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

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN 335 (May 1979)--"Mxyzptlk Spelled Backwards is T-R-O-U-B-L-E" by Pasko, Swan and Chiaramonte
SUPERMAN 349 (July 1980) "The Turnabout Trap" by Pasko, Swan and Chiaramonte; cover art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano:

It's Valentine's Day and Superman is hanging out with Lois, when the subject of marriage comes up again. Meanwhile, in the 5th Dimension, Mxy is engaged to marry the lovely Miss Bgbznz, but before he can say "I do," he's banished to the 3rd Dimension.





At his Fortress, the Man of Steel hopes to give Lois Lane super-powers, so he can marry her. But when he experiments on a lizard-like alien creature, that has super-powers under a yellow sun, the Action Ace gets bit.

[Jim Kelly]

He soon turns into the Lizard of Tomorrow. However, as Mxyzptlk wants to return to Zrfff (and saying his name backaward doesn't do the trick), and as Superman wants to return to his human form--they could each do the other a favour, if they could only trust each other.



In the end, the Metropolis Marvel tricks the 5th Dimensional Imp into making good on the deal--and helping Superman (a good deed) removes Mxyzptlk's banishment. But after the Maker of Mischief pledges his troth to Miss Bgbznz, she reveals her true appearance--which is not the glamour model he'd hoped to marry.

[Jim Kelly]

Returning to Earth from outer space, Clark Kent discovers everything is switched at the Daily Planet, in regards to gender. Perry is Penny White, Lois is Louis Lane and Jimmy is Jenny Olsen. Among the Earth's super-hero set, there's a Superwoman not Superman, a Superboy not Supergirl, a Black Condor not Black Canary, a Wonder Warrior not Wonder Woman and a Batwoman not Batman. The Flash is still the Flash, but the Scarlet Speedster is a woman.

[Jim Kelly]

Is this a parallel world, some other dimension? Superman figures out that it's actually his Earth, just under a magic spell, and it's Mxyzptlk's handiwork (in Superwoman's enemy files, Mxy's gender isn't switched).

When he comes face to face with the 5th Dimensional Pest, Mxyzptlk reveals that his disappointment in love--his marriage to Miss Bgbznz was annulled--made him jealous of Superman's romance with Lois, so he got his revenge by inverting the sexes.




Having previously tangled with Wonder Warrior and won his magic lariat, the Man of Steel lassos Mxy to send him back to Zrfff--and the patriarchy is restored on Earth. At the end, Clark is surprised to meet a Louis Lane--but this is Lois' cousin from Pittsdale.

[Jim Kelly]

GHOSTS 78 (July 1979)--Hostess ad, "Superman Meets the Orbitrons" by writer unknown, art by Swan? and Colletta?:

Some space travellers tell Superman that their gold was stolen by the Orbitrons from Orbitron. Superman driving in the Supermobile diverts the Orbitrons with his delicious cargo of golden desserts--Hostess^® Twinkies^® Cakes.

[Jim Kelly]

ACTION COMICS 500 (October1979)--"The Life Story of Superman Story" by Pasko, Swan and Chiaramonte; r. THE SUPERMAN STORY (Tor, 1983), a black & white pocket size book (cover art by José Luis García-López and Dick Giordano?)
ACTION COMICS 524 (October 1981)--1st story,"If I Can't be Clark Kent...Nobody Can" by Pasko, Swan and Chiaramonte:



"If I Can't be Clark Kent...Nobody Can" begins with the powerless Man of Tomorrow in the Fortress of Solitude and using one of the defunct Superman robots to fly to Metropolis, where he switches into his Clark Kent duds.

Meanwhile, in outer space, approaching Earth, comes another Action Ace, who battles a many limbed, jaundiced space beast that's attacking one of Earth's space probes from its home asteroid.



