THE RED KRYPTONITE TOUR (Part 5 - 1965)

The last installment of this tour guided us through all the red kryptonite stories through 1964.

The Red Kryptonite Tour - Part 4 (1964) 

We pick up now with the charming plethora of Red K tales that were published throughout 1965.  As always, the numbering will pick up from the previous red kryptonite tours.  Enjoy!

75)

Next up on our red kryptonite tour is Superboy #118 (January 1965). The Superboy Revenge Squad is at it again! They are so evil that they not only want to take out Superboy, but his dog too!

After years of gathering a library of different forms of red kryptonite (including one that causes "super itching"!), this team of villains thinks they are ready to finally take down Superboy and Krypto!

They expose the two of them to a "new Red K" and watch as Superboy and Krypto suddenly hate each other. Superboy and Krypto fight each other. A massive encounter sends them both traveling through time, and finally, back in the present, Superboy surrounds Krypto with green kryptonite spears and waits for him to die. The Superboy Revenge Squad expresses glee!!

Then we learn... through last-page exposition, that Superboy and Krypto were in on the scheme from the beginning, the red kryptonite the Revenge Squad exposed them to had no effect. Apparently, it was one they had already encountered.

The Squad retreats in humiliating defeat, back to plot another scheme to take down Superboy... as they are so singularly motivated to do!

76) Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane #55 (Feb. 1965) is the next stop on our tour.

Lois Lane is telling stories about the journalistic accomplishments she made in college before getting her job at the Daily Planet. She's confident that it wasn't her association with Superman that earned her the journalistic cred that she has. But as she talks about three of her early college assignments, it turns out Superman was part of all three; she just didn't know it! Two of the three involve Red K.

Lois thinks she discovered a new comet. But it turns out that it was actually Superman, using red kryptonite dust to make himself look like a comet. He did this to fend off a group of superstitious aliens who were planning to invade Earth.

Lois was then sent to look for fossils as part of a biology assignment. After a landslide (that she initiates), she sees not only some fossil skeletons of a pteranodon and a saber-tooth tiger, but living versions of both as well. The living versions, it turns out, were Superman, temporarily affected by an odd Red K cloud that allows for a duplicate transformation. How convenient!

77) Beginning in Superman #173, there was a multi-issue, continued tale that followed a sentient piece of kryptonite that narrates its own tale. In Superman #177, the sentient kryptonite changes from green to red. When Superman is exposed to it, he's only able to speak and write in Kryptonese, the native language of Krypton.

So, of course, he has to figure out how to show up at work as Clark Kent without needing to speak or write. Ultimately, he exposes Krypto to an alternate piece of red kryptonite that he knows will give Krypto the ability to speak. Krypto uses the popular "super-ventriloquism" to dub Clark's voice. Interestingly enough, apparently, Krypto's human voice is the same tenor and tone as Clark's. Good thing Krypto's human voice didn't sound like someone else!

78) Our next adventure is in Action Comics #325 (June 1965). Space bandits are determined to steal all the iron and steel on Earth. When Superman confronts them, they seek aid from an idol of their god, Great Xoox. The idol, of course, contains a tiny chunk of red kryptonite. Superman feels the tingling, and he grows to giant size. This is an effect he's experienced before, but this time he has no super-powers while enlarged.

This reminds him of when he was a baby on Krypton, when he was previously grown to a giant size because of a device Jor-El had developed to increase food supplies. Jor-El pretended to be an elf, whispering things for baby Kal-El to do, putting him to work fixing bridges and ground issues until the effects wore off. This memory provides Superman with a plan.

He rolls through a large portion of mud, covering himself and then pretending that he is the GreatER Xoox, he commands the invaders to depart Earth.

79) In Superboy #121 (June 1965), Superboy loses his superpowers for no explainable reason. He suspects it may be due to exposure to red kryptonite, but after 48 hours go by, he's still without powers. After weeks go by, for some reason, Clark feels the need to dress up as Superboy and have Pa Kent help fake the appearance that he still has his powers.

During his powerless period, he's able to finally get some Earth vaccines, huff and puff his way through some tough gym classes at school, and succumb to the common cold.

It's finally revealed that three prisoners in the Phantom Zone used their "mind-power beam" to arrange for Superboy to be exposed to the radiation of green and red kryptonite that have touched each other. They claim this produced something "new", red-green kryptonite rays. The Zone residents' combined "super-scientific knowledge" led them to know that this double kryptonite would remove Superboy's powers permanently.

(For those of you who have been on this tour from the beginning, you will remember that combined red-green kryptonite was previously created by Brainiac, and it resulted in Superman growing an eye on the back of his head (Entry #17). But we'll just ignore that... like DC's continuity team did!)

