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

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN 152 (August-September 1972)--1st story, "The Doubled Edged Sword" by Bridwell, Skeates, Sekowsky and Oksner:

Mercifully, Darkseid enters this issue to tell his stooge Morgan Edge that he's had it up to here with his foul-ups. The Dark Lord of Apokolips exercises restraint in not simply destroying the clone right then and there. In fact, Darkseid often seems to leave the killing to others--he's funny like that.





Instead, Darkseid's Omega Vision sends the Double Edge to the Galaxy film library, where the real Morgan is hiding out. However, an Intergang gunsel, who was supposed to kill the original, kills the fake by mistake reducing the clone to smithereens, as the genuine Morris Edelstein looks on. The Man of Tomorrow struggles with the Intergang hitman and the blaster goes off leaving only a scorch mark where the gunsel had stood. Superman apologizes to the real Edge about not believing him months ago, that time when he met him before.



Case closed, no more clone. Now let us never speak of this again.

[Jim Kelly]

ADVENTURE COMICS 423 (September 1972)--"Treachery" by Bridwell, Skeates, Sekowsky and Oksner; cover art by Bob Oksner:

The sensational cover for this issue sees Bob Oksner having the chance to draw the Justice League of America.



Not to be outdone, Mike Sekowsky's rendition of the J.L.A. on the inside story is a sight for sore eyes.



In the actual story itself, while shopping at a boutique, Linda Danvers is induced to try on a pair of sunglasses, but once she has them on she can't get them off. And now she's under the control of some green skinned aliens.



In fact, it's the leader of the aliens, named Gur, who has contrived this plot to control Supergirl for his own ends. His loyal brother does not understand the plot, as they observe the Woman of Tomorrow from their submarine beneath the ocean. These aliens have been successful in their conquests; they have more than enough riches. There's no reason for them to embroil themselves with the super-heroes of Earth.

[Jim Kelly]

Linda is directed to visit her cousin, Clark Kent, in Metropolis, tricking him into wearing a different pair of glasses, putting him under the aliens' control, as well.



The Caped Kryptonians are summoned to the extraterrestrial submarine. But when Kara's powers wink out, Gur abandons her and concentrates his efforts on the Man of Steel. Once her powers return, not being given any orders, the Blonde Blockbuster attacks the alien crew.

[Jim Kelly]

The bespectacled Superman is meanwhile sent to the Justice League satellite, to induce them to also wear the mind control glasses.



Having burned off her glasses with heat vision, the Daring Dame of Adventure chases after her cousin and has Green Lantern shatter Clark's glasses, freeing him from the mind control.



On board the alien craft, Gur turns on his brother for his treachery against him and their battle destroys the ship. Despite their differences, the two brothers stick together and drown, while the rest of the aliens flee to the surface, where Superman gives them transport back to their homeworld.



Note: After Supergirl's powers having remained stable for several issues, they're on the fritz again.

[Jim Kelly]

ADVENTURE COMICS 424 (October 1972)--1st story, "Crypt of the Frozen Graves" by Skeates, DeZuniga and Oksner; cover art by Bob Oksner:

Linda Danvers gets a lead on a criminal operation that makes people disappear.



She goes undercover and is captured by the crooks who are disappearing people by teleporting them into outer space--



--as seen on this issue's cover.

[Jim Kelly]

At the end of this story, Linda has decided she hates the news game and quits her job.



This sets up a new chapter for the Blonde Blockbuster, as this is the last issue of ADVENTURE COMICS to star Supergirl. She graduates to her own ongoing title, as seen in the ad blurb further on in the comic.



Note: With Linda Danvers ending her ADVENTURE run and moving onto her own title, this is a good place for me to take an extended break from this thread.

***

Happy Miracle Monday

[Jim Kelly]

ADVENTURE COMICS 190 (July 1953)--1st story, "The Terrible Truant" by writer unknown, art by Swan and Fischetti:

One day, on the super-scientific planet of Xanadu, a teen-ager named Jero decides to play truant and fly his spaceship to Earth, landing in the countryside outside Smallville.



Although he has no super-powers of his own, the advanced technology of Xanadu makes the lad a match for the Caped Kryptonian.

Using the name Jerome Smith, Jero stays with the Kents and attends classes with Clark Kent--who he doesn't know is Superboy.





The errant youth is finally convinced to give himself up to Tor, the truant officer from Xanadu, when Clark's mom plays on Jero's sympathies for his parents, who must be distressed by their son's long absence.

Note: In this yarn, Clark's dad is balding. They still hadn't settled on a consistent look for Jonathan at this stage of the game.

