Written by Steve Gerber.
Penciled by Gene Colan.
Inked by Tony DeZuniga.
Summary:
Daily Planet employee Charlie Kweskill has been haunted by nightmares which are inducing insomnia.
He has a recurring dream about the planet Krypton. Charlie witnesses several Kryptonians commit horrendous crimes. The perpatrators are punished with banishment to the Phantom Zone.
When he passes out at work, his boss, Planet publisher Perry White, tells him to go home and get some rest.
In reality, Charlie is really Quex-Ul of Krypton. He was wrongly imprisoned in the Phantom Zone himself. Years ago, Superman freed him and used Gold Kryptonite to wipe away his memory and create his new identity as Charlie Kweskill.
We learn that Charlie's dreams are caused by telepathic manipulation by prisoners of the Phantom Zone. They are led by General Zod. The Kryptonian criminals force Charlie to steal equipment from STAR Labs which he uses to build a Phantom Zone projector that will allow Kryptonian criminals to escape to Earth.
Back at the Planet, reporter Clark Kent learns that Charlie never returned to work and has disappeared. He decides to investigate this as Superman, starting at Charlie's apartment. Superman arrives just as Charlie is releasing the inmates from the Phantom Zone.
When the villains escape, Superman and Charlie Kweskill are sent to the Phantom Zone!
When the villains escape, Superman and Charlie Kweskill are sent to the Phantom Zone!
That means that several criminals with powers similar to Superman's are free to wreck havoc upon Earth.
Zod flies away, accompanied by Kru-El, Faora, Va-Kox and Jax-Ur. Their first stop is the Justice League's satellite headquarters. The Kryptonians send the satellite deep into the Milky Way. The Phantom Zoners also attack communication satellites owned by the United States and Soviet Union. This causes the World's great powers to launch nuclear missiles at one another.
With Superman missing, his cousin Supergirl leaps into action.
She teams with Wonder Woman and they prevent the missiles from inflicting damage, thus avoiding World War III.
Several other Kryptonian escapees separate from Zod's crew and explore Earth on their own:
Jer-Em, a fanatical religious prophet preaches that armageddon is coming. His activities attract the attention of Batman.
Az-Rel is a pyrotic whose thoughts can set matter aflame. He's accompanied by Nadira, a telekinetic whose thoughts disrupt the bioelectrical impulses of the brain. They wander around Metropolis, inflicting pain on people.
Nam-Ek is a madman who experimented on rondors (native Kryptonian animals) which resulted in him being half-man, half-rondor. Wonder Woman encounters Nam-Ek and tries to be kind to him. He is so surprised by this gesture that he doesn't believe her and attacks the Amazon Princess!
Supergirl travels to Gotham City, hoping Batman can help her find Superman, but the Dark Knight has no idea where Superman is. She then departs for her cousin's Fortress Of Solitude, not knowing it's been taken over by the Phantom Zone villains. Upon arrival, Supergirl is overpowered by Zod and the others. They leave the scene, trashing the Fortress, presuming Supergirl is dead.
Green Lantern is also defeated by Zod's gang. The criminals use GL's lantern to charge a gigantic cannon that will send Earth to the Phantom Zone!
Back in the Phantom Zone, Superman and Charlie are trying to find an escape route. In order to do so, they must go further in to the Zone. As their journey progresses, they encounter many bizarre and frightening characters. When it looks like they've found a way out of the Zone, Kal-El and Charlie learn they will have to go through the monstrous Aethyr, the Oversoul in order to escape!
Can Superman and Charlie escape from the Phantom Zone and save Earth from destruction?
Review:
The late, great Steve Gerber was synonymous with "offbeat" Bronze Age stories. Superman: Phantom Zone shows that Gerber could make even the Man Of Steel offbeat.
Story:
This limited series was published shortly after the release of the movie Superman II, so the Phantom Zone was sort of "hot" at the time. Gerber gives us a Phantom Zone that's a supernatural, phantasmagorical nightmare world.
Superman: Phantom Zone also does a good job demonstrating exactly how dangerous a pack of criminals with the powers of Superman would be.
I'm not an expert on Silver Age DC Comics stories. But I think this is the first time we got to see visual depictions of some of the crimes committed by Zod and the other prisoners of the Phantom Zone. Through Charlie's "nightmares," we see that Zod and the others are very dangerous mass murderers.
The portrayal of General Zod in Superman: Phantom Zone is very different from the character played by Terrence Stamp. But he's a great villain who is willing to destroy Earth just to cause grief for Superman.
But it's not all doom, gloom, and horror. Gerber gives us a funny scene where the Phantom Zone criminals visit a Metropolis punk rock club.
Gerber also gives us a classic "everyman" character in Charlie Kweskill. Charlie is a typical working stiff who suddenly has the fate of the world in his hands. He also serves as a surrogate for the reader.
I also appreciated the way Gerber let us, the readers, experience the world through the eyes of Nadira and Az-Rel.
Though Superman and Charlie are the main characters, Gerber also does a good job writing the other superheroes. Wonder Woman and Supergirl prevent a world war when they intercept the missiles, and Batman has some interesting scenes with Jer-Em.
Speaking of Batman, there's a scene where Supergirl tells Batman that his "best friend" Superman has disappeared. It made me a bit sad, since the Man Of Steel and the Caped Crusader are no longer best friends in the post-Crisis DC Universe.
No Gerber story would be complete without quirky, unusual characters. They don't get much more "Gerber-esque" than the Priestesses of the Crimson Sun, who have heads that do interesting things, as you'll in the images below:
If there's anything to criticize in the story, it's that the ending is somewhat abrupt. There's also no follow-up about the U.S. and Soviets launching missiles at each other. It would've been nice to get a caption or a sentence of dialogue that mentioned how the nations dealt with this "misunderstanding."
Art:
Gene Colan is probably NOT an artist most comic fans associate with Superman, but he provides excellent pencils in this tpb. He penciled this about two years after the conclusion of his seven-year run on Tomb Of Dracula, so it's not surprising that he brings a touch of the horror genre to this tale. Colan gives us lots of great, shadowy, noirish images. Gerber previously teamed with Colan on Howard The Duck, it's interesting to see them collaborate on something completely different from Howard's adventures.
Colan is embellished by Tony De Zuniga, who also penciled and inked horror comics and magazines. They team up to create some great moody art that works great in the context of the Phantom Zone. Colan and De Zuniga make the Phantom Zone look like a truly spooky and frightening place.
Here's a nice scan from Superman: Phantom Zone that shows off the fine work of Colan and De Zuniga:
How Does It Look:
Here's a scan from my copy of Superman:Phantom Zone #4, published back in 1982:
And this is how the same pages look in the tpb:
Extras:
This book contains Gerber's follow-up to this story, published after the Bronze Age.
Superman: Phantom Zone features a Superman story unlike any other. Fans of Steve Gerber and Colan should definitely seek out this tpb.
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