Superboy agrees to free one of the Zone prisoners, Professor Vakox, from the Zone in exchange for his creating an antidote. Vakox attempts to double-cross Superboy, but Superboy is ready! He has some green kryptonite handy to subdue Vakox, who then creates an antidote before Pa Kent sends him back to the Phantom Zone. Thwarted again!

80) For our eightieth stop on this tour, we fling ourselves 1000 years into the future to visit the Legion of Super-Heroes (Adventure Comics #334 (July 1965).

The Legion visits the home planet of Proty II and discovers there is a statue built to honor the Unknown Legionnaire. This prompts Superboy to begin ruminating out loud to his friends about the wild and crazy adventure they had with Unknown Boy.

Seems that one time, as Supergirl was getting ready to head back to her own time, a prisoner known as Dr. Norm Eldor escaped from the Prison Planet. Supergirl offers to stay and help, but the smartest Legionnaire, Brainiac 5, tells her she must go back now so that her alter-ego of Linda Danvers won't miss an appointment in the past. Ponder that for a bit... then we'll carry on!

A group of Legion members travels to the homeworld of the Protean race, hoping to find Dr. Eldor. On that world, he is feeding the Proteans lies so they think the Legion is their enemy. Suddenly, a superpowered masked hero comes to help. The hero states he can't reveal his name, so the Legion, feeling a sense of some entitlement, simply gives the hero the name Unknown Boy! Unknown Boy can see through lead.

Eventually, we learn that Unknown Boy is really Supergirl, and she's lost her memory and also can see through lead because of exposure to red kryptonite. Seeking to protect her identity, she decides to disguise herself as a boy! (Seems odd since Superman never seemed to think to disguise himself as a girl on any of the numerous times he felt Red K robbing him of his memory!)

The Proteans are saved, and Dr. Eldor is caught, and Supergirl gets her memory back. Thankfully, Superboy tells Supergirl that all she has to do is travel back in time to just a few minutes after she originally left 1965... something Brainiac 5 seemed completely incapable of comprehending earlier in the tale!

81)

In Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #86 (July 1965), the tale starts with Jimmy attending a meeting of the Jimmy Olsen Fan Club. It's revealed that the club has recently established branches in Singapore, Tokyo, and Tasmania! Later, Jimmy gets a Ham Radio message from a member of his fan club, Juma, from deep in Africa. Juma lets Jimmy know that he heard two strangers talk about "project kryptonite" before heading off to Mount Kilimanjaro.

Since Superman is "away from Earth", Jimmy uses the vast resources of the Daily Planet to travel to Africa to investigate on his own. He runs into Congo Bill, who lets Jimmy use his Congorilla ring. Bill declines to help Jimmy since his arm is injured (how that would matter if he changed into Congorilla is simply ignored!). He lends Jimmy his special ring, and Jimmy switches minds with the golden Congorilla.

Meanwhile, our criminal duo has built a hyper-magnetron to gather loads of green kryptonite. Then red kryptonite. Jimmy builds a snowman in a Superman costume, and it fools the villains into believing that this is really Superman, affected by Red K. Exposition then tells us that in the past, Superman previously transformed into living glass and also a skeleton. We also learn that there is a Criminal Scientists' Society that keeps records of all of the ways red kryptonite has affected the Superman Family in the past!

Jimmy, as Congorilla, draped in a white tent, destroys the magnetron before our villains can gather gold kryptonite. The villains believe they were attacked by a yeti, and hightail it out of there!

82) Red K turns up next in Superboy #122 (July 1965). Clark Kent views a ventriloquist named Venturi who uses a Superboy ventriloquism doll. After the performance, he observes Venturi being jealous of the doll, and is then exposed to red kryptonite.

Back at home, Clark builds a life-size Superboy ventriloquism doll and then begins expressing rage towards it. Clark is jealous of the attention that Superboy gets and continues to belittle him. Ma and Pa Kent play along for a while, but then expose Clark to green kryptonite to make his split personality stop. Clark comes to his senses.

Later, Superboy throws an appreciation dinner for Venturi... ensuring the ventriloquist is the one getting appreciation... not his doll.

83)

Superman #178 (July 1965) features a new kryptonite... a combo red-gold kryptonite.

After helping some trapped divers, Superman doesn't come back up to the surface. It is assumed that he somehow touched Gold K, lost his powers, and has perished. In reality, he didn't touch the kryptonite, but he was exposed to it. It causes him to lose his memory.

He doesn't know who he is, but clues lead him to believe that he knew Superman, and that's why he has the costume. He also believes that it is the costume itself that endows him with superpowers.

Later, he is accidentally knocked into some power lines that burn off all his Clark Kent clothing, and the shock seems to help bring an end to the amnesia that he's been experiencing.

