Please Come to Boston - Strange Adventures 206

Strange Adventures #206 (November 1967)(cover by George Roussos and Mike Sekowsky)
"An Eye for an Eye!"
Arnold Drake-Neal Adams/George Roussos

Doug: Name a character who you know next to almost-nothing about, but that intrigues you. Got one (or two?). Deadman's mine. If memory serves, and that's shaky ground these days, two of the Brave & the Bolds (#79 and #104) I've reviewed are the only Deadman comics I've read. Well, aside from his appearance in Kingdom Come. The premise is interesting to me: a man murdered who is given the power to find his own killer. That power includes the ability to see and hear all that goes on around him -- but not touch, and no one else will feel his presence. The kicker is that he can possess anyone at any time -- their mind and body. They won't, however, remember a thing. From Deadman's intro/origin in the previous issue:

This is Deadman -- the spirit of one man in the bodies of others -- moving from life to life, to find the man who brought him... Death! Follow him in the Strangest Adventure series of them all!

Boston Brand was truly a Deadman as far as the world was concerned. Naturally that limited the potential for any interaction with DC's other heroes, but it didn't stop Brand's ability (and willingness) to be manipulative of the living who crossed his from making things interesting.

You know you want a 100-Word Review...

Circus aerialist (and part owner) Boston Brand, a brusque fellow in life, has been murdered. But the deity Rama Kushna has offered Brand a gift – the powers necessary to find his killer. The first suspect is Jeff Carling, the lowlife brother of Lorna, one of the circus girls who was sweet on Brand. Jeff’s come looking for money. But Deadman possesses Carling’s body, only to find out that the plot is thicker than imagined. In a whirlwind of biker gangs, mob hits, and payoffs, Deadman manages to find that a) Carling was not his killer and b) exonerate Carling of a murder rap.

The Good: I cannot complain about anything related to the execution of this story. Although only Boston Brand's second appearance, I felt like the creators got me up to speed on the origin story, the powers, the cast, etc. From the splash page, the art is light years ahead of what we saw in the previous issue. I don't necessarily want to denigrate the work of Carmine Infantino and George Roussos. Strange Adventures #205 is actually a nice-looking book! But c'mon... lay it next to the work of Neal Adams and... Yeah, I know Adams himself has detractors. I am not among that camp. While not possessing the pedigree of a career that began in the Golden Age, such as Jack Kirby, Joe Kubert, et al., Adams now has around 50 years behind him so must certainly be a consideration in that "greatest of all time" conversation we had a few weeks ago. Here's a side-by-side of a portion of Deadman's origin for your own assessment:

Adams wanted to put his stamp on the book and character -- it's pretty obvious in that only 30 days after Deadman's first appearance readers were given a detailed origin recap complete with Deadman's "death", and a survey of his cast of characters and of his powers. Again, for me I thought this was excellent; I didn't read the first issue until after completing this one. Not sure how many other kids would have done that back in '67, but there had to be a few.

Arnold Drake's dialogue was fun. It was maybe a little on the Silver-Agey side, but that was what I expected. Marvelites should recognize Drake's name from his work on early issues of the X-Men, Captain Marvel, and as the creator of some group called the Guardians of the Galaxy (yeah, like that'll last...). Some of the characters in the story might have been predictable, but I think that was part of the hook in getting this new book off the ground. Let the readers go along for the ride with Boston Brand, discovering things even a second or two before our protagonist. Sort of like audience participation.

There was no baddie in the story (although there were a few unsavory types), outside of the knowledge that somewhere lurks the unseen assassin from the previous issue. That was fine, as this traveling mystery show had so much potential that Deadman didn't need a rogues gallery -- his rogue could be anyone! And that brings me back to the wonderful potential of the character -- this could be told as an all-ages story, or easily as an "adult" type of tale (face it -- Brand can inhabit any body he wants and make said occupy-ee do and say whatever Brand wants). With the god Rama Kushna ever present (though not ever seen other than as emanating from other sentient beings), a foray to the world of the occult was always possible as well.

Notice the fellow in the samples who looks like Guy Gardner! Of course that's not the way ol' Guy looked back in the day, but the resemblance to the character we'd come to loathe post-Crisis is uncanny!

The Bad: I can't decide what to say about the coloring here. More accurately it's re-coloring. Sometime on this space Karen and I discussed that this newer method sort of enhanced the Tales of Asgard trade, giving it a "storybook" look. We didn't, however, care for it as much in the Chronicles of Conan trades. Years ago, Neal Adams fell in love with computer coloring, and as many of you know (see some of the Batman reviews here) he has insisted on recoloring all of his material that gets reprinted. The entire Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams series of hardcovers (now available as trade paperbacks) is recolored, as is the trade I am reading/scanning from. Part of me wants to chuck this a rung lower into the "Ugly" category, but I suppose I can leave it here. It didn't prohibit me from enjoying the story. It may have inhibited that joy, but it didn't stop me in my tracks. Honestly, I'd like to see the four-color version for comparison's sake. And Adams has long been fascinated with color. For those of you who don't know, when he got to DC from Marvel he was influential in improving DC's color palette. Read a wonderful and recent explanation of this history here.

