Superman Through the Ages! Forum

"The Man Who Destroyed Krypton" is now online:

http://superman.nu/tales4/black-zero/

Earlier discussion was here:

http://superman.nu/smf/index.php?topic=3552.0

YAY!!!!

I'm gonna read it now... I love new stories on-line!

Um... that had to be one of the worst Superman stories I ever read... forced and cliched... but a welcome thing nonetheless!  It shows why Julie Schwartz overhauled the Man of Steel in 1970

I wouldn't say that the story is an example of why Superman needed overhauling but it is an example of a lot of Silver Age excesses all at the same time.

There's a lot of things to point to, but all the faults aside, I sort of like the idea of a code of honor among Kryptonian criminals. Its interesting to involve Jax-Ur on the side of good - its just too bad the plot device had to involve an alien destroying Krypton.

Yeah, I do agree it had it's good points, but everything seemed contrived.  Jax-Ur just happened to turn into a Medusa creature and found Zero's ship at the right time.

I did like Superman's solution, but how could he destroy the missile and not worry about fallout THEN?   Why not hurl a meteroid at the missile and destroy it, instead of his super-body?  Why did he need the Super-Computer to expose the person he brought to the Fortress (in the thawed-out Artic, it seems?)

Hmm... maybe the Fortress is the answer.. this was a parallel Earth story... it sure wasn't in the Artic and didn't look anything like the Fortress we all know and love...

Plastino's art was good...I thought it was Ross Andru at first.  Otoo had a bad day, though...

Still a good addition to the site

Well, coincidences are pretty key to a lot of Silver Age stories, just like Jimmy having a "Life Saver" at the exact right time. The idea of a tunnel through the earth is pretty far-fetched, there would be no way the hole would hold up as it was bored...etc. But that kind of bad science never bothered me that much.

The villain is a little all-over-the-map, Here is a guy who can turn any thought into reality and can conjure a giant hammer. Black Zero could have as easily thought of more darts.

The biggest problems I have are a villain who is too powerful on paper yet takes naps in an abandoned studio and the major flaw of creating another explanation behind a well-known event. The story could have done as well without Black Zero destroying Krytpon in all aspects but the trick would be to create something else to make Jax-Ur angry enough to want to help Superman

This is the funniest story I've ever read and in my opinion cannot be taken seriously.  I think trying to do so is a mistake.  I burst out laughing everytime I came across a line like:

"Black Zero is oozing right through a solid wall!"

"No one can learn the secret in my brain!"

"Our pirate empire will someday rule the universe!"

or best of all

"There's a plastic covering surrounding your brain!"

You just can't make stuff like this up!

Nor do I believe that it's a Silver Age tale.  It's beginning to look more and more to me that any Superman or Superboy story published after 1967 (which I now consider to be the end of the Silver Age) but before 1970 (the launch of the Bronze Age) takes place in a separate Mad-like continuity.  The other tale here at Superman Thru the Ages! that falls in the same category is "The Strange Death of Superboy!"

I went and looked at the GCD database to look for issues of Superman and Action I bought after 1967. I had the Zha Vam series and about 10 other issues total (a couple of Jimmy Olsens). I had almost all the 80 Page Giants of earlier stories from those years. I was keeping up a little more with Adventure and following the Legion. That and re-reading my older brother's collection, about 45 issues of DC Super Heroes from 1959-65.

Superboy was actually experimenting with some darker stories at that time (or at least 3 or 4 of the total of 5 Superboys I bought between 1967-70), issues where Superboy or Clark needed to leave Smallville because of a threat of some type and initially setting up an expectation where there's abandonment.

I did laugh at the plastic covering on his brain too...

It's predictably awful, but it has some pretty good artwork to make up for it: try finding linework that good in a contemporary comic. In any case, the story has definite turkey value, let's call it a period piece.

The second Virus-X storyline was published in 1968 and thus also falls in this window.  More evidence for my argument.


As if there's any reason that should somehow block someone from being hypnotizable.  ???

Lots of stuff with Black Zero were plastic... he could summon plastic force fields, too....

I DID like the Jax-Ur ally bit...

Not a great one, the idea that when the Bizarros tossed White Kryptonite at his passing coffin it gradually destroyed the virus was pretty bad.

I had a number of good stories I liked from 1966...

Are Black Zero's psycho-molecules responsible for the Fortress Of Wood?  Only the Jerk Of Steel knows for sure.  Sheesh...  it's a worthwhile read for those who like cracky in the highest.

When I first saw the title, before I noticed the link had Black Zero in it, I had thought that it was the story of the scientist on Earth who thought he had destroyed Krypton.  Anyone else remember that one?