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

[Johnny Thunders!]

I wish I could have found a way to justify the inclusion of “The Home for Old Super-Heroes”--in ACTION COMICS 386 (March ’70), by Cary Bates, Curt Swan and George Roussos, with a cover by Swan and Murphy Anderson. The three part Immortal Superman story in ACTION COMICS 385 - 387 is one of my all-time favourite stories. But try as I might, I just couldn’t find a good reason to go against my self-imposed rules to include it on my list. Unfortunately.

One of my favorite stories ever and the type of Superman stories that always works for me.

[Jim Kelly]

So I suppose this doesn't include characters who are(in universe) imitating Superman? On New Earth, Leslie Willis did that.
https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Leslie_Wi...ew_Costume.jpg

I didn't read many of her stories but from looking at the wikipedia page on her, she doesn't seem to qualify because she was only active on Earth. If she had gone to another planet at some point in her career, then I'd put her on the list. Looking like Superman or acting like Superman is perfectly fine--as many of these folks were doppelgangers.

Likewise Strange Visitor seems to have only been active on Earth. If she had adventures on other worlds, then she would also be on my list. But I didn't read many of her stories either, so I'm no expert on her exploits.

And I'm not counting alternate Earths, either. Because that would be too much for me to sort out. For the sake of my sanity, I'm just going to assume that all variations on Superman (Earth-One, Earth-Two, pre-Crisis, post-Crisis, new 52, Rebirth) is the same fella.

[marhawkman]

I sometimes wonder if DC will retcon Leslie as the ancestor of Garth Ranzz. But... she's never been to that planet, so... yeah.

Strange Visitor is another weird one, since the Superman inspired costume she only wore on Earth, even though Ahti/Kismet is NOT from Earth at all. Sharon Vance is a Human, but Kismet is the source of her powers.

[Güicho]

Let's not forget his other cousin the Son of Zorr-O-El !

[Jim Kelly]

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 1

Julius Schwartz began his long run as a Superman editor with WORLD'S FINEST COMICS 198 (November 1970)--on sale September 10, 1970, it featured the third Superman-Flash race--and then SUPERMAN 233 (January 1971)--on sale November 5, 1970. Of course, Schwartz had been the editor of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA for over a decade by then, which had Superman as one of its regular stars.

The first story in the Schwartz run of SUPERMAN was "Superman Breaks Loose" by Denny O'Neil, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson--which among other things began the Sand Superman Saga. The tantalizing splash page has a caption that reads in part ". . . there is another side to the Man of Steel . . . a dark side hidden from both the crowds of admirers and the evil men who hate and fear him." What could O'Neil have meant by this reference to "a dark side?" I don't know that the story arc actually pays off what that splash page portends.



This was one of the longest story arcs thus far for the Red and Blue Blur, in which an experimental Kryptonite powered plant experiences a chain reaction that turns all the K on Earth to iron. The Man of Steel is knocked out by the explosion and falls to the sands of a desert in Death Valley. Without realizing it, Superman has given birth to a Sand Thing in his own image that emerges from the desert wastes after the Man of Tomorrow has recovered and left the scene.



Sidebar: In the era of relevance, "ripped from the headlines" was commonly said of O'Neil's concurrent work for GREEN LANTERN, where Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen set out on a journey to find America. Meanwhile, in his Batman stories, Denny establishes a relatively darker tone for the Masked Manhunter, in a grittier, reality-based Gotham.

Denny O'Neil tills the same field of relevance and realism in the Sand Superman Saga, when Superman and Clark Kent, in their jobs as champion of the oppressed and investigative broadcast journalist, confront corporate fat cats and lowlife criminals. The adversaries are not costumed villains (Sand Superman being a qualified exception).

This story marks the first appearance of Morgan Edge, "the smiling cobra," who owns Galaxy Broadcasting; he steals Kent from their subsidiary, The Daily Planet, to have the reporter work for WGBS. The new art team of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson (already cover artists for some of the Super books) bring a fresh look to the characters. Clark gets new glasses, longer sideburns, and fashionable suits.

[Jim Kelly]

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 2

In SUPERMAN 234 (February 1971) "How to Tame a Wild Volcano," Clark Kent has been sent by Morgan Edge to cover the explosion of a volcano on the small island of Boki. Superman wants to save the native islanders but runs afoul of a typical O'Neil fat cat tycoon, Boisie Harker, who owns the island where the people work for his plantation.

