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Adam Strange's Superpower
Jan. 29th, 2023 02:16 pmThis post was prompted by seeing Wesley Crowell buy the recent "Strange Adventures" collection at GAFilk, which features Adam Strange, who is an old favorite character of mine who I feel has been badly mistreated over the years by various writers. In the original series, Adam was caught by accident in the Zeta Beam and teleported to Rann, a planet in the Alpha Centauri system where he had a series of adventures in the tradition of John Carter of Mars. He defended the planet against a plethora of sfnal menaces, quite successfully, with his Rannian ray gun and rocket pack. It was an enormous lot of fun.
Of course, this was not going to survive the deconstructionist era of comic book writing. Clearly, Adam Strange was not on the same level as the advanced Rannian civilization -- he was much more akin to an ape-man, so obviously he wasn't really a hero. Maybe he was just breeding stock to introduce new genes into the pool. (If the Rannians really needed that, one would think the advanced civilization could manage a bit of genetic engineering, but apparently not.)
I have become tired of this. And it was while I was sitting there at GAFilk that I realized that Adam Strange actually *does* have a superpower, one that the Rannians lack.
Adam Strange has problem solving skills. Really *good* problem solving skills.
Now, these seem to be rare enough among Earthlings. Among Rannians, they are simply unknown. The Rannians, for all of their scientific development, are absolutely terrible at dealing with novel situations, so when they have to deal with a Dust Devil, they have *no idea whatsoever* of what to do to make the problem go away. *Adam*, on the other hand, takes various items of Rannian technology and whatever else he has available and just MacGyvers the Dust Devil away.
The more I thought about this, the more sense that it made in context. Alpha Centauri A is a billion years older than the Sun, but Rann is barely more advanced than Earth in terms of technology. Given another 1000 years, Earth will be way ahead of them. That's because the people on Rann take *forever* to come up with something new. Heck, look at Sardath, Rann's greatest scientific mind. He came up with the Zeta Beam to communicate with other planets. It was *pure blind luck* that cosmic radiation converted his communication beam into a teleportation beam. It is probably *pure blind luck* that is responsible for *every* new technological development on Rann, because these people have no problem solving skills whatsoever.
And so this is why Adam Strange becomes Rann's indispensable hero. He isn't *smarter* than anyone else, but he is able to solve the problem.
I wish someone at DC would write *that* story.
Of course, this was not going to survive the deconstructionist era of comic book writing. Clearly, Adam Strange was not on the same level as the advanced Rannian civilization -- he was much more akin to an ape-man, so obviously he wasn't really a hero. Maybe he was just breeding stock to introduce new genes into the pool. (If the Rannians really needed that, one would think the advanced civilization could manage a bit of genetic engineering, but apparently not.)
I have become tired of this. And it was while I was sitting there at GAFilk that I realized that Adam Strange actually *does* have a superpower, one that the Rannians lack.
Adam Strange has problem solving skills. Really *good* problem solving skills.
Now, these seem to be rare enough among Earthlings. Among Rannians, they are simply unknown. The Rannians, for all of their scientific development, are absolutely terrible at dealing with novel situations, so when they have to deal with a Dust Devil, they have *no idea whatsoever* of what to do to make the problem go away. *Adam*, on the other hand, takes various items of Rannian technology and whatever else he has available and just MacGyvers the Dust Devil away.
The more I thought about this, the more sense that it made in context. Alpha Centauri A is a billion years older than the Sun, but Rann is barely more advanced than Earth in terms of technology. Given another 1000 years, Earth will be way ahead of them. That's because the people on Rann take *forever* to come up with something new. Heck, look at Sardath, Rann's greatest scientific mind. He came up with the Zeta Beam to communicate with other planets. It was *pure blind luck* that cosmic radiation converted his communication beam into a teleportation beam. It is probably *pure blind luck* that is responsible for *every* new technological development on Rann, because these people have no problem solving skills whatsoever.
And so this is why Adam Strange becomes Rann's indispensable hero. He isn't *smarter* than anyone else, but he is able to solve the problem.
I wish someone at DC would write *that* story.