Jax-Ur

"The worst criminal in the Phantom Zone" (Act No.310,Mar 1964 "Secret of Kryptonite Six!") and one of "the most dangerous evil-doers in the universe!" (Act No.294,Nov 1962 "The Kryptonite Killer!") A “notorious outlaw” on planet Krypton prior to its destruction (SA No.5, Summer 1962), Jax-Ur, a renegade scientist as brilliant as he is evil, was exiled into the Phantom Zone for what has been described as “the most monstrous” crime ever committed by a Phantom Zone prisoner: The Destruction, perhaps deliberate, of an inhabited moon of Krypton.Although whether Jax-Ur committed this heinous act with an experimental “nuclear rocket” (AC No.284, Jan 1962 "The Babe of Steel!") or a diabolical “ray” (AC No.310, Mar 1964 "Secret of Kryptonite Six!") of his invention cannot be established with absolute certainty. Nor can the length of his sentence be firmly established, for he is described as having been “exiled into the Phantom Zone to serve a thirty-year sentence” in one account and as serving a life sentence in another (AC No.310, Mar 1964 "Secret of Kryptonite Six!").

Described as “the worst trouble-maker in the [phantom] Zone,” Jax-Ur has attempted to escape from the Zone on numerous occasions. Indeed, although its is the goal of all Phantom Zone prisoners to escape from the Zone and “take over the Earth” (AC No.310, Mar 1964 "Secret of Kryptonite Six!"), at least one text makes it abundantly clear that Jax-Ur would like nothing better =than to “blow the Earth to smithereens!” (AC No.284, Jan 1962 "The Babe of Steel!").

Before embarking on a life of crime, Jax-Ur was a young Kryptonian scientist engaged in studying the unique “jewel-minerals” that made up Krypton’s Jewel Mountains. His “secret lab” was located somewhere in these mountains, carved into the face of one of its “glittering peaks.” After one of his experimental devices had obliterated one of Krypton’s moons, Jax-Ur was exiled into the Phantom Zone. But, as was to be the case with all Phantom Zone prisoners, banishment into the Phantom Zone proved to be a blessing is disguise for Jax-Ur, for it enabled him to survive when Krypton exploded. (AC No.310, Mar 1964 "Secret of Kryptonite Six!")

In January 1962 Jax-Ur and his fellow prisoners seem on the verge of escaping from the Phantom Zone after “the electrical ions of the Aurora Borealis have opened a small hole in the Phantom Zone which is steadily widening,” threatening to release the exiled “super-villains” into the earthly dimension as soon as it becomes “big enough for the Phantom Zone criminals to squeeze through!” Alerted to the threat, however, by their friend Mon-El, Superman, Supergirl, and Krypto the Superdog use the combined power of their X-ray vision to burn up the Aurora Borealis, thereby sealing up the opening through which Jax-Ur and his cohorts had hoped to make their escape. (AC No.284, Jan 1962 "The Babe of Steel!")

In November 1962, when Superman puts the finishing touches on the new Hall of Enemies in his Fortress of Solitude, Jax-Ur is amoung the villians represented there by colorful wax busts. (AC No.294, Nov 1962 "The Kryptonite Killer!")

List of stories with Jax-Ur

• (AC No.284, Jan 1962 "The Babe of Steel!")
• (Adv No.293, Feb 1962 "The Legion of Super-Traitors!)
• (AC No.288, May 1962 "The Man Who Made Supergirl Cry!")
• (SPJO No.62, July 1962 "Superman's Phantom Pal!")
• (AC No.294, Nov 1962 "The Kryptonite Killer!")
• (S No.157, Nov 1962 "The Super-Revenge of the Phantom Zone Prisoner!")
• (AC No.295, Dec 1962 "Superman Goes Wild!")
• (S No.158, Jan 1963 "Invasion of the Mystery Super-Men!")
• (S No.158, Jan 1963 "The Dynamic Duo of Kandor!")
• (S No.158, Jan 1963 "The City of Super-People!)
• (Adv No.305, Feb 1963 "The Secret of the Mystery Legionnaire!")
• (AC No.297, Feb 1963 "The Forbidden Weapons of Krypton!)
• (AC No.298, Mar 1963 "The Super-Powers of Lex Luthor!")
• (AC No.304, Sep 1963 "The Maid of Menace!")
• (S No.164, Oct 1963 "The Fugitive From the Phantom Zone!")
• (AC No.309, Feb 1964 "The Untold Story of Argo City!")
• (S No.167, Feb 1964 "The Downfall of Superman!")
• (AC No.310, Mar 1964 "Secret of Kryptonite Six!")
• (S No.179, Aug 1965 "The Menace of Gold Kryptonite!")
• (WFC No.152, Aug 1965 "The Colossal Kids")
• (AC No.336, Apr 1966 "The Man From the Phantom Zone!")
• (S No.205, Apr 1968 "The Man Who Destroyed Krypton!")
• (AC No.368, Oct 1968 "The Unemployed Superman!")
• (S No.223, Jan 1970 "Half a Hero!")
• (AC No.389, Jun 1970 "The Superman Legend: Rogues' Gallery!")
• (Adv No.395, Jul 1970 "The Heroine in the Haunted House!")
• (Adv No.396, Aug 1970 "I Am a Witch!")
• (S No.232, Dec 1970/Jan 1971 "Father's Day on Planet Krypton!")
• (S No.234, Feb 1971 "Prison in the Sky!")
• (SB No.185, May 1972 "Clark Kent's Super-Father!")
• (NSB No.9, Sep 1980 "How to Stamp Out a Superboy!")
• (S No.363, 363 1981 "The Dying Day of Lois and Lana!")
• (DCCP No.73, Sep 1984 "Rampage in Scarlet!")
• (DCCP No.84, Aug 1985 "Give Me Power... Give Me Your World!")
• (DCCP No.97, Sep 1986 "Phantom Zone: The Final Chapter")

External Links to Online Comics

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen No.62, July 1962 "Superman's Phantom Pal!" [1]

Superman No.158, Jan 1963 "Superman in Kandor!" [2]