Here’s a classic monster that traveled from outer space and the far future — and from Superman’s newspaper strip to his comic books.
Both the Superman Sunday newspaper strips from Dec. 7, 1952, to March 15, 1953, and the cover story in Superman 87 (on newsstands in December 1953) were drawn in his customary imposing style by Wayne Boring. The difference was in the writers.
In the newspapers, writer Alvin Schwartz’s alien, blob-like shapeshifter the Chamlon was dispatched in an oddball, almost whimsical way. But comic book writer Bill Woolfolk’s Thing from 40,000 AD was darker, with an apocalyptic vibe. The Thing came from an Earth of the despotic far future, after all, and was vaporized in a nuclear blast.
“It’s fantastic, Clark!” Lois explains. “There have been the exact same reports from widely scattered cities of a strange object racing through the sky!”
“Hmm,” Clark replies. “I notice when Army fighter planes gave chase, the object disappeared! Sounds like another flying
saucer story to me!”
But in fact, it was the opening chapter of an invasion plan organized by the Parasoids, aliens who looked something like humanoid light bulbs (which sounds funny, but was actually a nicely original design by Boring).
After Superman defeated four of their slave creatures — the Vegaloid, the Giant Needle, a dragon-sized caterpillar and a literal bug-eye-monster — the Parasoids threw their fifth and greatest monster against him — the amorphous, polymorphic Chamlon.
Both the newspaper and comic book alien invaders imitated Superman and battled him to a standstill. But the Man of Tomorrow defeated the first with brains, and the second with brawn.
Superman finally tricked the none-too-bright Chamlon into imitating scrawny science fiction fan Sedgwick Ripple and thus becoming vulnerable. Schwartz included such eccentric characters in the strip to appeal to the adult readers of newspapers.
On the other hand, the “shapeless blob of primeval matter” called the Thing proved not to be quite as super as Superman.
“Temporarily stranded in the 20th century, the Thing takes on the form of various individuals — including Superman — as part of its elaborate scheme to steal the advanced technological components necessary for the construction of a time machine with which it intends to return to its own era and set up a dictatorship,” noted comics historian Michael L. Fleisher. “Superman ultimately destroys the creature, however, by luring it into the midst of a hydrogen bomb explosion.”
“Whew! That H-bomb gave me a slight headache!” Superman says.
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