The movie, XANADU (1980), starred the immortals, Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly. They're really not dead as long as we remember . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLi8fTlDEag

[Jim Kelly]

Some for consideration

Balloon Man, Electric Man, Flame & Freezer (World's Finest #145)
Majestic (WildStorm) - (Majestic #1-4) limited series where he stands in for Superman on Earth
Paz and Vestion (Superman #148, 150) - along with Vartox

Atom King, Electroman & Green Lantern (Action Comics #386) - distant future
Replikon - controlled into fighting Superman
Vanguard (New Teen Titans Annual #1) - limited ties to Superman.

Completed:

Balloon Man, Electric Man, Flame & Freezer, from WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 145 (November 1964)--1st story, "Prison for Heroes" by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan and George Klein--see post #102.

Atom King, Electroman & Green Lantern, from ACTION COMICS 386 (March 1970)--1st story, "The Home for Old Super-Heroes" by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Georger Roussos--see post #629.


To be Completed:

The Vanguard

Vestion and Paz

Majestic

Replikon

[Jim Kelly]

THE NEW TEEN TITANS ANNUAL 1 (1985) [on sale with September cover-dated titles]--"The Vanguard" by Marv Wolfman, Ed Hannigan and Mike DeCarlo; r. TALES OF THE TEEN TITANS ANNUAL 4 (1986); cover art by Ed Hannigan and Klaus Janson; on sale June 13th, 1985:



This adventure takes place in the Titans' past, as Joe Wilson (Jericho) reviews cases prior to his joining the team.

At some point during his career as Superboy, Clark came to the aid of an alien world and left them with a coded star-summons should they ever need his assistance again. Now Superman, he comes to defend the planet from a devastating attack by an unknown invader.





At the same time, a super-team called the Vanguard intercept the coded message and also enter into the fray. The Vanguard's sentient ship, called the Drone, throws a shield around the planet to protect it from further attack--but the civilization on that world has been bombed to the stone age. The Man of Steel, mortally wounded in defending the planet, is rescued by the Vanguard and taken to a neighbouring moon for medical treatment.

However, the super-team is attacked by an army of Superman constructs. They destroy all but one, which they pursue to Earth--leaving Black Nebula behind with the genuine Man of Steel. When the Vanguard hunt down and capture their quarry, the Titans endeavour to stop them, thinking they have taken the actual Action Ace.

[Jim Kelly]

This line-up of Titans is minus Robin (Dick Grayson) and Kid Flash (Wally West), but includes Terra (Tara Markov), as this all happened before her treachery became known.

The Vanguard came to Earth fifty years before, where scientists gave them their English names: Anti-Matterman, Scanner, White Dwarf, Solaar, Drone and Black Nebula.

Once the Vanguard have explained the deal to the Titans, they all return to the moon where the Caped Kryptonian had been recovering from his injuries. They find Black Nebula murdered and Superman a prisoner of their unknown enemy--who turns out to be Brainiac.



The Computer Criminal is using Kal-El's super-energy to blast one planet after another. Brainiac's head ship has even taken on the appearance of the Spit-Curled Super-Hero to put the blame on him.

The Vanguard and the Titans free Superman and blast the Coluan craft.

Note: The Vanguard fly off to pursue further adventures across the cosmos. Since Marv Wolfman and Ed Hannigan are given a creator credit, they were probably hoping to do more with this new super-hero team.



At the end of the story, a caption asks readers to write in if they want to see more of the Vanguard.

[Jim Kelly]

SUPERMAN 148 (September 1999)--"Champions" by Dan Jurgens, Steve Epting and Josef Rubinstein
SUPERMAN 150 (November 1999)--"Earth's Final Hour" by Jurgens, Epting and Rubinstein

The Last Son of Krypton is on Mars when he's teleported away to a planet in a distant solar system. There he encounters three others--each champions of their worlds who have also been teleported--Vartox of Valeron, Vestion of Gravacus 7 and Paz of Po'Ahn.



They've been teleported to a world inhabited by the Stekmarian sand creatures, who have brought the super-heroes to their planet to battle an invading force.



Once they have completed their mission, the four paladins are transported back to their homes.

[Jim Kelly]

It turns out that Vartox, Vestion and Paz were just playing with the Man of Might in their previous encounter. Under threat of their homeworlds being destroyed, they've been drafted into a war on Superman and the Earth by that evil genius, Brainiac.



In the end the three help the Metropolis Marvel to pull the rug out from under the Coluan Computer.



Note: The issue in between 148 and 150--SUPERMAN 149 (October 1999)--introduces Strange Visitor (Kismet) who appears in all four titles that month, see post #
192.

For the pre-Crisis Vartox see posts #118 - 136.