Whenever the Sand Creature comes near Superman, it siphons off some of his powers at key points.



It follows Superman to the island at a crucial moment in the story and the Metropolis Marvel falls out of the sky.

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 3

After brief brushes with the Man of Steel, the Sandman plays a greater role in "Sinister Scream of the Devil's Harp," by O'Neil, Swan and Anderson, SUPERMAN 235 (March 1971). The curator of the Metropolis Music Museum, Ferlin Nyxly, comes into possession of the ancient Devil's Harp which grants him any ability he wishes for--however, these powers are siphoned from others.



So when Nyxly wishes for the gift of flight and invulnerability, those are taken from both Superman and the Sand Creature. In the end, it's Sandy who destroys the harp. The Action Ace speaks to his gritty counterpart, saying, "You seem...like a dark twin of myself--" Yet the Sand Superman gives no response and simply walks away.

[Jim Kelly]

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 4

The next issue--236--has nothing to do with the unfolding Saga, so we skip ahead to Denny, Curt and Murph's next instalment, "Enemy of Earth," in SUPERMAN 237 (May 1971). Superman becomes the carrier of a weird virus from outer space. Anyone he touches undergoes a debilitating transformation. Meanwhile, in a Central American jungle, Lois Lane is being held hostage by bandits, as a horde of army ants approaches.

At the same time the eerie Creature that dogs him is siphoning powers from the Red and Blue Blur. When they come into contact, the resulting explosion sterilizes the hand that Superman extended to Sandy. A pariah to the Earth, Superman exiles himself to outer space but tumbles onto an idea to completely disinfect himself through explosive contact with his gritty other.




The close contact causes the desired cure, but as Superman plummets into the jungle to save his love, his powers are greatly diminished--he can leap over a mountain in a single bound, bullets don't penetrate his skin (but he can feel the impact) and he has to strain to break the muzzle of a gun.

The Sand Superman has taken on the red and blue colouring of the Man of Steel and he can now speak in full sentences. He says, "I am you! --And I fear that we may not both survive!"

[Jim Kelly]

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 5

Artist and publisher, Carmine Infantino, teamed up with his classic inking pal, Murphy Anderson, for SUPERMAN 238's beautiful cover art.



The June 1971 issue finds the Last Son of Krypton still with diminished power levels; however, ever the hero, he leaps into action, regardless of mortal peril. In "Menace at 1000 Degrees," by O'Neil/Swan/Anderson, a modern day pirate named Quig with his henchmen has taken over a geothermal drilling rig on the ocean.

When the Man of Might descends upon the pirates they blast him with a magma gun, shooting hot lava from the Earth's depths, which encases Superman in rock as he sinks below the sea. Breaking free from his igneous tomb, the World's not so Greatest Super-Hero swims up to the North Pole to chat with the Sand Superman, in hopes that they can team-up. But Sandy is having none of it.



Meanwhile, threatening to blast the geothermal drill hole and cause catastrophic damage to the Earth, Quig demands ten million dollars in gold, fifty hostages and a hydrogen bomb all be sent to the drilling platform. Seemingly not understanding that giving a hydrogen bomb to a madman can only make matters much worse, the world powers comply.

Reporter Lois Lane manages to have herself included among the fifty hostages, but when Ms Lane gets in a tussle over Quig's gun a stranger in a trench coat intervenes and turns out to be our Superman, who also managed to come aboard as one of the hostages. Feeling his powers start to increase, the Action Ace plows into the pirates, but Quig sends the H-bomb down the drill shaft toward the Earth's core. Superman desperately dives after the bomb to save the Earth from the same fate that destroyed his birth planet. Flinging the bomb back up the shaft, Superman follows after it to take out Quig and then catch the bomb before it explodes.

[Jim Kelly]

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 6

The next issue, 239, is a Giant--a good one and the last Giant in the G series for Superman--so the Saga picks up next in SUPERMAN 240 (July 1971), "To Save a Superman," this time by the team of Denny O'Neil, Curt Swan and Dick Giordano.

His powers waning, the Metropolis Marvel saves the people trapped inside a burning apartment building; however, when he tries to salvage the structure it falls down around him. "Superman Fails" is the Daily Planet headline. And the Champion of the Oppressed is taunted by folks on the street.

Sidebar 1: This issue in particular plays up the acrimony Superman experiences as his fickle public turns against him.

When the Anti-Superman Gang pulls a bank job, Superman considers whether he should bother getting involved, before recognizing that he's always going to fight for what's right.



