Strange Adventures (Volume 1) with a cover date of August, 1972.
Synopsis for "The Skyscraper That Came to Life!"
This story is reprinted from Strange Adventures #72.
Appearing in "The Skyscraper That Came to Life!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Kalarians
- General Zari Zo
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
- Amnesia pills
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Adam Strange: "Ray-Gun in the Sky!"
This story is reprinted from Mystery in Space #77.
On the planet Rann a giant ray gun has appeared over the city, unleashing a powerful attack, and none of Rann's weapons seem to effect it. With Adam Strange not due to travel the Zeta-Beam for another few weeks, Alanna's father Sardath begins experimenting with the Zeta-Beam in order to bring Adam to Rann sooner than scheduled. After some testing they alter the device to pick up Adam wherever on Earth he may be.
On Earth, Adam is once more in New York City driving through the intersection where he has disappeared recently, when questioned by an officer who witnessed his disappearance in issue #72, Adam is once more transported to Rann via the Zeta-Beam, surprising the police officer with Adam's second sudden disappearance. Appearing in Sardath's lab, Adam is informed of the events occurring on Rann and how they were able to transport him to Rann ahead of schedule.
Seeing the giant ray-gun for himself, Adam devises a number of different attacks, including acid and a giant net to try to stop the weapon, but to no avail. He eventually comes to realize that the sight on the ray gun must be the housing for the control mechanisms of the device, and so tries to remove it unsuccessfully until he uses the heat from his hands to make the barrel of the gun expand while his cold breath to cause the sight to contract enabling Adam to pull the sight out of the guns barrel. Without the sight the weapon drops to the ground powerless.
Suddenly, an alien ship of the Arvese race appears, and informs them that they were waiting for Adam to destroy the ray gun, as it was sent by their enemy Sorkhan Yuh. With it rendered useless, these invaders plan to steal a weapon that has been hidden in the Rann city of Zared for the past thousand years. They explain that while searching space they found a ancient Rann space ship that crashed on a remote planet and learned of the hidden weapon and hoped to use it to defeat their long time enemy Sorkhan Vuh who has prevented them from taking over the galactic rim planets. Sorkhan learning of the Arvese plot to steal this long lost weapon from Rann sent the giant ray-gun to prevent it from being uncovered. With Adam inadvertently destroying their one hope at victory, the Arvese land on Rann and begin their search for the weapon, the weapons of Ranagar ineffectual against them. With all seemingly lost, Adam begins to formulate a plan which uses the destroyed giant ray-gun.
While Adam and a number of Ranagar technicians try to repair the ray-gun, the Arvese find the ultimate weapon and begin to return to their ship. Adam confronts them with the giant ray-gun and fires, but misses, scaring them back into their craft. As the Arvese start their ship the ray-gun fires a second time destroying their shuttle. Adam explains to Alanna that the ray-gun would only fire on its own when it detected the engines of the Arvese ship, so to call the Arvese's bluff and make them start up their ship he had regular ray-guns from Ranagar put in the muzzle of the giant-ray gun which where what fired the first time.
With his explanation finished, the Zeta-Beam wears off and Adam returns home. Alanna returns to her father, who explains to her that the device they used to bring Adam back to Rann only worked because the giant-ray gun was firing at the time they used it.
Appearing in Adam Strange: "Ray-Gun in the Sky!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Arvese (race) (Single appearance)
- Ku Dann (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Rannians (Unnamed)
- Kanjar Ro (Mentioned only) (from Mystery in Space #75)
- New York City Police Department
- Officer Tom Boyle (Unnamed) (Cameo) (from Mystery in Space #72)
- Justice League of America (Mentioned only)
- Sorkhan Vuh (Behind the scenes)
Locations:
- Alpha Centauri (Mentioned only)
- Rann
- Ranagar
- Sardath's Laboratory
- Aldavian Hills (Mentioned only) (Destroyed)
- Lake of Klaleel (Destroyed)
- Zared (Flashback and main story) (from Showcase #17)
- Ranagar
- Earth
Items:
- Giant Ray Gun
- Atomic Warheads
- Zeta-Beam
- Adam Strange's Ray Gun
- Rannian Jet Pack
- Giant Vats of searing Acid
Vehicles:
- Rannian Spacecrafts
- Arvese Spacecraft
- Ancient Rannian Spacecraft (In ruins)
Concepts:
Synopsis for "The Case of the Counterfeit Humans!"
This story is reprinted from Mystery in Space #7.
Appearing in "The Case of the Counterfeit Humans!"
- Appearances not yet listed
See Also