After dispatching the alien creature, Superman comes to Earth. At the same time, the other Clark Kent investigates an incoming news story that a plane has gone down over the Rockies and among those on board were entrepeneur J. Robert Arngrim and newscaster Dan Reed (featured many times before in the Superman comics). The name Arngrim rings some bells and soon it comes back to this Clark Kent that he's actually a Clone.

[Jim Kelly]

The Clone's origin occurred in the 500th issue of ACTION COMICS, which told the full life story of Superman--one of the most comprehensive tellings of the Man of Steel's origin, where Marty Pasko included details from many previous tales. The comic was 68 pages (including cover) for a dollar--and later the pages were repasted (by Bob Rozakis) for the black & white Tor pocket size book, THE SUPERMAN STORY.

The Action Ace makes a special appearance at the opening of the Superman Pavilion for the Metropolis World's Fair. The Caped Kryptonian has provided exhibits for display in return for financier J. Robert Arngrim's charitable contribution. And the Man of Tomorrow takes Arngrim and others on a tour of the exhibition.

However, this is not the real Arngrim but a Lex Luthor created clone. The fake Arngrim gets Superman to use the Mind-Prober Ray that retrieves buried memories from his subconscious.



Lex Luthor is making a Clone of Superman and this Clone is being fed the Man of Steel's entire life story so that he can replace Superman/Clark Kent. Lex intends to kill the World's Greatest Super-Hero, but only he will know that Superman was murdered, since the Clone is supposed to carry on in the hero's place.



The Clone has switched places with the real Superman, as the Metropolis Marvel is trapped by Luthor. However, he manages to escape and fights the Clone of Steel in the skies above the Superman Pavilion. When the Fake of Tomorrow crashes through the roof he lands on top of a display of Gold Kryptonite which removes his powers.

ACTION COMICS 524 fills in what happened next. Superman took the Clone to the Fortress, where he thought an accidental explosion had disintegrated the double; however, the Clone had actually escaped into the lead-lined vents of the Fortress.

Since he has no powers of his own, Clone Kent uses the parts from the Superman robot he hijacked to give himself artificial powers. He tries to convince the Big Red Sl to let him have the Clark Kent identity as that's all that matters to Clone Clark--his memories of being Kent are so complete that he doesn't want to lose that life.

The story ends with the Clone having a horrible accident that disfigures his face. The Champion of the Oppressed has government surgeons give the Clone a new face and uses super-hypnosis to convince him he's Dan Reed--the real Reed having actually died in that plane crash.

[Jim Kelly]

I thought I would take a moment to acknowledge all the super-beings mentioned on this thread that have shown up as members of the United Planets Superwatch in THE GREEN LANTERN (2019) and THE GREEN LANTERN: SEASON TWO (2020) by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp.

I found a useful list on this site for my purpose:
https://www.cosmicteams.com/cosmic/u...uperwatch.html

So without further ado . . .

The United Planets Superwatch Checklist

--already mentioned previously on this thread, listed in alphabetical order
[in square brackets are additions/changes made in THE GREEN LANTERN comics] :

✓ Aeroman & Windlass [of Marr], WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 163 (December 1966)
✓ Dyno-Man of Sorta, SUPERMAN 206 (May 1968)
✓ Halk Kar [Hal Kar] of Thoron, SUPERMAN 80 (January-February 1953)
✓ The Hyper-Family of Trombus: Hyperboy (Kirk Quentin), his parents [Hyperman (Craig Quentin) and Hyperwoman] and Klypso the Hyperdog, SUPERBOY 144 (January 1968)
✓ Hyper-Man I (Chester King) of Oceania, ACTION COMICS 265 (June 1960)
✓ Logi and Quisto of Durim, WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 124 (March 1962)
✓ Marvel Maid (Lea Lindy) of Terra, ACTION COMICS 272 (January 1961)
✓ Maxima of Almerac, ACTION COMICS 645 (Septermber 1989)
✓ Power-Boy [Powerlord] of Juno (Zarl Vorne), SUPERBOY 52 (October 1956)
✓ Regor (Winki Lamm) of Uuz, SUPERMAN 58 (May-June 1949)
✓ Strong Girl [Strongwoman (Marta Zappix)] from ✫The Honor Team of Thronn: also includes Energiman, Golden Blade and Magicko, GREEN LANTERN 32 (October 1964)
✓ Super-Male of Soomar (Irn Brimba), SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 41 (May 1963)
✓ Superwoman (Luma Lynai) of Staryl, ACTION COMICS 269 (June 1962)
✓ Vartox of Valeron (Vernon O’Valeron), SUPERMAN 281 (November 1974)
✓ Vidal of the Inter-Galactic Patrol (Allen Greene), ADVENTURE COMICS 260 (May 1959)


