Sunday, April 20, 2025

THE RED KRYPTONITE TOUR (Part 3 - 1963)

The last installment of this tour took us through all the red kryptonite stories through 1962.  1963 would be the year with the heaviest volume of red kryptonite-related tales, so in the third installment of this tour, we will cover that one year only.  


The numbering for each entry will pick up from the earlier entries from this Red K journey!   Enjoy!



XLIII)

Entering 1963, the first red kryptonite tale happens in Action Comics #296 (January 1963). When giant intelligent ants begin causing chaos, Superman is needed! But when he initially tries to approach these menacing giant ants, he realizes they have green kryptonite, so he has to leave.
The ants select Lois Lane (of course!) to put on a throne as a sort of queen. Superman is inspired and heads off to the red kryptonite cloud that we previously discussed when Krypto was changed to a collie appearance. Superman, knowing how this cloud worked on Krypto, enters it. (We are all supposed to forget that Krypto realized how the cloud worked because Superman (as Superboy) had entered it and been affected by it already! Ah, the Silver Age continuity!!)
The Red K cloud changes Superman's head to that of a giant ant so that he can communicate with the villains of this tale. It turns out they aren't villains at all. They come from a world where humans engaged in atomic warfare and killed themselves off. The giant ants were the result of radiation that occurred after the atomic destruction. These giant ants now travel from world to world to warn human-like races of the dangers of atomic bombs. Superman helps them leave Earth, and then addresses world leaders to share their message.

No explanation is given for why Lois was kidnapped to sit on a throne!



XLIV)
We continue with Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #67 (March 1963). In the issue's third story, Jimmy is taking Lucy Lane on a romantic date to the Fortress of Solitude. Lucy opens a box containing red kryptonite just before Superman flies her and Jimmy back to Metropolis. Once back in town, Lucy discovers that, amazingly, she now possesses superpowers. Seriously, who in Superman's orbit hasn't temporarily gained superpowers?!
Jimmy becomes forlorn, and within a day or two, Lucy has a new suitor, wealthy tycoon Howard Hume. Lucy quickly accepts his proposal to marry, and Lucy's sister Lois plans an engagement party in less than 24 hours! Jimmy attends the party and spikes the punch with an anecdote that Superman gave him that will rob Lucy of her newfound powers.
Lucy loses her powers, Howard Hume no longer desires her, Lucy hates Jimmy, Jimmy is despondent, Superman tells Lucy that he took away her powers for a good reason, and Lucy decides to give Jimmy another chance. Just another adventure circling one of the fickle and high-strung Lane sisters!!
Turns out that the Red K Lucy was exposed to was forcing Superman's body to mimic whatever deed Lucy was performing at the same time. As a consolation to Lucy, Supes explains that her powers would have worn off naturally even if he hadn't interfered. The one big question is... if Clark was invited to the impromptu engagement party, why couldn't he have spiked the punch on his own?!

XLV) Superboy #103 (March 1963) mixes red kryptonite with adventures in the past. Superboy spies three red kryptonite meteors traveling so fast that sees them break the time barrier as they approach Earth! So, of course, he has to go back in time and look for them.
One ends up in ancient Egypt, and Superboy becomes a sort of Moses fill-in, helping the slaves who are building pyramids. The Red K transforms him into a lion with a human face, and it turns out that he becomes the inspiration for the Great Sphinx.
Next, it's off to England during the year 516, and he interacts with the knights of the Round Table. Red K makes him magnetic. Using his magnetism, he assists Arthur with pulling the sword out of the stone.
Finally, it's time to visit the Wild West in the United States. This time, red kryptonite changes him into a visual twin of Jesse James, and authorities are hunting him down. Fortunately, Krypto has been time-traveling looking for his master. Superboy uses the same red kryptonite on Krypto, and he transforms into a horse, allowing Superboy to escape before the effects finally wear off.