The Ugly: As usual, nothing much to say here, unless you find yourself particularly offended by the coloring. Then we could slide that from "bad" to "ugly".

I look forward to reading more from this trade in the future. It's stretched me a bit, but I've found this very appealing.

Strange Visitor to Another Planet - Showcase 17

Showcase #17 (November/December 1958)(cover by Gil Kane)
"Secret of the Eternal City"
"The Planet and the Pendulum"
Gardner Fox-Mike Sekowsky/Bernard Sachs

Doug: As I mentioned in last Tuesday's anniversary post, straying from the regular writing of comics reviews has cost me the joy of reading comics regularly. That's not to say that I haven't read a single book since Karen and I reviewed our last issue of Marvels back in April. On the contrary, I've read a few, including the entire New Frontier series as well as some Lee/Kirby Thor. But I do miss that week-to-week reading and writing. Also as I mentioned last week, I'm going to be very intentional about publishing my reflections on a few issues here before the summer ends. And, with some minimal arm-twisting, I think I'll have my partner along for the ride twice.

Doug: So back in February we ran an Open Forum where I posited that there are characters I know of, sort of like, but really know nothing about. Adam Strange was my guy. A few weeks after that post I found a deal on eBay that was simply too good to pass on -- the first two volumes of the Adam Strange Archives for around $25 total. You're going to be the beneficiary of that purchase today. The character bowed in Showcase #17. I was surprised that the initial adventures were penciled by Mike Sekowsky, he of the Super-universe titles. My assumption was that I was going to see Carmine Infantino, or perhaps even Gil Kane. Infantino became the regular penciler of the strip once it moved to the Mystery in Space mag -- Adam Strange's fourth appearance. But today we're going to see his first two outings: the origin story, sans costume, and then a short tale where he dons the familiar red space suit.

Doug: We open in the Andes mountains of Peru at an ancient Inca site. Archaeologist Adam Strange has found the secret city of Caramanga, which really sounds like something a Ninja Turtle would shout. And with that found city -- a treasure not plundered by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro. But as Strange further investigates, he's set upon by a very angry detachment of Inca warriors -- still dressed in 16th century garb! One has to "love" 1950s racism... Strange wheels and runs for his life, quickly reaching the precipice of a deep canyon. The divide spans some 25 feet, but Strange's only choice is to back up and race toward what will certainly need to be the best long jump of any track career he ever had. As he hurtles into the gap, he's suddenly in the midst of some sort of power beam. Blink! Gone is Strange from our planet, only to arrive on some distant world. He's immediately chased by some sort of giant lizard, but is saved by a small aircraft. The vessel ensnares the beast with a strong net, and then a beautiful young woman emerges from the cockpit. She attempts to converse with the stranger, much to his frustration. He understands, however, that she wants to spirit him away. Having no idea where or when he is, he consents -- so one must assume that her looks trumped any mistrust Adam may have felt. Soon they are in the city of Ranagar, and in the company of the young woman's father.

Doug: This plays out like an episode of Flash Gordon -- we have the beauty and her dad, we'll see some ray guns, space fighters, weird creatures and settings... Alanna, the woman, places a metal band around Strange's head. Instantly his brain is infused with all knowledge of the language he moments earlier had not understood. The man's same is Sardath, and he is a scientist (of course). Sardath explains that four years ago the people of Rann attempted to contact the people of Earth, firing zeta-beams at our planet. It must have happened that when Strange fled the Incas he leapt right into the beam. Alanna offers that in the time the zeta-beams had been active, some space radiation must have converted them from communication beams to teleportation beams! Man, this truly is great 1950s fare!

Doug: Alanna offers Adam a tour of the city, and explains some local history to him. Suddenly they are attacked by blast rays from a space ship -- trouble is, Rann has no space ships. This is an alien invasion! Alanna finds a radio frequency (ha!) that alerts she and Adam to the goings-on: a race called the Eternals has come to Rann seeking a metal called Vitatron. It seems like some Vitatron had landed on their planet years ago, and they quickly deduced that its properties could render their people immortal. However, the metal began to fade in intensity, so they sought another source. Their sensors determined that Rann had some. Alanna heard all this, and wondered if it might be located in the city of Samakand, an odd location that appears in our dimension only once every 25 years! She and Adam set out to investigate.

