The Super-Men (and -Women) of All-Planets

[Jim Kelly]

When the people of Lexor see that their hero has come back to life, they believe it was a mere accident and not a scheme by Luthor. The criminal mastermind had hoped to manipulate Superman’s execution, instead of killing him himself, so he could keep his promise to Ardora.



Given that the Man of Steel has brought their dear leader back to life, he is allowed to leave Lexor a free man. Yet, Luthor stays behind with his new bride--their happiness will continue for the time being.

Note: This was the last Lexor story from its creator, Edmond Hamilton. He was soon to leave the world of comic books for a round the world tour with his wife, Leigh Brackett. Edmond would pass away in 1977 and Leigh would follow him in 1978.

Absent the great science fiction writer's care, Lexor's future was bleak.

More Lexor tomorrow.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 86 (July 1965)--3rd story, "The Team of Olsen and Brainiac" by Jerry Siegel, Swan and Klein
SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 87 (September 1965)--1st story, "The Arena of Doom" by Siegel and Al Plastino
ACTION COMICS 332 (January 1966), 333 (February 1966) and 335 (April 1966)--1st stories, "The Super-Vengeance of Lex Luthor," "Superman’s Boos-Boos," "Luthor’s First Victory over Superman" by Dorfman and Plastino:

In SUPERMAN’S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 86, after a blow to the head that causes brain damage, Jimmy is about to die but Brainiac tells Superman he can save the cub reporter's life.

In this story, the Man of Steel believes Brainiac is humanoid and not android. However, when the Computer Criminal gets Olsen's body on board his saucer ship, he replaces Jim's human brain with a computer brain. And Olsen leads the Action Ace into a trap.



In the next issue (87), Superman figures out that Brainiac is an android and short circuits his brain. Later, in return for his freedom, the Coluan Calculator offers to restore Jimmy's original brain, now in working order. Brainiac and Olsen then leave in the saucer ship.

The Collector of Worlds plots to form a Convention of Anti-Superman Gang composed of himself, the Legion of Super-Villains (Lightning Lord, Saturn Queen and Cosmic King from the future) and Lex Luthor.

With Jimmy still in their clutches, the Convention force him to summon the Man of Steel with his signal watch and then kill his pal with green Kryptonite. But the chunk of K-Metal is a fake and inside it is the Bottle City of Kandor. With their super-science the Kandorians imprison all the crooks in a string of force-pearls.

[Jim Kelly]

In ACTION COMICS 332, the Convention are all on a prison planet. Luthor makes his escape in a space-suit to places unknown. Alerted that Lex is on the run, the Man of Tomorrow uses an experimental transmaterialization device that can transport his body to Lexor for five minutes.



There, he finds no trace of Lex, but does find a hidden cache of Luthor’s souvenirs. Just as Ardora happens upon the hated Kryptonian, he fades away--his five minutes are up. Seeing the hidden souvenirs, Ardora watches a mento-record disc for one of Lex’s past crimes.





Just then, Luthor arrives on his adopted world, after his escape from the prison planet, and sees Ardora is heart-broken over his wayward past. The criminal genius vows to revenge himself on the Man of Might for spoiling his harmonious home life.

Rocketing back to Earth, the sinister scientist saves the Metropolis Marvel from the efforts of others to kill him. Luthor has his own scheme for vengeance.

[Jim Kelly]

In the next issue (333), peeking in on Ardora with his view screen, Luthor is determined to wage psychological warfare on the Action Ace.

A day later, two scientists examine the Super-Sword of Krypton. Made of Kryptium, the sword was hurled into space before Krypton exploded and it can slice through the Man of Steel.

[Note: I wonder if this sword inspired the "Sword of Superman" in SUPERMAN ANNUAL 10 (1984).]

Just then, out to avenge his brother, Tom Vance breaks into the lab and steals the sword as Superman arrives. But from long distance, Luthor uses a mini-projectile to take out Vance.



Performing more good deeds, the renegade scientist seems to have reformed. And his misdirections start to rattle the World's Greatest Super-Hero.



Meanwhile, as a result of the shenanigans in "Lois Lane's Anti-Superman Campaign, SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 62 (January 1966), Perry White has become a senator and there's a new acting editor on the Planet, Van Benson.

In ACTION COMICS 335 (issue 334 was an 80 Page Giant), Lane and Olsen head to Washington to meet with Senator White, where they find out the President is worried about the Red and Blue Blur's "boo-boos".



The Man of Tomorrow submits to government scientific tests; however, the two scientists conducting the tests are actually Brainiac and Luthor.

The Man of Steel was not really so easily fooled and has lured them into a trap. Shrunken down to miniature size inside Brainiac’s mini saucer ship, the Deadly Duo are easily nabbed by the Caped Kryptonian.

