Super DC - The Uncollected Text Adventures : Super DC #8 "The Wrath of the Wraiths"
In the letter column, readers are vying for that ten shilling prize. Peter Arthur of Kettering says that he intends to be the first Briton to use the Channel Tunnel upon completion (good luck!), David Vanner of Shrewsbury boasts of his 150-comic collection and a request for a Legion of Superheroes feature comes from Steven Hardman of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, which you can't convince me isn't a dirty joke.
Batman and Robin take on The Riddler in their text adventure this issue, "One Riddle Too Many."
The following adventures are reprinted in Super DC #8:
The Super-Merman of the Sea Action Comics #244 (September 1958)
The Mystery of Skull Island! Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #16 (April 1960)
The Super-Weakling from Space Superboy #65 (June 1958)
The Doomed Batwoman Detective Comics #286 (December 1960)
Luthor's Pal, Jimmy Olsen! Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #109 (March 1968)
This Issue's Text Adventure:
In the comics, the planet Lexor is Lex Luthor's planet of worshipping admirers deep in space, although Superman's blad-headed baddie isn't behind any schemes this month. A strange collision in space has left the Lexorians largely invisible, which is just the kind of problem you have the Man of Steel around to rectify.
High point of this issue's story may be the low self-esteem of lost astronaut Lingard Kleery, a man almost comically disappointed in having been abducted by invisible space phantoms.
And now, The Wrath of the Wraiths ...
Invisible arms fastened around Superman's throat. He tore himself free but he was badly shaken. Then something cold and clammy brushed past him. It felt almost like a breath of damp air. But Superman knew that it could not be air. For he was hovering in outer Space.
"Yaa-aawk!" It was a sound, faint but unmistakeable, a sound of triumph, hissing into Superman's ear as his unseen assailant struck again.
This time, as the Man of Steel expanded his mighty chest to break the stranglehold, the grip was stronger. He grunted, "My unseen enemy has brought in reinforcements. I must get away from here."
Then for a fleeting second he caught sight of a wraith-like outline. With a movement so fast that his arms seemed like blue blurs, Superman grabbed and his iron fingers closed on one of his invisible attackers. "Struggle away, my friend!" he said, raising his arms above his head. "You may be invisible but you feel solid enough to serve as a weapon against your own kind!"
He began to whirl his captive around like a club. Here and there he darted, moving with the speed of light, and had the satisfaction of feeling his strange weapon connect.
Superman whirled, his red cape streaming from his broad shoulders. His super-sight had caught the distant flash of a stream of meteorites. Immediately he had an idea. "If I can create a gigantic collision, big enough to reduce those meteorites to a mass of super-charged radioactive particles, it may help to force my enemies to become visible!"
With a last great swing of his arms, he flung his captive from him. Then he sped aloft, aiming for a point directly in the path of the meteorite stream. He bunched his mighty fists, and crouched like a boxer.
Faster and more devastating than trip-hammers, Superman's fists began to flicker. Slam! Bam! With cool precision he met every whirling meteorite with explosive blows, smashing it into powdered fragments. With his mighty chest expanding so that the triangular "S" on his blue shirt swelled bigger, Superman sucked the radioactive cloud into his body - and waited.
"Yaa-aawk!" It was the same note of triumph he had heard before. Superman lurched forward under the frenzy of the attack from behind. He felt tearing hands at his throat. Then "AAA-AAWK!" With screams of. horror, the unseen attackers plucked away their hands. Superman saw that his plan had worked. All around him were faint outlines of pulsating light which quickly grew more distinct. He saw powerful shapes with long arms, dressed in distinctive black and silver uniforms.
"Jumping Jupiter!" exclaimed Superman. "Soldiers from the Planet Lexor ... But how did they become invisible? And why did they ambush me?"
Pondering these problems, the Man of Steel turned to find his now-visible enemies floating unconscious around him. "I'd better get them back to their own planet, and see if I can pick up any clues there," he decided.
Bundling the unconscious figures into one powerful grip, Superman made for the Planet Lexor. He had not forgotten his original mission. Three days earlier, two astronauts had been hurled aloft in a space capsule from a launching pad in Florida. Their mission had been to carry out tests in orbit, and one of the men, Lingard Kleery, had taken a Space walk.
Kleery had never returned from that walk. His lifeline had been cut deliberately and Superman was in Outer Space to try and find what had happened.
Ahead of him, Superman saw the Planet Lexor. He tensed, for his super-intuition told him that something was wrong. It looked as though there had been a major collision between Lexor and some other planetary body. He swooped down towards one of the cities, intending to deposit the unconscious soldiers at a healing centre. But as he came nearer, Superman felt his super-strength draining away. There was only one substance which could rob him of his powers like this – Kryptonite! Now he dared not land on the planet for more than a few minutes.