Sidebar 2: The Anti-Superman Gang is an Earthbound criminal organization that first showed up in the early 1960s. They are essentially gangsters and not in the habit of wearing outlandish costumes. Don't confuse them with the Superman Revenge Squad, also from the 1960s, a gang of alien criminals also bent on destroying the Caped Kryptonian.

Later, Clark Kent has a visit from Diana Prince's mentor, the blind gentleman who takes the monicker of the ancient Book of Changes, "I-Ching." This story takes place during the period when Diana had renounced her powers and trained with Ching in martial arts. The blind gentlemen is also a mystic and has what he calls "third sight."

His gift allows Ching to penetrate the illusions of the mundane world. He senses that Clark needs his help and they arrange to meet at a private residence that evening.



There, Kent is instructed to discard his civilian garb and the sage proceeds to draw out the essence from a supine Superman. But just at that moment three Anti-Superman Gang thugs bust in and get the jump on Ching before turning their attentions to the Man of Steel who lies on the floor still in a trance.

One of the thugs uses the butt of his gun to deliver a sharp blow to Superman's forehead (remember that, it's important). This brings Superman out of his stupor and, without powers, he makes short work of dispatching the gunsels.

[Jim Kelly]

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 7

The action picks up where it left off in the previous issue, with "The Shape of Fear" by O'Neil, Swan and a returning Anderson, in SUPERMAN 241 (August 1971).

The three Anti-Superman Gang gunsels rendered unconscious, the blind mage returns to the task at hand, extracting Superman's astral form. This psychic emanation takes flight until it finds the Sand Superman and the two clash exchanging energies in mid air. Sandy falls back to Earth, while the Superman projection returns to its corporeal host.



The Red and Blue Blur now seems back to his old self and in fighting form. However, as the days go by it becomes apparent that the Metropolis Marvel has lost the plot as he performs outlandish stunts. Ching conferring with his partner, Diana Prince, states that the blow to the head from the Anti-Superman Gang thug caused brain damage when Clark was still in a vulnerable state and once the powers returned that damage became permanent.

The only way to fix the problem is for Superman to lose his powers again. So the blind gentleman and the Wonder Woman perform a magic ritual that leads them to Central Park, in Manhattan, where the weakened Sand Creature clings to life.

Ching then explains to Diana that the Creature came from the realm of Quarrm. Which is, according to the ancient Book of Cthulhu, a "state of alternate possibilities . . . where neither men nor things exist . . . only unformed shapeless beings."



Sidebar: "Cthulhu" is a reference to the work of H.P. Lovecraft, a client of Julius Schwartz when the editor was a literary agent. I don't know where Quarrm comes from or if it's a totally original thing.



As Ching, Diana and Sandy leave Central Park, we see that another shapeless being has entered through a rip in reality (that the Sand Superman had made when he was dying). The Quarrmer mist floats toward a parade in Chinatown and there animates a giant statue of a Chinese War Demon as its host. It then proceeds to terrorize the city.

Meanwhile, Diana Prince has summoned the Man of Steel to Morgan Edge's Manhattan penthouse. As Superman busts through the wall, instead of using the door, Diana seeks to mollify him so the Sand Superman can siphon off his powers. The Man of Steel crashes through a window to escape but, as he flies over Manhattan, it's now the War Demon that siphons off the Kryptonian's powers, and Superman crashes to the pavement.

[Jim Kelly]

The Sand Superman Saga, Part 8

SUPERMAN 242 (September 1971) presents "The Ultimate Battle" by O'Neil, Swan and Anderson. The War Demon drags Superman to a junkyard in Manhattan, where two hobos give the powerless hero a beating, until he's unconscious. After the two vagabonds have left with their new demonic buddy, it just so happens that Jimmy Olsen is there on assignment and by monumental coincidence discovers the inanimate Man of Steel on the junk heap. (Symbolism.)

The Sand Creature tries to take down the War Demon, but surmises that this Quarrmer has two-thirds of Superman's powers, while Sandy has the remaining third.



At an area hospital, doctors perform brain surgery on the Man of Tomorrow, as Jimmy, Diana and Ching nervously await the outcome. However, the two junk heap hobos discover that Superman is in hospital and direct their War Demon pal to take them there so they can finish him off. Realizing that it doesn't need these two riff-raff, the Creature throws them away and goes after Superman on its own.

