldn’t think (Indiana Jones to the contrary notwithstanding) would be the right background for that sort of adventuring. But Adam quickly acquired a jetpack and a weird finned helmet so he could fly around, and a handy ray gun, and they off and running. The Zeta beam kept him on Rann for a short time, after which he faded back to Earth. Somehow he was able to figure out where and when the Zeta beam would strike next, and part of the fun of each story opening was seeing how he managed to be on the spot for the teleportation. (For some reason, the ray from Alpha CEntauri was able to target earth from light-years away, but had trouble reliably hitting within a thousand miles of the right spot) It didn’t hit me until recently, but with his jet-pack and finned helmet, Adam Strange was probably more of an influence on the look of Dave Stevens’ _Rocketeer_ than Commando Cody was. > **[Adam Strange](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Strange#/media/File:Adam_Strange.png)** > > New 52 > Adam Strange is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by editor Julius Schwartz and designed by Murphy Anderson, he first appeared in Showcase #17 (November 1958). > Adam Strange made his live action debut in the television series Krypton, portrayed by Shaun Sipos. > 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... > **[Rocketeer](https://www.zbrushcentral.com/t/rocketeer/382494)** > > Hello friends, this project is inspired by the Dave Stevens comics and based on the Disney movie “the Rocketeer”. Prepared for 3D printing or collectibles. I hope you enjoy it. It also never struck me as a kid, but Adam Strange walking around in public on Rann with his jetpack and finned helmet was just as conspicuous and outre as he would be walking around that way on Earth. And how come nobody else on Rann seemed to always be wearing a jetpack? But the adventures were cool and science- and logic-based. And Alanna took significant part in the adventures, even though she had second banana status and needed more rescuing. But it was the sixries, not the future. Space Ranger , I didn’t realize at the time, was probably stolen from Isaac Asimov’s “Lucky” Starr, Space Ranger series. (I didn’t hear about them until years later) – in both a wealthy do-gooder with the last name “Starr” acts as a “Space Ranger” (obviously the concept was taken from the Lone Ranger, who was, in turn, inspired by the Texas Rangers). Like the Lone Ranger, neither Starr was really alone – eachhad a diminutive sidehkick. In Space Ranger’s case, this was the alien Cryll, who had a bal-shaped body and pinched-pouting mouth and was the color of a school eraser. He was a shape-shifter, who could assume the shape of any animal in the universe. Space Ranger had a ray gun that could shoot multiple beams, and had a headquarters in a hollowed-out asteroid. Like Adam Strange, Space Ranger never seemed to be embarrassed that he was walking around in a weird costume while everyone else, aliens included, wore street clothes. His resembled yellow pajamas with red piping, and featured a fishbowl helmet > **[Space Ranger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Ranger#/media/File:Spacerangerdcu0.jpg)** > > Space Ranger (Rick Starr) is a science fiction hero who was published by American company DC Comics in several of their 1950s and 1960s anthology titles. He first appeared in Showcase #15 (July 1958) and was created by writers Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox and artist Bob Brown. The character has notable similarities to a preceding character named David "Lucky" Starr, created by novelist Isaac Asimov in his 1952 novel David Starr, Space Ranger. After appearing in Showcase #15 and 16, the S In 19... The helmet made no sense, because it didn’t cover his whole head, so it wouldn’t be able to keep air in. Maybe it had an invisible force field that did this, because he was frequently shown wearing it without discomfort in space. Cryll > **[That infestation of bizarre little sidekicks](https://dochermes.livejournal.com/224543.html?page=1)** > > It was quite an epidemic during the 1960s, and I wonder if there was an editorial push for it or the various writers were just desperate to come up with new twists and gimmicks to fill those pages month after month. Any number of DC heroes suddenly... Eventually, they had a couple of stories where Adam Strange’s descendant met Space Ranger. Even later on, stories about both sets of heroes got a lot darker. Gimme the old 1960s science-based plots. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2024, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/2 "2024-08-16T12:34:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And how come nobody else on Rann seemed to always be wearing a jetpack? Probably just a common case of zeal of the convert. > **[Zeal of the convert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeal_of_the_convert)** > > The zeal of the convert is a term describing the very fervent devotion to new beliefs, which are completely different from one's old beliefs. For example, Paul the Apostle, formally known as Saul of Tarsus was a Jewish Pharisees who persecuted Christians until he had a life changing vision on the road to Damascus and became a Christian missionary who spent his life spreading Christianity throughout the Roman empire and was later executed in Rome for his devout Christian beliefs. > The term "zeal o... ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/3 "2024-08-18T16:49:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Even later on, stories about both sets of heroes got a lot darker. Uh, oh. I’m about to start a recent Adam Strange series by the amazing writer Tom King. Now I’m worried about it “going dark”. I may have to go back to reading the good ol’ Zeta Beam\* stories. [![](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/911oLbbA1uL._SL1500_.jpg) ](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/911oLbbA1uL._SL1500_.jpg) \*Which, as a kid, I thought was a brilliant plot device. Adam figures out (with a table full of hand-scrawled math and geographical symbols) where the next Z-beam will hit, then has to be swinging out over a Brazilian waterfall at that precise moment… Much fun! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/4 "2024-08-18T18:35:27Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Uh, oh. I’m about to start a recent Adam Strange series by the amazing writer Tom King. Now I’m worried about it “going dark”. I may have to go back to reading the good ol’ Zeta Beam\* stories. Here’s what someone wropte on Reddit: > [@](#): > > The story is supposed to be a deconstruction of the kind of “WASP man goes to space and saves the poor natives” stories Adam Strange initially came from, with a generous dash of King’s usual critique-ish of the wars in the Middle East. So Adam is very much just there to be a vessel for whatever traits King wants to dump on him to tell that story, any actual similarities to his usual characterisation are incidental. [https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/154tdn5/how\_bad\_is\_adam\_stranges\_character\_assassination/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DCcomics/comments/154tdn5/how_bad_is_adam_stranges_character_assassination/) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/5 "2024-08-18T18:38:49Z")
There’s also this > [@](#): > > I think there is that danger with _Strange Adventures_, a wonderful and yet truly emotionally awful Adam Strange story that just gets more awful the longer it goes on. The DC Universe here is functionally the same as “our own” DC Universe, the characters functionally the same, and so I think it might be too easy for the careless writer of some next Hawkman or Green Lantern or even Justice Society story to make reference to _Strange Adventures_, thereby solidifying the terrible actions here as canon. That, I think, would take a long time for these characters to recover from. > > Has DC ever stated that even if a DC Black Label book appears to take place in current continuity, the events are still separate? Not that I recall. Assuredly that wasn’t true for the former “Mature Readers” books, which included the later canonized _Killing Joke_, where also what was not intended to be continuity became so. Perhaps the time is now for that statement to be made. Adam Strange might thank you for it. > **[Review: Strange Adventures hardcover/paperback (DC Comics)](https://collectededitions.blogspot.com/2022/01/review-strange-adventures.html)** > > Review: Strange Adventures. Adam and Alanna Strange try to save Earth; Mr. Terrific investigates war crimes. By Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Doc Shaner. I guess it’s “not your daddy’s Adam Strange”. as the saying goes. Nor, I expect, mine. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/6 "2024-08-18T19:32:05Z")
Thanks for the heads up! This just cements my preference for reading old stuff. One of my favorite things to do is to find a corner table at a coffee joint and crack open a 1960s Jimmy Olsen comic. Or a 1940s Hardy Boys book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/7 "2024-08-19T13:00:01Z")
Actually, Dark Adam Strange stories started even before the Tom King series. I’d read about the Alan Moore series from the 1980s, although I haven’t read _Man of Two Worlds_: > [@](#): > > Later in the 1980s [Alan Moore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Moore) wrote a [retcon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stud_(animal)). In a 1990 [limited series](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_series_(comics)), _The Man of Two Worlds_ , Adam learns of the population’s opinion of him and Alanna dies giving birth to their daughter Aleea. > > … > > Over time, Sardath perfected a beam he would call the “Mega Zeta-Beam” which would allow Adam to permanently transport himself to Rann. In those days, Adam learns that he did not really come to Rann by accident since the Zeta Ray was sent by Sardath to bring him with the intention that he would form a couple with Alanna and have children with her so that he could begin to change the genetics of the population. While Adam was destined to save the planet, it was not in the way he believed. He also learns that despite having been his primary protector for years, the people of Rann generally despised him for being an alien. Eventually, Alanna gives birth to a girl named Aleea, but apparently dies in the process.