A red-suited, rocket-belted spaceman firing his ray gun at some kind of twin-headed plesiosaur that’s attacking him with eye beams?
Not the kind of cover I could possibly resist, particularly when drawn by Carmine Infantino (Beast With the Sizzling Blue Eyes, Mystery in Space 62, Sept. 1960).
Of course, though they’re visually compelling, inarticulate giant monsters pose certain storytelling problems as antagonists.
“(H)ow many stories have we all seen about rampaging prehistoric monsters?” wondered comics historian Michael E. Grost. “Like most Adam Strange tales, it is at least partially redeemed by Carmine Infantino’s art…”
“This story has a colorful opening in Sri Lanka. The Adam Strange tales always begin with Adam meeting the zeta-beam at some point in the Southern Hemisphere. Often this was in some wilderness area, away from the prying eyes of men; this story is unusual in that the opening takes place in a densely populated zone. In the early 1960s DC was trying to integrate its comic books with Asian characters; this story is a good example.”
Note that when a newscaster announces that the two-headed sea monster has been sighted in Rann’s Sea of Abyx, Adam’s girlfriend Alanna grabs a spear gun and dives right in to help Adam fight the beast. DC’s Julius Schwartz-edited titles almost always featured level-headed, brave, intelligent women at their heroes’ sides.
But Adam and Alanna don’t fare well against the menace, and are blacking out when it suddenly disappears.
The creature and its surrounding force field turn out to be the work of the paleontologist Zhordan, who created a mechanism for studying such prehistoric animals. But his conniving assistant, Mortan, seized the machine as a means of blackmailing Rann.
When Mortan’s “coldly mocking features” transmit his demands, the cool-headed rationalist Adam Strange uses broadcast triangulation to track him down. One efficient blow, accompanied by a short lecture, then settles the matter.
“This is an old-fashioned Earth weapon, but it still comes in mighty handy, even on Rann,” Adam explains. “A right-hand punch to the jaw!”
The mastermind Mortan would return in The Deadly Shadows of Adam Strange (Mystery in Space 80, Dec. 1962) and Puzzle of the Perilous Prisons (Mystery in Space 91, May 1964).
“The Adam Strange tales were unusual in that their hero had no super powers,” observed Grost. “He was an idealistic scientist, an archaeologist, who tried to help people and solve problems. The Adam Strange tales were typically written by Gardner Fox, and showed his strong science fiction orientation.”
“Adam Strange’s costume is a brilliant red, like other Infantino heroes such as the Flash. The twin jet packs on his back look like angel’s wings in traditional art. Since Adam Strange is a figure of 100 percent virtue, this is not inappropriate imagery. He can indeed seem like an angel figure, trying to help the people of Rann.”
About Author