Crashing its way into the hospital, it snatches up the recovering Action Ace, but Superman has come back to consciousness and seems to have drawn some of his power out of the War Demon. The Sand Superman joins in the fight and the two of them drive the Quarrmer toward Central Park and toward the riff in reality back into the realm of Quarrm.



Now, the Sand Superman says that he wants to be Superman. I-Ching casts a spell upon the two and they engage in a world destroying battle.



However it's all an illusion cast by the blind gentleman. Having both seen the ruin that any battle would cause, Sand Superman returns to his home reality, taking his powers with him. Superman says that he doesn't need anymore powers.

Sidebar 1: It seems that the Man of Sand and the Man of Steel each siphoned off the same amount of power that the War Demon had, so they were at equal strength. Neither one could win in a battle, the only thing they could accomplish was complete destruction of the Earth. So this would mean Superman was at half strength when the Quarrm Sand Creature went back into his own reality. Just how much power Superman had hereafter was a subject of debate in the letter columns.

Sidebar 2: The Saga begins by stating Superman has "a dark side hidden from both the crowds of admirers and the evil men who hate and fear him." We do see Superman encountering his crowds of admirers (who turn against him) and evil men (who delight in his failures), but do we see Superman's dark side? If this is a reference to the Sand Superman, in the end Sandy turns out to have strong moral values--so, no, I don't think he is the dark side of Superman. We do see our Red and Blue Blur being very petty and self-pitying--which is a take on the character that runs contrary to how most stories portrayed him. On the whole I think the Sand Superman Saga was a false start--an attempt to rethink Superman for a new generation, showing up his flaws and weaknesses, believing that's what readers wanted. Other writers--Bates, Dorfman, Wein, Maggin--largely ignored that approach.

[Jim Kelly]

Sand Superman, the Post-Reboot Man of Steel Redux



In SUPERMAN SPECIAL (1992), "The Sandman" rehashes the Sand Superman plot in a condensed version of the story from writer-artist Walt Simonson (there's a dedication at the end to Julie, Denny, Curt and Murphy). This time it's a secret facility owned by Lex Luthor that is experimenting on Kryptonite which causes the explosion that leads to the Sand Superman coming into being. But no explanation is delivered to where the Creature came from.

The experiment gone wrong converts the Kryptonite to lead rather than iron (which makes sense given radioactive decay); however, it's never explained if it was just the one sample or all the K on the Earth, like in the original story.

Luthor manipulates the Sandman into going after the Man of Steel. And the story comes to a big climax as the two Supermen square off at the Fortress of Solitude. The Sand Superman, now an identical twin of Superman, wants to become the Red and Blue Blur himself, having the same thoughts and desires as his doppelgänger. There's an explosion, but we never see the outcome. The story cuts to a Superman confronting Luthor in his office. Is this the true Superman or is this the Sand Superman?

The ending is ambiguous and we don't know for sure if the Sand Superman has now replaced the previous Superman or if Sandy gave up his life so Superman could continue with his own.

Sidebar: This story was originally supposed to come out earlier and it refers to events from around 1990. Like the old fan theory that Proty I took the place of the dead Lightning Lad (living out Garth's life from then on), there's a theory that the Sand Superman really did replace the John Byrne Superman and that's why Superman in the 1990s is different from the previous rebooted Man of Steel.

In this issue, Simonson also uses the Project and the New Newsboy Legion from Jack Kirby's run of SUPERMAN'S PAL, JIMMY OLSEN. So the new yarn about the Sand Superman dips its toe in reviving select elements of 1971 continuity, but it doesn't bring back a lot of what made that era so good for this reader.

[Jim Kelly]

Vartox

Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Bob Oksner present "Mystery Mission to Metropolis," SUPERMAN 281 (November 1974) on sale August 13, 1974.

On an unnamed planet in an unnamed galaxy, the people cheer for their champion, Vartox. Newlywed, the hero returns home to find his bride has suddenly dropped dead. She is biologically linked to another woman on Earth, who was gunned down in a hold-up by a man named Sykes.




Vartox intends to bring his wife's killer to justice. The direct approach would prove folly as an extended action sequence shows us. Superman would intervene and Lois Lane would be killed accidentally.

Sykes has escaped justice on a legal technicality but, posing as a criminal, "Vart," our alien hero convinces Sykes to steal a rare jewel. As this is a jewel from Vartox's own planet, they must return there for Sykes to get his reward.