[[15]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Strange#cite_note-15) That’s depressing enough. The idea of Adam Strange as a “great white savior” (as , it is claimed, the Tom King story seems to see it) seems pretty weird, considering that the people of Rann (and other planets) that he found himself among all appeared to be white European-like types. The idea is there in that he’s the one guy who comes up with the solutions to their problems. I’ve already noted that this seems odd in that a.) Adam Strange is trained as an archaeologist, not a space scientist or action hero. Being an archaeologist only outfits you to be an action hero is you’re Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. and b.) He’s a guy from the past dealing with future problems, often of a technological bent; this is a bit like bringing John Dee back from Elizabethan times and expecting him to solve your cloning problems or software issues. The reason for it, of course, is that this was way to get a present-day guy involved in super-science problems , so the prepubescent audience could identify with him and imagine themselves using science and logic to solve problems. It’s a great concept, but it’s not going to survive translation to the adult world of problems and situations. When you look at it with older es you wonder why the hell Adam Strange gets away with walking around in such outlandish garb, and why he’s the only one wearing a jetpack all the time, and why HE’S the one who comes up with the clever solutions. John Carter of Mars, who some see as his inspiration, at least had an excuse – as an Earthman on low-gravity Mars, he can leap prodigiously, so he _does_ stand out. (John Carter predates Superman in this, and even John Campbell’s Aarn Munro) Carter was also a successful soldier and tactician, a Confederate officer before he wen t to Mars. Although Martian technology as far advanced beyond Earth’s, its weaponry wasn’t – they still used swords and rifles. (Martians didn’t get ay guns until after they had been popularized in the 1930s by Buck Rogers). Carter’s “anomalous” swordplay wasn’t really that anomalous – military officers of his day still carried and used swords. Adam Strange couldn’t make those kind of claims. So Alan Moore came up with Rannian sterility as an excuse for Adam Strange’s being “special” and tolerated, although he was secretly despised. Pretty depressing, and I’m sure h could’ve come up with a different explanation, if he weren’t Alan Moore. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/8 "2024-08-30T00:57:57Z")
So a few things. These Alan Moore Adam Strange stories are a two part story in Swamp Thing. Its a great story. Its IMPLIED: Rann is sterile. Sardath beams over Adam Strange to be their “Favorite stud” as an evil Thangarian puts it. Adam and Sardaths daughter doesn’t know this. In fact, Alan Moore is just doing what he does best. Planting seeds of deconstruction to make the story more interesting. I’m not familiar with The Man of Two Worlds, but Moore didnt write it. Someone else came along and picked up the pieces…or as Alan puts it “Sorted through his rubbish” Adam is still special. He legitimately saves Rann often (Unless we find out in the mini-series those were all false flag monsters to make Adam feel special.) Anyway, the Moore two parter shows how damn smart Adam is and how ruthless. And from what I’m reading about this later mini-series…its the perfect example of what head canon is for. Never happened. Dumb and depressing. No thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/9 "2024-08-30T01:00:09Z")
More and more I’m coming to appreciate the _Private Life of Clark Kent_ back-up stories…but I still prefer _World of Krypton_. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-strange-and-space-ranger/1005788/10 "2024-08-30T01:19:00Z")
I have a ( cannot remember the title. IIRC besides a wonderful old fashion Adam Strange story, there is a Captain Comet story in which he battles green artificial men. Comet deduces that the green men, though immune to conventional harm, breathe carbon. He uses some chemistry trick to transform them into unliving calcium carbonate). In that comic, Adam Stange gets the Zeta beam. He holds a sealed metal cylinder on a chain so it is not touched by the beam. Once on Rann, he opens the cylinder (even as a kid, I wondered how the cylinder as transported to Rann if it wasn’t hit by the Zeta beam) takes out a new dress and gives it to Alanna. He explains that since it wasn’t touched by the beam, it will not vanish back to Earth when he does. A prisoner (I forget in what alien prison) ecapes by using a chemistry trick to transform himself into green vapor. Seeking solid form, he enters the open, discarded cylinder. Somehow, he makes it assume humanoid form. He then goes on a crime spree, Evemtually, after much sciencing, Adam is able to get the vapor man out of the cylinder and make him human again. The reconstituted man catches Adam when his jetpack fails and says that the metal cylinder became tainted by evil radiation due to being outside the Zeta beam. He promises to be good from now. Cheesy? Yes. Filled with logical inconsistencies and other problems? sure. Fun to read again and again? You bet. I have a second Adam Strange appearance in either his title, Batman or The Brave And The Bold. Adam Strange uses the Zeta beam to switch places with Batman. Once on Rann, Batman learns that Adam has been framed for murder and needs Earth’s greatest detective to clear his name. On Earth, Adam responds to the Bat Signal. Commisioner Gordon needs help stopping a serial killer before he strikes again. A good story, but not as fun as the first. I have no desire to read a dark, modern or postmodern, deconstructed story of Adam Strange.