Adam Strange: Planet Heist

Adam Strange
Artwork for the cover of DC Comics Presents: Mystery in Space vol. 2, 1 (September 2004). Art by Alex Ross.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Showcase #17 (November 1958)
Created by	Julius Schwartz Murphy Anderson
In-story information
Alter ego	Adam Strange
Species	Human
Place of origin	Rann, formerly Earth
Team affiliations	Justice League Justice League United Seven Soldiers of Victory R.E.B.E.L.S.
Abilities	Wears a jet pack spacesuit that allows for sustained flight and interstellar travel; Carries energy blast guns; Generates solid-light equipment via spacesuit; can see into the whole electromagnetic spectrum

Adam Strange is a science fiction superhero published by DC Comics. Created by editor Julius Schwartz with a costume designed by Murphy Anderson, he first appeared in Showcase #17 (November 1958).

In May 2011, Adam Strange placed 97th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time.

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 from the present, and one from the future. Given first pick, Schiff chose to create one from the future (Space Ranger). However, Schwartz was happy with the pick, feeling that readers would more readily identify with a hero from the present. He conceived the idea of an Earth man repeatedly traveling to a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system using a Zeta-beam altered by space radiation, and named his character Adam after the first man on Earth according to the Abrahamic faiths, since Adam Strange was the first Earthman on another planet.

Adam Strange debuted in issues #17–19 of the tryout series Showcase, published November 1958 – March 1959. The first artwork of the character was a cover for Showcase #17 by Murphy Anderson; though Schwartz rejected the drawing and commissioned a new one by Gil Kane, Anderson's costume design was retained. Schwartz then assigned the scribing of the stories to Gardner Fox and the penciling to Mike Sekowsky. Schwartz and Fox devised the plots for the stories in Schwartz's office, and Fox would write the scripts at home. A science major, Schwartz specialized in giving Fox scientific pointers that gave the Adam Strange tales a plausibility that made them stand out from most science fiction of the time.