A Quick Trip to the 73rd Century

Justice League of America #138 (January 1977) shows us that being heroic can sometimes cause more problems than it solves. Especially if the problem being solved didn't even exist in the first place.

The Justice League satallite receives a surprise visit from the planet Rann. Alanna, the wife of Adam Strange, has traveled 4 light years because she needs someone to save her husband.

Adam Strange's deal--as most readers here probably know--was getting bounced back and forth between Earth and Rann (which orbits around Alpha Centauri) by zeta beams. Not long before this issue, he'd been able to settle permanently on Rann and finally marry the woman he loved. But now he's getting zapped back to Earth again--while also being carried forward in time to the 73rd Century. He's having a harder and harder time battling various threats to future Earth.

So Alanna goes to the League for help. Superman and Flash, both able to casually time travel, soon arrive in the 73rd Century along with Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman. Once there, they encounter that century's Green Lantern for Sector 2814.

They soon encounter one of the threats that has been giving Adam a hard time. But its not a threat. The fireball plummeting from the sky is actually a 73rd Century streat cleaning device. Which means the citizens of that country have simply gotten used to a fireball plunging towards them every day. The future is weird.

When Adam shows up to stop this "threat," his efforts simply cause damage. And the corrupt Zeta Beams infusing Adam have both made him unable to think things through and made him powerful enough to be a threat even to Superman.

By the way, Dick Dillon's art is superb in this issue. I especially like the panels above in which future Green Lantern and Aquaman double-team Adam in a valiant effort to make Aquaman seem useful in a fight not taking place in the ocean. 

Typically, Batman is the only hero there who comes up with a plan other than "everyone hit Adam Strange." He manages to stay one step ahead of Adam's ray gun, which eventually drains Adam of the corrupt Zeta energy, snapping him back to normal.

Written by Cary Bates, "Adam Strange--Puppet of Time" is a wonderful story containing several really fun ideas. The fight between Adam and the League is well-choreographed and I like the design of future G.L.

But despite the happy ending, this isn't really a stand-alone tale. The next issue, the five Leaguers who traveled into the future will find themselves fading from reality. Why? How?

Well, next week we'll pause for me to vent about an old Charlton story that commits the grevious sin of making dinosaurs boring. But in two weeks, we'll pay another visit to the 73rd Century.