[Jim Kelly]

Yet the arch criminals slip from the grasp of their captor, fleeing in the saucer ship. Brainiac returns Luthor to Lexor, but Lex doesn’t look forward to seeing his wife, who must hate him. However, she embraces and kisses him when he arrives, having forgotten all his misdeeds. The Computer Criminal deduces that the Metropolis Marvel exposed Ardora to an amnesia gas.





Superman, with his telescopic powers, looks on at the two lovebirds of Lexor, revealing in his thoughts that he let Luthor escape because Ardora is “too fine a girl to be hurt so deeply.”

[Jim Kelly]

ACTION COMICS 365 (July 1968)--1st story, "Superman’s Funeral" by Dorfman, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito; on sale May 28th, 1968:

When we next encounter Lexor, it's in the fourth part of the five-part epic of Virus X--which began in ACTION COMICS 362 (April 1968) and ended in ACTION COMICS 366 (August 1968).

Infected with the virus and dying, the Action Ace has launched himself in a rocket funeral bier, across the universe, with his ultimate destination the star Flammbron, the hottest sun in the galaxy. The course of the funeral rocket takes Superman past many planets that figure in his legend--including the planet Knorr, populated by an avian people.



As Kal-El passes over Lexor, he apparently witnesses the inhabitants in revolt against Luthor, bringing down the statue of their saviour. Ardora pleads with the populace to recognize all that the scientist has accomplished for their benefit. But the rabble ignore this Tharla, this wife of Luthor.

The Lexorians are supposedly enraged because Lex had a hand in the demise of his former friend. However, it's hard to square this with the hatred they had harboured against the Kryptonian in previous stories.

Note: This issue of ACTION COMICS was on sale about thirty years after the first issue of the title and Superman's voyage across the universe allows for him to flashback on his life story.

[Jim Kelly]

The scene on Lexor attracted some attention from the contributors to the Metropolis Mailbag:

In ACTION COMICS 268's Mailbag, Kevin Zimmerman of Brooklyn says that Superman couldn’t have used his telescopic vision because of Lexor’s red sun. E.Nelson Bridwell answers that they goofed.



In 269’s letter column, frequent contributor Gary Skinner of Columbus, Ohio, can’t believe they had the Lexorians rebel against Luthor and warns that this needs to be fixed or else. Bridwell promises future developments.



In the Metropolis Mailbag for SUPERMAN 296 (February 1976), the big E. brings up Superman’s Virus X vision of Lexor, in the context of Luthor’s battles with the Caped Kryptonian, saying, "True, hatred is all Luthor has left--on Earth! But he has more on the planet LEXOR, where he is a hero and has a beautiful wife, Ardora. No, I haven’t forgotten the story some years back in which the LEXORIANS supposedly turned against Luthor. But that was apparently seen by SUPERMAN with his telescopic vision while passing through LEXOR’s star-system in a spaceship--and since LEXOR has a red sun, SUPES would have had no super-vision there!"



And Bridwell was not done with this argument, he'd return to it another time.

[Jim Kelly]

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS 238 (June 1976)--"The Angel with a Dirty Name" by Bob Haney, Dick Dillin and John Calnan:



Even though this mag came out in 1976 and it's supposedly set in a possible future, it might as well be set in 1969. As if they were Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, the EASY RIDER sons of Superman and Batman are heading out on the highway, looking for adventure. Instead of two hogs, they share just one. The hard travelling heroes encounter a hippy chick, Dora Redson--she travels around in a psychedelic van. Dora enlists the Super Sons in entertaining the downtrodden in ghettos and prisons.

At one prison, the World's Finest Offspring get up as Gog and Magog. In reality, Dora has used them to help Lex Luthor escape from the prison. Dora and Lex are gone, leaving the Super Chumps to take the rap. However, the Super-Teens manage to make like a tree and leave.

Dora and Lex board an interstellar rocket ship--while the Scions of Superman and Batman stow away and overhear her spill to the criminal scientist that she's his daughter.

[Jim Kelly]

Dora--or Ardora, Jr.--was born on Lexor, while Luthor was away on Earth and his wife never told him.

Lex Luthor's daughter had come to Earth to bring her old man back to Lexor, so he could find a cure for a deadly plague on the planet. The plague causes the victims to grow to giant size before killing them.



Once arrived on Lexor, father and daughter find that Ardora, Sr., is afflicted with the plague, too.

It was Luthor himself who created the plague--as insurance should he be put in prison, so someone from Lexor would free him--but he finds that the antidote he left on Lexor was destroyed by a meteorite.



To make a new cure, they need the venom of a Terror Lizard, in the Lost Zone. Despite being powerless under a red sun, Superman’s Son goes to get the venom, regaining his powers temporarily when Luthor filters out the effects of the red sun. In the Lost Zone, the Son of Steel shows symptoms of the giant plague, but he's cured by the bite of a Terror Lizard.