XLVI)
The next appearance of red kryptonite is in Action Comics #299 (April 1963). Superman receives a gift Superman robot from the planet Jax. This robot tells Superman that his current robots are obsolete, and that he has plans for new, updated robots. These updated models include one with tentacles rather than arms and another that has two faces. Superman takes these new robots to the planet Tharrl to test them out!

Through an accident, the robots become reprogrammed to hate Superman, and they turn on him. During this time, Superman is exposed to two different meteors of red kryptonite. The first one has the effect of elongating him. The second one gives him three faces. Superman struggles to defeat the robots, but they are keeping him weak with green kryptonite. Fortunately, some fallout dust rains down and destroys the robots.

XLVII)
Red kryptonite pops up next in the backup tale in Adventure Comics #307 (April 1963). This is a pretty mundane tale that revolves solely around Lana Lang attempting to prove that Superboy and Clark Kent are the same person. In a pretty crappy move, Lana exposes Clark to some red kryptonite she was able to scrounge up.

The Red K takes away Clark's ability to speak. After a while, Lana thinks she's figured out that Superboy seems unable to speak so she rushes to Clark's house to see if he can talk. And of course he can... or so she thinks. Clark had actually employed a telepathy helmet that was among many of the artifacts in his hidden trophy room, fooling Lana into thinking he had spoken!


XLVIII) Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #68 (April 1963) provides a tale that features red kryptonite, but it's fake. But we'll just give it a quick once-over.
Superman cannot penetrate the force field of a Coluan ship where some Brainiac allies are plotting to thwart him. Then Jimmy pretends to be corrupted by a "hate helmet" powered by red kryptonite. Jimmy aims the Red K at Superman, and Supes grows horns and becomes a red-skinned devil.
It turns out it was all a ruse to help Superman get some miniaturized Kandorians onto the Coluan ship to destroy it. They were hidden in the fake horns that Superman supposedly grew.

XLIX)
The next time Kal is exposed to red kryptonite happens in Superman #160 (April 1963). Clark is on assignment and meets a scientist named Dr. Carew. Carew shares some "red particles" with Clark, and of course, they are kryptonite! This time, the effect of the Red K is that Kal-El slowly loses his invulnerability and then his powers.
Seeking assistance, he journeys, as Clark Kent, to his Arctic Fortress. He does this with a coat and no other weather-protective clothing like boots, gloves, or a head covering! But because he doesn't appear "mighty" and has "quivering tones", his request for help is ignored. (Seriously... both his backup robots and his Emergency Squad dismiss someone who obviously looks like Clark Kent and knows the location of the Fortress?)
Finally, Krypto, who can sniff out his master, brings him to rescue. But it doesn't take long before a powerless Superman is captured by bad guys who imprison him. But thankfully, before capture, Superman... with the help of Professor Potter... had sought a cure. Potter concluded that ascorbic, citric, and acetic acids were needed. So when Superman requests his "last meal" from his captors, he asks for vinegar, lemon, and spinach! His last meal negates the effects of the Red K, and all is back to normal!

L) 
Action Comics hit its milestone 300th issue in May 1963!

Superman is following the Superman Revenge Squad and ends up time-traveling over one million years. He soon discovers that the Earth's sun has turned red, and he no longer has his powers.
The story plays out until he's finally able to make it to the Fortress of Solitude. Once there, he intentionally exposes himself to a chunk of red kryptonite that once affected Krypto. Then, he uses a shrinking ray to miniaturize himself so that he can use one of the rocket ships from Kandor to send himself back to the past/present. Upon arrival, we are told he waits for the effects of the Red K to wear off.
So, based on the panels provided and my CliffsNotes, can anyone tell me what the Red K did? I'm clueless!
(Another interesting tidbit from this tale is that we are told twice that Kryptonian hair and nails don't grow under a yellow sun. This, of course, would change over the years when it was eventually explained that Superman uses a mirror and his heat vision to take care of these tasks.)