[Jim Kelly]

They Call Him Mr. Majestic



WILDC.A.T.S: COVERT ACTION TEAMS 11 (June 1994)--2nd story, "Interlude: Mr. Majestic" by H.K. Proger, Ryan Benjamin and Tom McWeeney
MR. MAJESTIC 1 (September 1999)--"Mr. Majestic's Universe of Science" by Joe Casey, Brian Holguin, Ed McGuness and Jason Martin; cover art by Ed McGuiness
ACTION COMICS 811 (March 2004)--"Strange New Visitor, Part One" by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Karl Kerschl; cover art by Ed McGuiness and Dexter Vines
THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN 624 (March 2004--"Strange New Visitor, Part Two" by Abnett, Lanning and Kerschl; cover art by Ed McGuiness and Dexter Vines
SUPERMAN 201 (March 2004)--"Strange New Visitor, Part Three" by Abnett, Lanning and Kerschl
MAJESTIC 1 (October 2004)--"Grounded" by Abnett, Lanning and Kerschl
MAJESTIC 2 (November 2004)--"Secret Identity" by Abnett, Lanning and Kerschl
MAJESTIC 3 (December 2004)--1st story "Power Trip" by Abnett, Lanning and Kerschl
MAJESTIC 4 (January 2005)--"Reality Check" by Abnett, Lanning and Kerschl
MAJESTIC 1 (March 2005)--"While You Were Out" by Abnett, Lanning, Neil Googe and Trevor Scott

Majestic, sometimes called Mr. Majestic or Majestros, was created by H.K. Proger and Jim Lee and first appeared in WILDC.A.T.S: COVERT ACTION TEAMS 11 (June 1994), a comic from the Wildstorm imprint (thus set in the Wildstorm universe).

From the planet Khera, Majestic was trapped on Earth-50 (i.e. the Wildstorm Earth) during the Kherubim/Daemonite interplanetary war and remained there for the next several centuries--becoming a renowned super-hero on that Earth.

Prior to the events of ACTION COMICS 811, on the post-Crisis Earth of Superman, Brainiac 13 (a futuristic Brainiac) had upgraded Metropolis into the City of Tomorrow. This attracted the attention of the inscrutable guardians of the timeline called the Futuresmiths (which are like the Smiths, except they play Prog Rock) but in actuality they were a reconstituted version of Brainiac from the distant future.

Brainiac 12 had created Cir-El in this future timeline and then sent her into the past to pose as Clark's daughter. When Kal-El goes forward in their timeline to confront this version of Brainiac, Cir-El sacrifices herself to prevent that timeline from existing and the Man of Steel becomes trapped in an alternate reality.

As a result, in "Strange New Visitor, Part One," the Metropolis of 2004 is without its Action Ace. And at the same time, because the timeline of the Futuresmiths was destroyed, the upgrades to Metropolis should not exist, causing a time-storm. Conner Kent, John Henry Irons and the Eradicator are trying to stop this crisis from destroying everything and everyone in Metropolis.

[Jim Kelly]

Lois Lane goes looking for Clark and instead finds Majestic, who has been pulled through the Bleed from Earth-50 to her Earth. When everyone else sees him, they think it must be the Man of Tomorrow in a new costume, but Lois is resolute that this is not the Action Ace (she should know).



Majestic soon realizes that the reason for the time storm is because time is rewriting itself and the solution is to let that happen. In the end Metropolis is returned to its former state, looking like it did before Brainiac-13 altered it.

[Jim Kelly]

After these events, with no means of getting back to his own reality, Majestic apparently hangs around Superman's Earth doing the super-hero thing--but not to the liking of other super-heroes or of the world's governments.



In the first issue of the MAJESTIC four part limited series, at a diner in Metropolis, the Caped Kryptonian sits down with the Kheran Warrior to have a talk.



After this conversation and now in outer space, Majestros encounters a Daemonite drone that has come through the Bleed.

Two weeks after their encounter, in the Metropolis suburb of Napier Rise, a man calling himself Jim McArest (an anagram of Mr. Majestic) comes to the door of Ellen to ask about a room for rent.

The widowed Ellen has a young son named Eli. She works at Eli's school as a librarian and she finds Jim a job there as a grounds keeper.

Ellen and Eli figure out that McArest was a super-hero, although he himself has lost his memory. However, the Daemonite drone is on his trail. The Eradicator comes to warn Majestros that this robotic being has been in the Bleed for a very long time where it has gained space-time energy that warps the reality around it. When the Daemonite drone comes after Majestic, Napier Rise is in danger of being devastated by the resulting warp. However, the Wildstorm hero throws the drone into the Bleed and plugs up the hole in reality.



Still, this leaves Majestros stuck on Superman's Earth.