--additional Superwatch members:

• Martian Ant-Eater [speculative] counterpart of Martian Manhunter of Earth-C, CAPTAIN CARROT AND HIS AMAZING ZOO CREW 14 (April 1983)--this is the only one that hasn't come up on this thread--owing to my self-imposed limitations, other Earths from the multiverse don't count (although Earths in other dimensions) and I've tried to stay away from comics that don't involve Superman or his family
• Solarwoman, THE GREEN LANTERN 9 (September 2019)*--a female version of Solarman, from SUPERMAN 298 (April 1976), which was mentioned on this thread in connection with Mr. Xavier; Solarman is from Earth and used a suit to give himself solar powers
• Super-Ant [speculative] based on mutant super-ants from a nuclear holocaust world, ACTION COMICS 296 (January 1963), covered on this thread


*THE GREEN LANTERN 9 (September 2019)--"The Day the Stars Fell Down" by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp:

[Jim Kelly]

When posting about the two part story in SUPERMAN 228 (July 1970) - SUPERMAN 229 (August 1970), I said, "There are many many stories about the Superboy/Superman Revenge Squad (over 30, at least) and those feature many alien worlds." And I said that I might look at all the stories eventually, so now seems like a good time for that.



I will be going through these stories according to the fictional chronological order of Clark Kent's life, i.e. the Superboy Revenge Squad first and then the Superman Revenge Squad after--but that's not the order they were published. For future reference, here is the publication order--