LI) It's time for another entry on this tour that [SPOILER!] doesn't really include red kryptonite!!
Lex Luthor is given a furlough from the state reformatory so that he can buy supplies for a radio station he's going to build and maintain, like serving his sentence!
Later, the citizens of Smallville gather to watch an oil gusher. A large rock comes out of the gusher so Superboy jumps into action to smash it before it hits a passing plane. When he smashes it, the oil covering comes off, and he's surrounded by shards of red kryptonite. The citizens of Smallville work diligently to collect it all when it falls to the ground.
Soon after this, various Smallville natives begin to experience weird effects.... effects that happen after Lex Luthor predicts them on his new radio station. Police Chief Parker grows to giant size, Lana Lang gains Plastic Man-type abilities, Pete Ross has fire breath, Clark Kent becomes Bizarro, and Ma and Pa Kent shrink.
As Superboy tries to figure out what is going on, readers learn that Lex Luthor was mentally contacted by an evil Atlantean named Kronn. Kronn helps Luthor build a telepathic radio beam (thus his sudden interest in a "radio station"). It turns out that the red kryptonite and all the strange effects that humans were having were imaginary.
Lex predicts that the next Red K effect will be Superboy's, and that Superboy will give off radiation that will destroy all the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. Lex tells Superboy that the only cure can be found deep in the ocean. In fact, this is nothing more than an elaborate trap, as Kronn is waiting to expose Superboy to green kryptonite.
Fortunately, Superboy was able to figure things out since Lex didn't know that Clark Kent is Superboy, so there was no way Clark could be a Bizarro and Superboy not be affected. A suspicious Superboy figures out about Lex's telepathic radio and builds his own. Using it, he convinces Lex and Kronn that he went to the ocean floor and succumbed to Green K. Meanwhile, Lex thinks he's able to escape, but he's thwarted by Superboy and Chief Parker! This tale took place in Adventure Comics #308 (May 1963).

LII) The next time a Kryptonian encounters red kryptonite is in Superboy #105 (June 1963), when the boy of steel is exposed to a meteor as he rescues some trapped miners.
Based on Superboy's behavior, it appears that the Red K has turned him into "an idiot". A "simpleton". A "dumb cluck". "Super-stupid"! His foul-ups are so evident that they are being broadcast on the radio as news!! I mean, does Smallville even have its own radio station (outside of the fake ones that Lex Luthor builds!)?
Oh, and did I mention that the criminals known as Specs McGurk and Scarface Malone just happen to be in tiny Smallville at this time? Yup, they are plotting and scheming, and of course, once the word of Superboy's loss of intelligence is broadcast to the world, they see this as an opportunity to take advantage of him. Using phony badges, they convince the teen of steel to help them in their villainy.
But, it turns out that Superboy's lack of intelligence was all a ruse! Superboy was onto Specs and Scarface and used his exposure to Red K to flush them out.... with the help of Chief Parker, the President of the Smallville Bank, and Lana Lang... who all assisted in the elaborate scheme. (Many an episode of Three's Company would be built on less of a plot than this!)
Turns out that the real effect of the red kryptonite was that it gave Superboy an extra digit on each hand... something that artist Curt Swan made evident in every panel after Superboy's initial exposure... but left up to the observant to spot!

LIII) Superman #162 features one of the premier imaginary stories that were rampant in DC's Silver Age. I'll cover this issue in more detail in my Superman Red Superman Blue Tour.
In this entry, I'll just cover the quick usage of red kryptonite. The ruling body in Kandor decides that Superman is not living up to his promises, so they give him some ultimatums. Feeling pressured, Superman decides to subject himself to the "brain evolution machine" that involves exposure to all forms of kryptonite, including red. The machine splits Superman into two separate persons. The two Supermen are eventually able to figure out how to rid Earth of all kryptonite early in the tale.
This one is worth checking out, but not really because of its connection to the lore of red kryptonite!