Doug: In Samakand, Alanna and Adam meet with some priestly officials who confirm that they indeed have the metal. But -- how to keep it away from the Eternals, and Samakand has no weapons! Adam says to leave it to him. And then this Earthman archaeologist offers to pilot a space fighter in an effort to drive the Eternals away. I have to convince myself that I'm in that 10-year old target group that DC drove at. You know, and I said this just above, this science fiction is fun -- and it's not generally in my wheelhouse. So Adam, as you might guess, successfully defeats the Eternals in space. But when a detachment continues to follow Adam and Alanna back to Rann, Adam urges Alanna to parachute from their ship, leaving it on auto-pilot to return to Samakand. The Eternals follow, but arrive just as Samakand fades out -- not to reappear for another 25 years! But at the same moment? Adam begins to fade also. Did the zeta-beam wear off?


You betcha -- but back on Earth, Adam is at least armed with the knowledge of the location of one of the other zeta-beams. Maybe, he will be able to get back to Rann, and to Alanna.

Doug: This issue of Showcase actually contained two Adam Strange tales, and in the second one we see our hero in his customary costume. We begin with Adam wondering about the zeta-beam. He's in the south Pacific, near Singapore -- that's where he'd calculated the beam to strike. Counting down to its anticipated arrival, at "zero" Strange throws himself from his boat and into the beam. He'd been right! However, he arrives on Rann not near Alanna, but in the presence of some barbarians. They overwhelm Adam and haul him to their leader. That guy, Zoora, tells his minions to take Adam to the Tower of the Rainbow Doom. Strapped into a chair, a kaleidoscope of colors begins to swirl -- and suddenly Adam Strange is no more! But we see that he's not really disappeared, but has been teleported. Scanning the sky, he sees he's in the middle of a meteor shower. But seeing a crashed space ship -- one that looks exactly like the one he and Alanna had used to defeat the Eternals -- causes Adam to race to it and enter. At the controls lies Sardath, unconscious. Elsewhere Adam attends to crew members, and finally to the lovely Alanna. I know you're asking -- what are the chances? Me, too! Alanna awakens and relates a tale of their fate, how they'd been contacted by the scientists of Samakand. As they were heading into the fourth dimension for the next 25 years, they left all their scientific knowledge with the city of Ranagar. This allowed Ranagar to attain technology of which they'd only dreamed.

Doug: Before the scientists had gone into exile, they set up a colony on a nearby planet. The city-state had a large artificial lake, and a dome to protect the people from meteor showers. Sardath wanted to see if those people were still there, so built a spaceship and assembled a crew. But on the way there they were attacked by another ship, and crash landed. The Rainbow Doom was a teleportaton device, hence sending Adam to the spot of the crash. Donning a space suit found in the craft (yep -- you know what it looks like), Adam told Alanna they could search for the city Sardath had sought. Again using a space radio (this still cracks me up that they felt advanced societies would rely on common radios), Adam and Alanna send out a distress signal. The people they're seeking actually pick up on it, and arrive to rescue our stranded party. But once aboard the vehicles, another tale of alien attack is told. The same ship that had sent the Rannian craft into distress had returned to the domed city, but this time with a scythe attached to a pendulum on the lower hull of the ship. You got it -- think of some of the perils from the Batman television show and you know what we're dealing with. Of course Adam suits up, dons a jet pack and packs a blaster and he's off to the stars. Our guy single-handedly whips the enemy and preserves democracy and all that jazz. But when he's ready to receive the adoration of his lady friend, what should wear off but the zeta-beam? And so it's back to Earth! Adam still has the space suit on, and says he'll have to hide it away. But when he finds that next zeta-beam, he'll be ready to defend Rann... and his new love, Alanna (with whom he's spent what? -- all of 48 hours?).

Doug: I enjoyed these stories. Sure, they were hokey, but they did fill in that knowledge gap that I've had for Adam Strange. I liked them enough that I'll return to this book as well as the second Archive volume. I'd lie if I didn't tell you I got sort of a "Spaceman Spiff" vibe from some of the situations in which Adam found himself. Gardner Fox's stories were what I'd have expected from a Silver Age DC (remember, they entered that "period" years before Marvel did), and Mike Sekowsky's art was pretty solid for the time. I'm always amazed when I read a story by Fox, and perhaps moreso by Bob Haney, at how many twists and turns there are in a plot. Marvel's longer, linear, narratives seemed to flow so much better and could be infinitely easier on the reader to just go along for the ride. Sometimes when I read some of the DC scribes, I feel the need to flip back a page or two and ask myself, "Now what just happened there?"

Doug: I would like you to take a look at the panel below. At the top of this post I'd mentioned Carmine Infantino. We know that by the time this saw print Infantino was one of DC's studs. I don't know to what extent he had any duties in art correction, but the face in the panel below can only be his work -- there is no other panel in either story included in Showcase #17 where there is a profile of Adam Strange drawn in that manner. What do you think? Of course, my line of questioning spins out of our discussion a couple of weeks ago on John Romita, where Marie Severin's name also came up. I just think that Carmine redrew that face -- and that's not to denigrate Sekowsky, who was overall quite solid. So leave a comment, you who knew all about this character, as well as those of you who have either had your curiosity piqued or who may not care at all!