The daily strip opens the same as the Grosset and Dunlap books, future cadets arriving at the Academy on the Monorail (9/10/51) with a lot of confusion and awe of the Academy. Roger loses no time in getting Tom an Astro into trouble by convincing the cadets that Commander Arkwright's private rotor-jet was available for cadets to fly (9/12/51). A similar prank was played on Tom Ranger in Joe Greene's unpublished 1949 newspaper strip which reflects several parallels between the Tom Ranger and Tom Corbett introductions to the Academy. See the Solar Guard page Tom Ranger to Tom Corbett for the comparisons.
When brought back to earth and after a dressing down by Capt Strong, Astro and Tom are sent to report to the Senior Cadet of their unit. The first of many conflict between Astro and Roger occurs when they report to Section 42D (9/14/51) where they meet Roger and discover, as is the television show, he is the Senior Cadet with the stripped armband on his left arm. The remainder of the first two weeks strip introduction deals with their training at the Academy and the formation of the Polaris Unit.
