Now that I really think about it, my first exposure to science fiction would be the reprints of the Adam Strange series in Strange Adventures in the late 60's. I would have come in around the last few stories included in this volume.

DC Comics started to produce extremely handsome hardback reprints of their comics (Superman, Batman, Justice League of America, and others) about 1990. After a few years the market for them dwindled. A rebirth of interest in the late 90's saw the inclusion of some more of the minor heroes. The popularity of the archives continues today and allows for some of the more unknown but worthy series to be collected.

Given the chance due to the rising popularity of sci-fi, the late Julius Schwartz used his knowledge as one of the earliest agents in science fiction to aid in the creation of a classic. Paleontologist Adam Strange had his life (and us readers) changed forever the day he was hit by the Zeta Beam and transported to the planet Rann circling the star Alpha Centauri. Thrust into an adventure more epic than Indiana Jones ever experienced, Adam saves the planet from invading aliens only to find himself returning to Earth. Adam is determined to be at the spot where and when the Zeta Beam will strike Earth again to return to defend his adopted planet and save his new love Alanna.

The following five years allowed Gardner Fox to write some of his best puzzle stories and Carmine Infantino to draw the best alien landscapes (and the most beautiful Alanna). Yes, at times the stories were impossible as anybody with a little scientific background would know, but if you let yourself get caught up in them they were lots of fun. And they don't make 'em like that anymore.

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