Once there, the murderer is in the jurisdiction where he can be convicted for his crime. Superman comes after the pair, but does nothing to stop Vartox pulling off his scam. And when the Action Ace arrives on the hero's homeworld, Sykes is returned to Kal-El's custody, having already served his sentence, which was 60 years. However, on this planet, one serves all the time at once, so now Sykes is sixty years older.

Vartox has hyper-powers such as flight, but he also uses technological devices like the jets on his boots. He uses the scanscope, a device of his own invention, to view how his wife's twin was murdered in the past on Earth, light years away, with a boost from his hyper-vision. He's also able to loan his powers to Sykes, which includes teleportation with a snap of the fingers and telekinetic twisting others into a corkscrew motion.


Further adventures of Vartox reveal evermore powers--it would be a challenge to catalogue just how many things he can do. In this story, Vartox only previews what could happen if he and the Man of Steel ever got into a fight, but subsequent stories have him either imagining similar scenarios or outright losing control and attacking his super-friend.

However, when Vartox in his right state of mind, there is no better friend to Superman than he.

Vartox is modelled after Sean Connery in the 1974 movie ZARDOZ. And I surmise that the name Vartox is a combination of Zardoz (the name of a so-called god in the movie) and Vortex, the name for each region where the different classes of people are contained on Earth, in the year 2293. The movie came out in February of 1974 and SUPERMAN 281 came out in August of the same year. That's a pretty quick turn around time, given how long it took to write, pencil, letter, ink, colour, send to the presses and bindery and then distribute a comic book in 1974.

[Jim Kelly]

Karb-Brak '76, Part 1

Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Tex Blaisdell present "Superman, You'll Be the Death of Me Yet," in ACTION COMICS 460 (June 1976), on sale March 30, 1976.

One typical morning in Metropolis, WGBS anchorman Clark Kent is riding the bus to work as usual. This morning, sportscaster Steve Lombard happens to join his co-worker on the bus ride. Suddenly, at the back of the bus an ordinary construction worker transforms into a weird alien, radiating such heat that the bus starts to melt. Kent, Lombard and all the other commuters rush to escape the bus and in the confusion Clark switches into the Red and Blue to confront the alien menace.



The Action Ace knocks out the extraterrestrial, but the showdown has left Kal-El feverish and weak, as he attempts to fly his captive to the S.T.A.R. laboratories. The sickness overwhelms him and both drop from the sky--the alien combatant falls onto a passing dump truck and the Man of Steel onto the asphalt.

The strange visitor from outer space returns to his human form and as he leaves the truck and its driver behind, he flashes back to the circumstances that brought him to our world. In reality Karb-Brak, he lived on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy where everyone was super-powered like him. Then one day, he became sick with fever and seizures, his disease was fatal--his own people were the cause, somehow he was allergic to them.



The doctors searched for another world, where Karb-Brak would be able to recover from the ailment and they finally found Earth. There Karb-Brak assumed human form as an ordinary construction worker named Andrew Meda.

Realizing that it was another super-being, the Man of Tomorrow, who caused his seizure on the bus, Andrew Meda concludes that Superman was on the bus in his secret identity. Therefore, by a process of elimination, Steve Lombard or Clark Kent must be the Caped Kryptonian.

The story in this issue ends on a cliffhanger as Karb-Brak prepares to attack Steve.

[Jim Kelly]

Karb-Brak '76, Part 2

ACTION COMICS 461 (July 1976), "Kill Me or Leave Me," Bates/Swan/Blaisdell.

Clark has left Steve Lombard alone at the Galaxy Building's gymnasium, as Superman saves a senator from an attack. Meanwhile, Karb-Brak ambushes the sportscaster in the gym. Luckily, the Man of Steel returns in time to save Steve's bacon and Lombard gives the play by play.



Now that he knows C.K. must be the red S., Karb-Brak powers up his Psi-machine from his home planet (which is his own kind of Playstation for game play relaxation). It has the power to telepathically manipulate people to do want he wants. The power of the Psi-machine drives everyone in Metropolis to worship and adore Clark Kent.



Kent flees to a park, to escape his overzealous followers, but is brought up short by an attack from Karb-Brak. A crowd of Clark Kent loyalists get in the way of Super-Clark's attempts to fight off the Man from Andromeda. However, their cheers for their hero fuel Kent's counter attack.

The Man of Steel follows his assailant back to Andrew Meda's apartment, where the alien explains to Superman that he is dying.