The Superboy/Superman Revenge Squad Publication Order

1. SUPERBOY 94 (January 1962)--1st story, "The Superboy Revenge Squad"
2. ACTION COMICS 286 (March 1962) - 287 (April 1962)--1st stories, "The Jury of Super-Enemies," "Perry White's Manhunt for Superman"
3. ACTION COMICS 295 (December 1962)--1st story, "Superman Goes Wild"
4. ACTION COMICS 300 (May 1963)--1st story, "Superman Under a Red Sun"
5. SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 69 (June 1963)--1st story, "The Dynamic Duo of Kandor"
6. SUPERMAN 162 (July 1963)--"The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue" (imaginary)
7. SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 79 (July 1963)--1st story, "Jimmy Olsen's Boo-Boos"
8. SUPERMAN 163 (August 1963)--1st story, "Wonder Man, the New Hero of Metropolis"
9. SUPERMAN 165 (November 1963)--1st story, "Beauty and the Super-Beast"
10. ACTION COMICS 313 (June 1964)--1st story, "The End of Clark Kent's Identity"
11. SUPERBOY 114 (July 1964)--1st story, "The Raid from the Phantom Zone"
12. SUPERMAN'S GIRL FRIEND, LOIS LANE 52 (October 1964)--3rd story, "The Lois Lane - Lana Lang Truce"
13. SUPERBOY 118 (January 1965)--3rd story, "The War Between Superboy and Krypto"
14. SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 83 (March 1965)--3rd story, "Jimmy Olsen's Captive Double"
15. ACTION COMICS 322 (March 1965)--1st story, "The Coward of Steel"
16. ACTION COMICS 343 (November 1966)--1st story, "Eterno the Immortal"
17. SUPERMAN 198 (July 1967)--1st story, "The Real Clark Kent"
18. WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 175 (May 1968)--1st story, "The Superman - Batman Revenge Squads"
19. ACTION COMICS 367 (September 1968)--1st story, "Mysteries of the Superman Awards"
20. ACTION COMICS 380 (September 1969) - 381 (October 1969)--1st stories, "The Confessions of Superman," "The Dictator of Earth"
21. SUPERMAN 228 (July 1970) - SUPERMAN 229 (August 1970)--2nd story, "Execution Planet," 1st story, "The Ex-Superman"
22. ACTION COMICS 445 (March 1975)--1st story, "Count Ten, Superman--and Die"
23. ADVENTURE COMICS 456 (March-April 1978)--"This Power...This Responsibility"
24. ACTION COMICS 501 (November 1979)--1st story, "The Mystery of the Mild-Mannered Superman"
25. WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 272 (October 1981)--1st story, "Assault on the Fortress of Solitude"
26. SUPERMAN 365 (November 1981) - 368 (February 1982)--1st stories, "When Kryptonians Clash," "Revenge, Superman-Style," "The Revengers Strike Back," "The Revenger of Steel"
27. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 32 (August 1982) - 33 (September 1982)--1st stories, "Save Superboy...or Die," "Kill Superboy...or Conquer"
28. SUPERMAN 383 (May 1983)--"Your World or Your Life Superman--One Must Die"
29. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 53 (May 1984) - 54 (June 1984)--"To Slay a Superboy," "The Dumbbell That Saved the Earth"
30. DC COMICS PRESENTS 87 (November 1985)--1st story,"Year of the Comet"; SUPERMAN 414 (December 1985)--"Revenger is Life--Death to Superman"

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERBOY 94 (January 1962)--1st story, "The Superboy Revenge Squad" by Robert Bernstein and George Papp; r. 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR DC-21 (October 1973):



A gang of blue aliens from Wexr II set out on an expedition to find Superboy and destroy his planet. A year earlier, Superboy had foiled their plans for interplanetary conquest, so now they have styled themselves as "The Superboy Revenge Squad" on a suicide mission to blow up Superboy, his planet and themselves as soon as they locate him.



Going from one likely planet to another, monitoring each for the Boy of Steel's thought patterns, they finally arrive at Earth. But Clark is hip to their scheme and uses a hypnosis device to convince himself he's a regular human being, so the Revenge Squad won't identify him. After doing a sweep of the planet and finding no trace of Superboy, the Revengers set out for the next candidate world on their list.



However, Pete Ross observes that Clark has seemed to forget that he's the Boy of Steel--perhaps because of Red Kryptonite--so Pete poses as Superboy instead. Lucky for him and the Earth, the Revenge Squad had already left before that happened.

Reality Check: The original Superboy Revenge Squad are blue, bald, pointy-eared humanoids from the homeworld Wexr II. Superboy encountered them before but not in any published story.

At this point in their history, the Revengers don't know that Superboy and Clark Kent are one and the same, thus they are fooled by the Boy of Steel's subterfuge.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERBOY 114 (July 1964)--1st story, "The Raid from the Phantom Zone" by Jerry Siegel and George Papp:



On June 23rd, the Superboy Revenge Squad send a giant box to Superboy, supposedly as a gift from an alien civilization; however, when this mother of a box is opened, it contains Red Kryptonite that causes the Boy of Steel to go down an "Inception" rabbit hole--having a series of dreams within dreams, where he commits one bad act after another, including releasing criminals from the Phantom Zone.



When Clark awakens, he doesn't know what was real or not, until Ma Kent tells him it's June 24th. Then the Red and Blue Blur realizes that what he experienced happened all in one night and was one long dream.



Superboy gets his revenge on the Revengers by imprisoning them on the Dream World--"a strange planet where the atmosphere induces weird dreams in humans then solidifies them in three-dimensional form."