He landed in the main street of the city, and quickly set down the unconscious soldiers.
Then he looked around. The place was deserted. Suddenly he felt the same chill of damp air brushing against him, as it had done when the attacks began in Space. In a flash he realised. "The city isn't deserted. It's just that I can't see the inhabitants! Some force generated by a kryptonite explosion must have turned them all into wraiths like the soldiers who attacked me!"
Summoning the last dregs of his strength, Superman hurled himself above the glistening buildings and as he soared upwards he felt his power returning.
But something kept the Man of Steel from launching himself back through Space. He felt that he must search on this planet for a clue to the vanished astronaut. He flew parallel to the surface of the planet, searching for a spot uncontaminated by the kryptonite blast. Suddenly he stiffened and hovered, listening.
"My super-hearing picked up a command from the city," he said. "An order to move the astronaut, Kleery, into the White Fortress!"
It did not take Superman long to find the fortress, a tremendous block of whitish rock on top of a gaunt peak. Landing lightly on his toes at the foot of the peak, the Man of Steel gazed up at it. "How can I tell whether there are guards outside or not," he pondered.
Like a fantastic computer, his super-brain examined the problem from every angle and came up with the answer. "That's it! If I exhale the cloud of meteorite dust, and blow it towards the Fortress. I shall be able to see any of the Wraiths barring my way!"
The broad chest rose rhythmically. Soon he was blowing the cloud towards the Fortress. As it drifted past the peak, several of the Wraiths could be seen staggering and falling around the Fortress.
Superman stood before the great door of the fortress. His brow furrowed with concentration, and twin rays of light leaped from his eyes and acted like laser beams, slicing the metal like cheese. Smoke poured from the melted lock as Superman kicked open the door. "Lingard Kleery!
Thank heaven I've found you!" cried Superman, striding forward.
The astronaut, still in his space suit, lay slumped in a corner of a cell. He raised his head and stared dazedly at his rescuer. "Superman! So that's why they had a kryptonite shield made when they brought me out here from the city. It's a trap, Superman! Quick, get outside!"
Superman whirled and dived for the door of the fortress. Then he halted and staggered back. "You're right, Lingard! They've erected the kryptonite shield outside. I'm trapped."
He struggled back to where the astronaut sat. As he slumped down with his head in his hands, Kleery touched him on the shoulder. "I'm sorry about this, Superman," he said. Superman glanced up. "But why did they kidnap you during your walk in space? Was it just to fetch me?"
Kleery shrugged. "I don't think so," he said, "They just wanted someone with form and substance to begin with, because as you've seen, they've lost their own shapes and become wraiths."
Superman nodded. "They kidnapped you with the idea of using you to help them regain their substance?"
"You've hit the nail right on the head, Superman," said the astronaut. "Their scientists have rigged up some sort of atomiser. It can copy the cell-pattern of any form strapped inside it, and mirror it to another chamber. The idea was that all the Wraiths would enter the chamber, and emerge as copies of me, but it didn't work out. "They couldn't get my space suit off me! As you know, there's wiring encased in every space-suit, and the Wraiths are not happy about it. They were just figuring out some way to slice me open when their radio monitor reported that you had taken off for Outer Space in search of me!"
Superman rubbed his chin. "And they decided that I might be a better subject for their atomiser?"
Kleery lifted broad shoulders. "I wouldn't blame them for wanting to become a nation of Supermen, instead of a nation of Kleerys!" he commented, drily.
Superman stood up. "I think we may outwit them yet!"
The Wraiths waited at the foot of the peak. The shield they had put up to block Superman's escape, glowed with a greenish hue Suddenly the shield was knocked flat. There stood Superman, an awe- inspiring figure in blue shirt and tights, red cape and boots, hands on hips, a scornful smile on his lips. Then he stooped, picked up the kryptonite shield, and hurled it over the side of the peak. It vanished with a splash into a mountain pool.
"Yaa-aawk!" The Wraiths turned and fled.
Superman turned and strode back to the door of the fortress. He looked inside and beckoned. But when he spoke it was in the voice of Lingard Kleery: "I think we did it, Superman!"
The figure of an astronaut, clumsy in the unwieldy space-suit, appeared outside. The face of Superman grinned from inside the space helmet. "So my idea to change suits really worked! How did you like being taken for Superman?" he asked.
The astronaut glanced down at the "S" emblem on his chest. "I'm flattered, of course," he admitted. "But if it was up to me to find a way to get back to Earth, I'd be Superchump!"
The Man of Steel clapped Kleery on the shoulder. "There's nothing to that now the Wraiths have left us," he said.
A few moments later the two had changed back to their own clothes and identities. Superman took the astronaut on to one broad shoulder and they sped into Space.
* * The End * *
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