LIV) In Action Comics #303 (August 1963), a mysterious large red egg is revealed after a landslide. When Jimmy Olsen sees it, he calls in Superman because he thinks something is fishy! That Jimmy is so smart!
Superman, using his power of super recall, tells Jimmy about the terrible Drang beasts that his father once spoke of. Thought to be extinct, a batch of eggs was discovered. The Kryptonians shot the eggs off to another planet where they would hatch and cause no harm. But of course, rather than sending all the eggs in one large rocket, each egg was given its own small rocket! As fate would have it, one egg stayed in Krypton's orbit and eventually ended up on Earth after Krypton exploded.
Exposition completed, the egg falls down a chasm, and Superman follows it. Soon, a terrible Drang beast flies up from below with Superman's costume in its mouth. Jimmy assumes that the monster has killed Superman. In reality, the egg had been exposed to the red kryptonite cloud that transforms Kryptonians into whatever they are thinking about. This is now the third time Superman has been affected by this cloud, totally negating the rule that Red K can only affect a Kryptonian once. Superman had been thinking about the Drang, so he was transformed into one.
The rest of the issue has Superman repeatedly trying to explain who he is as the military, Jimmy, and the Kandorians try to destroy him. Ultimately, he convinces Supergirl who he is. She gets everyone else to back down until the red kryptonite wears off.

LV) Let's dive into Superman #163 (August 1963), the next story where we read about a Kryptonian succumbing to red kryptonite! In "The Goofy Superman", our hero is exposed to Red K and soon begins acting out in bizarre ways. But because he's in his guise of Clark when he goes around walking on his hands, extending raspberries to police officers, and acting like a monkey in a holding cell, he gets sent off to the loony bin (it didn't help that he lost his wallet/ID and all of a sudden, not one person recognizes him as Clark Kent despite the numerous members Superman related Fan Clubs there are devoted to all of Superman's "friends"!).
Notable in this story is that twice, it is now suddenly confirmed that the effects of red kryptonite last "48 hours". How convenient that a mineral from outside our solar system has limitations that conveniently coincide with a time system established around the Earth's sun!!
Clark is sent off to an asylum, and then his recent exposure to red kryptonite wears off. The rest of the story involves him teaching those running the asylum a lesson in being better people.


LVI)
Action Comics #304 features a tale where Supergirl encounters a new villain named Black Flame. Black Flame helps some criminals and then takes control of Comet using a "brain control ring". She claims to be one of Supergirl's descendants from far in the future, where she used her abilities to become Queen and rule over the people of Earth. She has traveled to the past to hide out for a bit from people who have wronged her.
Supergirl becomes suspicious and thinks that Black Flame may be someone from the bottle city of Kandor. She attempts to confirm this but isn't able to.
To thwart Black Flame, Supergirl seemingly exposes herself to gold kryptonite. Gold kryptonite permanently removes superpowers from Kryptonians. When Black Flame sees this happen, she is elated... her plan to make Supergirl expose herself to gold kryptonite has succeeded! Black Flame then reveals that she is indeed a woman named Zora from Kandor and that she escaped and exposed herself to that famous red kryptonite space cloud that changes Kryptonians into whatever they are currently thinking about. She used the cloud to achieve "normal" size.
Turns out that Supergirl had already figured things out. As Zora shrinks back to "Kandorian size" (and yes, the artist ratios are WAY off here!), Supergirl explains that she never exposed herself to gold kryptonite. BUT, she does expose Zora to minute particles of Gold K, thus eliminating her ability to ever have super powers outside the bottle city again.

LVII) The next appearance of red kryptonite occurs in Superboy #107 (Sept. 1963). Clark Kent is attending school when, out of the blue, he just decides he's done with the whole "secret identity" thing! Clark begins showing off his super abilities all over the place. Ma and Pa Kent are stunned (as is poor Pete Ross) as to why Clark would be acting in such a way.
Superboy eventually realizes that he has been under the influence of Red K (of course, for purposes of the plot, he apparently didn't experience the normal "tingling"). He concocts a story explaining how he had been masquerading as Clark Kent (complete with a Clark Kent face mask!) and that Clark was in on his scheme, which was enacted to outwit some criminals!