Reality Check: This is the second appearance of the Superboy Revenge Squad, but between their first appearance and this, they were featured several times as the Superman Revenge Squad. Consequently the concept of the Revenge Squad had evolved in those adventures, even though story-wise they all happened after this one.

The Revengers have a different look from those in the original Squad story, appearing as caucasoid humanoids. They wear finned yellow helmets and have the chest logo "sRs" on their uniforms.

Red Kryptonite is their preferred weapon of choice against the Caped Kryptonian; the Squad uses it more often than the green stuff.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERBOY 118 (January 1965)--3rd story, "The War Between Superboy and Krypto" by Otto Binder and George Papp; r. FOUR STAR SPECTACULAR 6 (January-February 1977):



In another Red Kryptonite plot, the Superboy Revenge Squad experiment on Krypto with three different specimens of the red stuff to see which will make Krypto hate Superboy.



The boy and his dog soon catch on to the scheme and fake their war.



Rava is the mission leader with Olmeg and Nar being two of his underlings.

Reality Check: The Squad has pretty much the same look as in issue 114. In publishing history, there was a blue Revenger from Wexr II named Rava, in ACTION COMICS 286 (March 1962). But the Rava in this story is one of the caucasoid Revengers.

[Jim Kelly]

ADVENTURE COMICS 456 (March-April 1978)--"This Power...This Responsibility" by David Michelinie, Joe Staton and Jack Abel; cover art by Al Milgrom and Jack Abel, whose names appear on the football players:



The Boy of Steel is beset by three menaces, including the Superboy Revenge Squad.





However, these menaces were all manifested by an advanced machine culture to test the Smallville Wunderkind and were not, in fact, real.

Reality Check: The fake Revengers are blue humanoids--similar to the Wexr II guys from the original Revenge Squad story.

[Jim Kelly]

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY 32 (August 1982) - 33 (September 1982)--1st stories, "Save Superboy...or Die," "Kill Superboy...or Conquer" by Cary Bates and Kurt Schaffenberger:

This time the Squad is actually trying to save Superboy, for reasons of their own.



Their attempts to save the Red and Blue Blur are misconstrued as attacks. Meanwhile, one of their own--Trohnn--has gone rogue and laid a trap for the Boy of Steel to deplete his powers.



[continued in the next post following . . .]

[Jim Kelly]

Meanwhile, Trohnn has imprisoned Pete Ross in a cave, extracting knowledge of Superboy's secret identity from Clark Kent's best friend. The racoon-like alien poses as Ross until Kent figures out that he's an imposter.



The rogue Revenger's radiation and bio-aging device weakens the Smallville Wunderkind. But before Trohnn can kill his hated enemy, he's beamed up to the Revenge Squad ship.



The Squad enlists Superboy's aid in stopping their blue star-sun from going super-nova. However, the Revengers have actually set up this solar doom themselves, in hopes of assassinating the Caped Kryptonian. The solar detonation should actually give them all super-powers, but instead of exploding the star changes to a yellow sun. The Boy of Steel has used the bio-aging device to age the sun and change its solar mass.



Reality Check: The original Wexr II Revengers are in league with others in the Squad; as suggested by Bates' story arc in SUPERMAN 365 (November 1981) - 368 (February 1982, which came just before this one in publication order, Wexr II is the home base for all the Squad at this time. So that planet originally had a blue sun.

The Squad extracts information from Trohnn, which ultimately kills him, but since he knew that Clark Kent was Superboy, they may have extracted that information, as well--and this might be how they know Superman is Clark Kent in other stories. If true, this would be ironic for Pete Ross, who has protected Superboy's identity so many times in the past, and he was the ultimate source of this dangerous information which would give the S.R.S. an advantage in the future.

Due to a colouring error in issue 33, Pete Ross has reddish hair, making him look like Jimmy Olsen.