Lex uses the Son of Superman's blood to formulate an antidote.



Note: Even though Dora was born on a planet like Krypton, she has no super-powers on Earth. As with all the Super Sons stories, they exist purely for entertainment purposes and are not meant to represent any actual persons living or dead.

[Jim Kelly]

ACTION COMICS 512 (October 1980)--"Luthor's Day of Reckoning" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Francisco Chiaramonte:

As previously discussed [post #247] . . . in his warped scheme to make himself fall in love with Angela Blake--per the previous two issues of ACTION--Lex Luthor has made himself forget all about his wife, Ardora--a fact that does not escape the Man of Steel's memory.

[Jim Kelly]

THE BEST OF DC 27 (August 1982) [Blue Ribbon Digest]--text feature, "The Luthor Story" by Bridwell; cover art by Andru & Giordano:



As a "Superman Versus Luthor" issue, this digest had 3 pages of text on Luthor's past stories.



Concerning the Virus X story, Nelson once more writes about the rebellion that Superman witnessed in ACTION COMICS 265. E.N.B. argues the revolution was not in the Lexorians' character. What Superman saw, in his delirium, was all in his head.

[Jim Kelly]

ACTION COMICS 544 (June 1983)--1st story, "Luthor Unleashed" by Bates, Swan and Murphy Anderson; r. THE BEST OF DC 50 (July 1984)
SUPERMAN 385 (July 1983)--"Luthor Rises Again" by Bates, Swan and Dave Hunt
SUPERMAN 386 (August 1983)--"Luthor Lashes Back" by Bates, Swan and Hunt:

ACTION COMICS 544 is a giant-sized 45th anniversary issue. Its two stories are meant to revitalize Superman's two big foes: Luthor and Brainiac. To add something new to these villains, there has to be some subtraction.



A ship arrives on Lexor and Ardora pensively looks on, wondering if this is the vessel that will finally return her husband to her. When she finally reunites with Lex--recovering in the medical centre after his latest battle with his Caped Nemesis--Ardora presents him with his child, Lex Luthor, Jr., an infant who can't be more than two years old.

[Jim Kelly]

His new family circumstances change the troubled genius as he resolves to stay on Lexor and give up his mad quest for revenge against his childhood friend.




Luthor happens to find an old compound of the great scientists who once ruled the planet, wherein there are many inventions even beyond his intellectual capacity. Lex also discovers that the core of Lexor is unstable and will surely explode. Are all Krypton-like planets this unstable? However, using the advanced technology, he invents a "Neutrarod" that beams neutrons into the planet's core to prevent a catastrophe.

Meanwhile, the population of Lexor are harassed by the Mystery Marauder. In green and purple battle armour the new villain cuts a path of destruction.

[Jim Kelly]

Despite having settled down, Luthor knows that at any time the Action Ace will come to the planet to continue their never-ending struggle. And sure enough, like a harbinger of doom, the Red and Blue Adversary appears--his powers still active though muted because of a sun-screen that delays the effects of the red sun. As Superman pursues his quarry, he's surprised when Lex shows up in the Mystery Marauder war suit.

Tangling with his arch foe has stirred up all the old hatreds in Luthor, he is obsessed with destroying the Man of Tomorrow and blind to everything else. So that, when one of his blasts ricochets off the Man of Steel, Luthor is in shock. At that moment all is lost. Ardora, his son, all of Lexor--all is consumed in one sickening explosion. Lex has lost everything.

[Jim Kelly]

The story continues in SUPERMAN 385 and 386 as Luthor comes to Earth in his Lexor war suit. Luthor is quite proud of his new battle armour, that combines his genius with the scientific wonders of Lexor, as it is capable of doing great marvels and nearly matches the Man of Tomorrow's native powers.

In fact, much like the space suit he used in ACTION COMICS 332, this one is capable of taking him all the way from Lexor to Earth--which must mean it can warp through space. But not just that. A large chunk of the exploded Lexor lands in the ocean on Earth, forming L-Island, the location for Luthor's new secret headquarters. How this extraterrestrial landmass could have found its way to Earth can only be explained if Luthor's gaudy armour pulled it through a cosmic wormhole.



Meanwhile, believing Lex is dead, Clark is haunted with feelings of guilt, not just for killing his former friend, but for his responsibility in the massacre of everyone on Lexor. If the Action Ace was not obsessed with pursuing Lex all over the universe, none of this should have happened.



The Marauder power suit, L-Island and the citadel built upon that island are the last surviving vestiges of that once mighty world, Lexor. So much loss. It hardly seems right, but at least Kenner got a new Lex Luthor Super Powers^TM action figure out of the deal.