LVIII) The next time red kryptonite is included in a story, it's 1000 years in the future in a Legion of Super-Heroes tale featured in Adventure Comics #313 (October 1963).
All of the female members of the team (including Night Girl from the Subs) become ill with something called the crimson virus. They are commanded by the male members to isolate themselves on Quarantine World. After they depart, a caped and cowled woman calling herself Satan Girl says she will replace the sick members. When her offer is rebuked, she admits that she is responsible for the female Legion members being sick in the first place.
Supergirl travels to the future to assist the Legion. She battles Satan Girl and discovers that Satan Girl is as powerful as she is. Believing Satan Girl to be Kryptonian, Supergirl sets a trap to expose her to green kryptonite. But Satan Girl is unaffected.
Eventually, we learn that Satan Girl is actually Supergirl... split into two entities by red kryptonite. The secondary Supergirl knew she would live only 48 hours (you know.... Red K and all!), so she devised this elaborate scheme to try and eliminate the original Supergirl. Thanks to the Legion of Super-Pets, Satan Girl fails and reintegrates with the original Supergirl.
The "crimson virus was the result of Satan Girl finding a way to make red kryptonite negatively affect non-Kryptonians (something she was able to do in just a few hours of existence!). And the green kryptonite didn't affect Satan Girl because her costume was lead armor. Oddly, neither Supergirl nor Superboy considers changing their outfits to be lead armor!

LIX) While saving a satellite, Superman is exposed to red kryptonite. He hides his Superman costume and waits to find out what effects it will bring. Turns out it's a special kind of Red K that duplicates effects previously experienced AND it lasts for weeks. He's robbed of his powers and his memory.
He wanders to a farm where he meets Sally. Not remembering his name, he makes up the name Jim White. "Jim" and Sally soon fall in love. Jim proposes to Sally just before he's injured in a horse riding accident and confined to a wheelchair.
A bully named Bart accidentally pushes Jim into a river where he's believed to have drowned. Sally is heartbroken. But as fate would have it, "Jim" is found by Aquaman who contacts Lori Lemaris to help care for him until the red kryptonite wears off. When it does, Superman retains no memory of Sally. Am I the only one who wonders why Clark continues wearing his glasses after his amnesia hits, when he should clearly be able to comprehend that they don't do anything! Also, are we to believe that Sally never sees a photo of world-renowned journalist Clark Kent at any time after this? Despite these things, this is a great Silver Age love-lost tale. This tale occurs in Superman #165 (November 1963).

LX) Adventure Comics #315 (December 1963) is the final red kryptonite adventure from 1963. After Superboy is contacted by the President, he uses a chunk of Red K to prevent a nearby cyclotron from blowing up (I've just got to say, there sure are a lot of cyclotrons around the Smallville area!).
Superboy selected this particular chunk of K because he had previously been exposed to it. But apparently, a cyclotron can renew red kryptonite and change its effect to the opposite of what it was originally. After saving the cyclotron, Superboy grows to a giant size. Lana sees him, and she's determined once again to prove Superboy and Clark Kent are the same person.
Superboy shrinks back to normal and, disguised as Clark, he and Lana take a helicopter ride (as teenagers so often do for the school newspaper) to investigate giant-Superboy saving a bridge. The Clark / Superboy identity is saved. Colossal Boy from the Legion of Super-Heroes was passing time by voyeuristically watching Superboy through a Legion Time Monitor and decided to travel back in time and give his pal a hand by disguising himself as giant-sized Superboy.

And with that, we've examined every red kryptonite tale printed in DC issues with a cover date of 1963. But fear not, there are lots and lots more Red K tales to be reviewed! We will pick this tour up on a future date, starting with stories published in 1964! Superman and all related characters, names, and elements and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of DC Comics, Inc.

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