#quex ul is from a 1962 superman story

[cantsayidont]

January 1982. "Creepy" and "surreal" are not words normally associated with Bronze Age Superman stories, but they're apt descriptions of the 1982 miniseries THE PHANTOM ZONE by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan. Probably inspired by the 1980 movie SUPERMAN 2, the mini begins with a recap of the history of the Phantom Zone, discovered by Superman's father Jor-El as a means of imprisoning Kryptonian criminals, but this is no E. Nelson Bridwell continuity-charting affair: The Phantom Zone inmates stage a mass escape, wreaking bloody havoc on Earth as Superman and an amnesiac former prisoner named Quex-Ul, forced to take the escapees' place, begin a perilous journey to the heart of the Zone, which is far stranger than Jor-El had ever imagined.

Most of the Phantom Zone villains who appear in this story had been seen before, but Gerber makes them actually frightening, a collection of madmen and human monsters who were scary enough on Krypton, without the incredible powers bestowed by Earth's yellow sun. Gerber also emphasizes the horror of the Zone itself — being imprisoned, possibly forever, as a thought without form — and his revelation of what the Zone actually is is unexpected. None of this would have worked if the series had been drawn by Curt Swan, but the art by Gene Colan (inked by Tony DeZuñiga) lends a sweaty, claustrophobic nightmare vibe to Gerber's script.

DC reprinted the miniseries in the SUPERMAN: PHANTOM ZONE trade paperback in 2013, also including Gerber's followup in DC COMICS PRESENTS #97, drawn by Rick Veitch, which is unsettling in its own right, and much meaner than Alan Moore's contemporaneous "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" (That collection shouldn't be confused with the earlier TALES FROM THE PHANTOM ZONE TPB, which is a compilation of Silver Age Phantom Zone stories.)

[chernobog13]

Superman #157 November 1962.

This issue marked the first appearance of the Kryptonians Quex-Ul and Rog-Ar. Quex-Ul was a prisoner who was released from the Phantom Zone because his sentence was up.  Instead of releasing Quex-Ul inside the bottle-city of Kandor, where he would be normal, Superman released him on Earth, and all sorts of super-powered hi-jinks ensued when the two super-men battled.

It later turned out that Quex-Ul wasn’t really a bad guy.  He had been framed and set-up to take the fall for crimes Rog-Ar committed.  Quex-Ul lost his super-powers (and memory of his Kryptonian heritage) when he deliberately exposed himself to gold kryptonite to save Superman from a trap.  Quex-Ul was given the name Charlie Kweeskil and took a job in the Daily Planet’s production department.  He remained there, forgotten, for several years until Steve Gerber’s and Gene Colan’s “The Phantom Zone” mini-series in 1982.  Quex-Ul regained his memory in that story, and ultimately gave his life to save Superman and Earth from a horde of escaped Phantom Zone prisoners.

Rog-Ar, it is learned many years later, had mutated into a sort of “rondor man,” rondors being Kryptonian beasts with horns that had amazing curative powers.  Rog-Ar, in violation of Kryptonian law, had wiped out the beast and stolen the horns in an effort to get rich by charging sick people for treatments they had previously been able to get for free.  As a “rondor man,” complete with the curative horn, Rog-Ar survived Krypton’s destruction and floated helplessly in space until he reached Earth and gained super-powers.  There was the inevitable battle with Superman, until the Man of Steel figured out a way to remove Rog-Ar’s powers but still use the horn to heal sick people.

[thechronologicalsuperman]

Above: Kara Zor-El’s Kryptinceañera

The Chronological Superman 1962: 

The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long, as they say, and the Silver Age isn’t much different. The most inventive era of Superman’s history since his debut will still be around for a few years, but some of the sense of experimentation is beginning to fade. With many of the stories being rewritten from plots previously used in the books anywhere from a couple of years to a decade earlier, and those stories being re-used in the daily and Sunday newspaper strips, Superman’s universe begins to become a little repetitive.

Not that there aren’t still notable events. Supergirl, for instance, is officially introduced to the world in Action Comics vol.1 No.285 (Feb 1962), launching her career as a full-fledged crimefighter. The additional responsibility still leaves her plenty of time to play Cupid for her bachelor cousin, introducing him to romantic superheroine Luma Lynai in Action Comics vol.1 No.289 (Jun 1962).

Supergirl also picks up an additional super-pet – Comet the Super-Horse -- in Action Comics vol.1 No.292 (Sep 1962), with Comet’s confusing origin explained in Action Comics vol.1 No.293 (Oct 1962). Thing is, however, Super-Horse actually debuts a few months earlier in a ‘sneak peek’ in Adventure Comics vol. No.293 (Feb 1962) alongside the newly introduced Legion of Super-Pets. Whizzy, 30th century descendant of Streaky the Supercat, gets a proper, chronologically apt introduction in Action Comics vol.1 No.287 (Apr 1962) and then disappears. Surely he and Streaky would’ve been tripping all over each other in 30th Century Legion of Super-Pets meetings…

A new breed of Kryptonite is also teased before its debut, this time being power-sapping Gold Kryptonite, introduced in an imaginary story in Adventure Comics vol.1 No.299 (Aug 1962). The captions assure the readers that Superman will soon encounter the Gold K in real life (which happens when Phantom Zone prisoner Quex-Ul appears in Superman vol.1 No.157, Nov 1962).

Not much comes along in the way of new villains, per se, but the Superman Revenge Squad debuts in Action Comics vol.1 No.286 (Mar 1962), a few months after the Superboy Revenge Squad debuts in Superboy vol.1 No.94 (Jan 1962).

The Legion of Super-Heroes graduates to it own feature in Adventure Comics vol.1 No.300 (Sept 1962), and new member Ultra Boy proves his worth in Superboy vol.1 No.98 (Jul 1962)

Speaking of joining, The Atom joins the JLA in Justice League of America vol.1 No.14 (Sep 1962). This puts the team’s roster at nine, not counting Snapper Carr, which decreases the small amount of space already left to Superman and his crimefighting pal Batman.

There are a couple of celebrity appearances -- Antonino Rocca appears in Superman vol.1 No.155 (Aug 1962) and Boris Karloff in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen vol.1 No. 64 (Oct 1962). Superboy enjoys some imaginary stories in his book, but they’re still largely the purview of Lois Lane, who marries Lex Luthor in Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane vol.1 No.34 (July 1962) – producing the intergalactic juvenile delinquent Larry Luthor! Lana gets another imaginary story all her own, Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane vol.1 No.36 (Oct 1962) during which she meets and marries Superman III, the grandson of Superman and Lois Lane. That must seem weird.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen vol.1 No. 64 (Oct 1962) shows Jimmy in what I’d say was his third most-famous transformation, Porcupine Boy, and there’s a great narrative arc in Action Comics wherein Superman must defend Luthor from the righteous justice of an alien world. More on that later. The true standout of this year, however, is the story appearing in Superman vol.1 No.156 (Oct 1962) -- The Last Days of Superman!