TITLE: Superman issue #205
YEAR: April 1968
COMPANY: Superman – DC/National Comics
WRITER: Otto Binder
APENCILER: Al Plastino
INKER: Al Plastino
COVER ARTIST: Neal Adams
There have been many stories written of how the Planet Krypton had blown up.
While the main story was that the planet’s core was unstable and the planet was going to blow up, “Superman” issue #205 had one villain, known as Black Zero taking responsibility of making sure the planet was destroyed.
In this storyline, the government has contacted Superman for his help in trying to stop Black Zero from destroying Earth.
What is known is that the CIA operative Agent 009 found out about Black Zero’s plans and before he was incinerated by the villain, he was able to pass a message to the CIA, FBI and Scotland Yard.
But this villain appears to be quite powerful and as Superman was able to hold his own, they know they have hours to stop him and as Superman does his research and brings Chief Inspector Watkins from Scotland Yard to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, but the man turns out to be Black Zero and he immediately reveals that he was the one who was responsible for destroying Krypton.
We see Superman wanting to kill him but because of his code and never to kill anyone including villains, needless to say, it leads to an interesting storyline. A storyline which leads to the return of Jax-Ur, the scientist who worked with Jor-El who created a nuclear arsenal and missile that collided with a space ship piloted by Jor-El and the missile ending up destroying the Kryptonian moon, Wegthor and killing over 500 colonists.
Jax-Ur became the first criminal in Kryptonian history to be imprisoned in the Phantom Zone.
And his return for this issue manages to be quite important to the storyline, especially when it comes to stopping Black Zero.
A fascinating early Superman story!