Adam Strange
Origins - Strange was an archaeologist who was transported to another planet named Rann by something called the Zeta Beam. He was called upon to save the planet from an alien invasion using Rann's high tech weaponry. Strange grew to care for the planet as well as it's inhabitants especially a blue haired female named Alanna and her father Sardath. The latter being responsible for creating the Zeta Beam that brought Adam to Rann. Eventually, the effects of the beam wore off, automatically returning Strange to Earth at the exact point of departure, but not before Sardath had given him a schedule of beam firings allowing him to periodically return to the planet. During the events of "52" Adam Strange was involved in a Zeta Beam accident where he lost both of his eyeballs but in spite of that he still tries to repair a spaceship in order to get himself, Starfire, and Animal Man back to Earth. Eventually he is saved by members the Green Lantern Corps and is given new eyes that are genetically engineered to see the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
Powers and Abilities - Adam Strange has a keen analytical mind and is a master tactician and strategist. He is an above average hand-to-hand combatant and his experience with the jet pack has made him proficient in aerial combat as well. Adam Strange is knowledgeable of ancient cultures, and has developed an extensive knowledge of Rannian history and technology. With this knowledge Strange has invented several pieces of useful equipment including a ray gun, and a fireproof insulated costume and helmet. The helmet is also equipped with a shield that protects Adam from harmful atmospheric conditions. On Earth Adam has normal strength of a man his age and size. Due to the gravitational difference of Rann his strength is greatly increased.
Weaknesses and Limitations - Aside from the normal limits and weaknesses of a normal man if Adam remains on Rann for more than a year without returning to Earth, he will die.
Wondering what's your criteria for choosing the heroes? Not at all a criticism but you never really said how the rankings work: are these your personal choices or determined in some other statistical way. I'm actually very impressed you have people like Adam Strange and Barbara Gordon -- well done you! And Sgt. Rock??? Who knew you wuz a war comics fan! You know who I never ever gave a second thought to but now I really like? The Blackhawks! All my years reading comix and I never EVER read a single Blackhawks story; but earlier this year I got the big SHOWCASE PRESENTS BLACKHAWKS 500+ B&W reprint book and I loved it. Especially because it's drawn completely by Dick Dillin (JLA artist supreme). Anyway, where's you get the hero rankings????
ReplyDeleteI compared several lists and tried to add and subtract and move around the names on the list with a personal opinion added in as well. Eventually the list will have three heroes that surprisingly, to me anyway, never appeared on any of the lists I compared and it was a complete oversight in my opinion that I had to fix. Once you see the completed list you may be able to figure out who the three overlooked heroes were.
ReplyDeleteAnd I never really was a war comics fan, not a war movie fan either, but I thought I needed to include Sgt. Rock on the list. With that being said, I wasn't much of a western comic fan either and due to the constraints of limiting it to 50 at the last minute I had to eliminate Jonah Hex. A few others that almost made it and should get some sort of honorable mention were Hourman, The Question, Black Lightning, and Mr. Terrific.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm very interestingk. I wonder if any of the overlooked heroes have appeared on the list already. I too am not a war comics or war movie fan (unless they're excellent movies, of course but I'm not a fan of the genre) but I really can't argue with the Sergeant's inclusion. Sadly there probably won't be any room for Enemy Ace though.
ReplyDeleteYou may be able to figure out who the three are when you see all three posted as there is a common thread among all three of them. But no none of them have been posted yet. Sorry, Enemy Ace was number 51 dang-it!
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