84)

Aliens attempt to prove to the law authorities of Earth that Supergirl is the most wanted escaped criminal of Dimension X. Soon, Supergirl finds herself on trial for criminal activity.

During her trial, recorded "evidence" shows that she used a "third eye" to turn people into glass. She claims to know nothing about this. It turns out that Supergirl was intentionally exposed to a combination of red and green kryptonite, a combination that provided this same "third eye" effect on Superman (we covered this on Day #17 of this tour!)

Ultimately, it turns out that the trial and everything associated with it were nothing more than a ruse to bring Supergirl to Dimension X so that she might fulfill an ancient prophecy and hopefully return the "human" form to King Avro. Ultimately, her "Sleeping Beauty" kiss on Avro fails. But she is proven innocent of all charges related to her supposed crimes in Dimension X. This tale takes place in Action Comics #328 (September 1965).

85)

Red kryptonite plays a very minor role in World's Finest #152 (September 1965). Two powerful kids (Force Boy and Speed Lad) show up at the Daily Planet, requesting that Jimmy Olsen write a story about them. At Perry White's request, they demonstrate their powers, then depart.

Superman, Batman, and Robin get to work trying to figure out who these bratty kids are. Wondering if they might be Kryptonian, Batman exposes them to three types of kryptonite, red included. It has no effect.

Ultimately, Batman deduces that Force Boy and Speed Lad are actually Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite. It seems that Bat-Mite made a bet with Mxyzptlk that Batman would indeed be able to figure out their scheme.

86)

It's time for the Krypton Crawl... the latest dance craze!! (It will be forgotten about 6 months later when the Batusi arrives on nationwide TV!!)

In Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #88 (Oct. 1965), Jimmy is pissed off because a pop star named Rick Rock writes a new hit song dedicated to Jimmy's girlfriend, Lucy Lane. Determined to win back Lucy's attention, Jimmy creates his own rock band, and with the help of the Daily Planet and assistance from Superman (who has nothing else to do), Jimmy's group, The Carrot-Topped Cut-Ups, gets some major media coverage.

Superman remembers an occasion when he was a baby on Krypton when a strange beast hypnotized a large swath of Kryptonians with a strange melody. Superman jots the tune down for Jimmy, and it becomes a new hit song, The Krypton Crawl. The song seems to hypnotize Superman, who leads a sort of Pied Piper crawl through Metropolis.

It turns out that photographer Bruce Bailey (who also is a last-minute replacement drummer for Jimmy's band), actually exposed Superman to Red K... a Red K he knew would make Superman susceptible to suggestion... You know, since it did this to Krypto in the past. So convenient! His goal was to have Superman assist him with a sabotage mission, but Supes and Jimmy figure things out and foil his plan.

In the end, Jimmy and Lucy are seen boogie-ing it up in a malt shop. Jimmy asks Lucy, "Whatever happened to Rick Rock Lucy?" Lucy replies, "Who cares? Go-go, Jimmy! Don't you bawl, do the Krypton Crawl... yaaa... yaaa"

Groovy.

87)

Action Comics #330 (Nov. 1965) features a fairly mundane red kryptonite tale. While on assignment for the Daily Planet, Clark and Lois visit the "Hall of Heroes". While there, Clark is exposed to a piece of red kryptonite.

Before long, Superman finds himself stealing some silver and giving it to the citizens of Metropolis. Superman realizes what he has done, but doesn't know why he did it. Shortly after that, he steals stamps and gives them away, and then steals star sapphires and gives them away. Then he realizes that the Red K is making him act as Robin Hood... stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.

Soon, some crafty ner-do-wells realize that Superman is only stealing items that start with the letter "S", and attempt to use this as a way of getting Superman to get them more goodies. But Superman hears them discussing this and then sets out to outsmart them by offering up lots of things that start with "S" that no one really wants. Eventually, the red kryptonite wears off, and Superman claims he's collected all the things he gave away under the Red K influence. That certainly couldn't have been easy... all those stamps!!

88)

We close out 1965 Red K tales with Superboy #125. After being exposed to red kryptonite, our hero goes bald. As Clark Kent, he's spotted by Lana Lang, who jumps to the conclusion that he's gone bald because of a hair tonic that a wandering salesman recently peddled in town.

The rest of the issue, we see Superboy continually seeking ways to make it appear that he has hair. He uses a wig from one of his Superboy robots. But it catches on fire, something that never happened to one of the robots before or after this adventure! Wigs fly off over and over!

So there you have it. All 14 DC issues from 1965 that featured red kryptonite! In the weeks ahead, we will publish Part 6 (and provide a link here) so that our chronicling of Red K can continue!

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