The Adam Strange Archives, Volume 03

by Gardner F. Fox

A thrilling adventure of sci-fi action, ADAM STRANGE ARCHIVES VOL. ONE masterfully reprints the earliest escapades of Earth's First Spaceman as they were originally published in the 1950s. While... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401216617
• ISBN13: 9781401216610
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: DC Comics
• Length: 229 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.2" x 10.4"

Customer Reviews

The Fabulous Adventures of Rann's Hero, Volume 3!

While the revamped 1960s Batman and the Silver Age Flash are the best-known titles illustrated by the legendary Carmine Infantino, my favorite is Adam Strange, and "Adam Strange. The - Archives, Volume 3 (Archive Editions (Graphic Novels))" is truly breathtaking! Infantino was the master of lean, graceful heroes (as opposed to the bulky, powerlifter physique of the 1960s Superman), heroines with wide-set eyes, heart-shaped faces, and slender torsos, and backgrounds with low horizon lines, unusual perspectives, and anamorphic cityscapes...and when his pencils were inked by another master, the amazing Murphy Anderson (who added definition and 'weight' to the line quality), it was sheer magic! Add to the art the intelligent, well-crafted plotlines of Gardner Fox, and you had stories that surpassed most of DC's major titles of the era, and hold up amazingly well, today. While the bulk of the stories of the collection encompass a little over a year of publication in the "Mystery in Space" series (Feb 1963-May 1964), the volume also includes the February/March 1967 issue of "Hawkman", with Murphy Anderson working solo with Gardner Fox, as Strange, the Earthling hero of the planet Rann, joins forces with the Thanagarian 'cop', Katar (better known as Hawkman), in an adventure encompassing three planets. Fabulous stuff!

Adam Strange : Infantino's Best Art!

The most elegant art of comics artist legend Carmine Infantino! Just contemplate the lightness of Adam - and the superbly graceful Alanna! - as they fly around picturesque landscapes and evolve around Rann's futuristic city as well as in outer space. Such a pleasant graphic view of our possible future has rarely been equalled since the fifties/sixties, when these were first drawn... Looking forward to Adam Strange Archives Volumes 4, 5, ...etc.

Rann's hero just keeps on coming!

Back on September 18, 2004, I reviewed Volume 1 of Adam Strange. I can only repeat my praise here for Volumes 2 and 3. Adam Strange--to an impressionable boy growing up in a small, rural town in the early 60's--was as real to me as my parents or any of my friends, maybe more so. Strange is a character who constantly used his Sherlock Holmes-like powers of observation and quick-thinking to reach a solution to a seemingly unsolveable problem, of planetary proportions! And with the time constraints of a matter of days or hours--a lethal deadline--as Adam Strange would be flashed back to Earth in the blink of an eye, leaving his adopted planet, Rann, to be destroyed/doomed/conquered... And as one reviewer has mentioned, Adam Strange used real science and physics principles in reaching a resolution. No deux ex machina or coincidence for Strange (a credit to the imaginative writers!). That was so damned cool! Long before the Hollywood special-effect extravaganzas such as "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Star Wars"--which finally caught up with the magic of our imaginations--there was Adam Strange weaving his magic... I was sorry to see the Adam Strange series end. Although he and poor, long-suffering, but _voluptuously gorgeous_, Alana finally had their much deserved happy ending... These Volumes will take you back to a more innocent but exciting time. I am _not sorry_ Hollywood has ignored Adam Strange, Alana, and Rann. The movies have managed to destroy the childlike and awkward-adolescent appeal of "The Fantastic Four" and the "X-Men." And even "Batman." Enjoy.

The Best of Adam Strange stories.

Volume 3 of the Adam Strange stories contains the best group of stories. The story I have always like best is "World War on Earth and Rann." One of the coolest benefits about Adam Strange stories is the real scientific knowledge that is embedded in the story -- ideas such as Roche's Limit and the Curie Temperature of materials. I actually used that knowledge about Curie temperature once in a satellite power system design.

The Thinking Man's Superhero in some of his best stories!

Adam Strange was cool. That's all you can say. He was cool. Regularly transported across space by the Zeta beam from Earth to Rann and back again, Adam became the planetary champion of Rann and found himself in a lot of classic Silver Age adventures. And along the way, he also romanced one of the hottest women in Silver Age comics, Alanna, the daughter of Rann's leading scientist, Sardath. That's all great stuff (especially Infantino's Alanna), but the thing that really sets Adam Strange apart is his inventiveness. Even though Earth is more primitive than Rann, Adam seems to have a lot more creativity when it comes to applying basic scientific principles, and this is how he as an ordinary human being routinely defeats the kinds of menaces that generally only super-humans can handle in comics. Adam Strange is the living embodiment of brain over brawn, and this time, the geek gets the hot chick, too! What more can a guy ask for? Highly recommended to fans of Silver Age comics!