Comic Book / The Leper from Krypton

The Leper from Krypton is a Superman storyline by Leo Dorfman and Ross Andru, published in Action Comics #363-366 (May-August, 1968). Legendary artist Neal Adams drew the covers for issues #363, 364 and 366.

Lex Luthor manages to culture a bacterial strain of Virus X, an incurable alien disease which once hit Krypton and was compared to the Earth's leprosy. Pulling strings behind the scenes, Luthor manages to get Superman infected; and he wastes no time announcing the world that he has turned Superman into a walking death plague. Immediately, people start avoiding Superman.

Meanwhile, Superman cannot find a cure and does not want to risk spreading the disease, so he prepares to leave Earth while hoping Supergirl can take his place.

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Tropes:

• Abandoned Warehouse: Ventor's headquarters are located in an abandoned warehouse where he keeps his equipment, including his brainwashing devices.
• Alliterative Name: One of the Metropolis' criminal bands is called the Gimmick Gang due to their weird gadgets.
• Antagonist in Mourning: Lex Luthor gets Superman infected with a deadly and highly contagious alien disease. Being unable to find a cure and unwilling to spread the disease, Superman builds a rocketship and blasts himself into space where he expects to die within hours. As watching Superman's rocket leaving Earth, Lex Luthor feels strangely sad and cannot help but think he will miss their battles.
  Lex Luthor: ''"The prison siren is giving Superman a final salute!... He was my worthiest foe! It seems crazy...But I'm going to miss our duels of wits!"'
• Artistic License – Biology: Lex Luthor mutates an Earth microbe into an alien pathogen called Virus X, which causes an infection compared with leprosy... which is not caused by virus but a bacterium (although it is eventually clarified the name is a placeholder, and the pathogen is indeed a bacteria). Later, though, the Virus X is killed by exposure to white Kryptonite, whose radiation kills all forms of plant life. Though, bacteria are not plants (albeit to be fair, they were once regarded as plants).
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The Flammbronians are a race of flame-haired, orange-skinned, red-wearing humanoid aliens with fire powers who dwell in the cosmos' hottest star.
• Avenging the Villain: Ventor wants to kill Superman because he blames the Man of Steel for his brother Bruno's death, who died in prison after getting arrested... never mind the fact that Bruno would not have even gone to prison if he had not committed crimes which forced Superman to catch him. The story makes a point that Bruno's death has eroded Ventor's sanity, though, since he alternates between declaring he'll avenge his brother's death and claiming his brother is still alive and he will kill Superman to protect Bruno.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Lex Luthor puts an indeterminate number of rabbits and cats through a terrible death to test his newly created virus, and later to fool world governments into paying for a fake cure. And every time he is smiling gleefully.
• Big Bad: Lex Luthor puts in motion another scheme to kill Superman, and almost succeeds.
• Bird People: The Knorrians are yellow-feathered avian humanoids with scaly legs and sharp talons.
• Book Burning: Lexor was a planet where Lex Luthor was considered a hero because he used his scientific genius to help their inhabitants to build an advanced civilization; and they were so grateful that they even renamed the planet after their benefactor. However, when they find out he engineered a biological weapon in order to murder Superman, the Lexorians are so enraged about having idolized a murderer that they burn the Luthor Library -full of his scientific books, treatises and manuals- because they want nothing of his.
  Lexorian 1: "It's true! Superman is dying! The space-bulletins said Luthor infected him with leprosy, but I couldn't believe it until now!"
  Lexorian 2: "Luthor is a murderer! We'll burn all the scientific knowledge he gave us! We want nothing from him!"
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Ventor hypnotizes Clark Kent -whose dual identity he is unaware of- into infecting Superman with the Virus X.
• Broken Pedestal: When the Lexorians find out that their benefactor and hero Lex Luthor engineered a biological weapon in order to murder Superman, they become so enraged that they throw Lex's statues down, burn his books and tear his machines down.
  Ardora: "Please don't tear down Luthor's statue! He was our friend, our benefactor!"
  Lexorian: "You're his wife...Naturally, you'd plead for him, Ardora! But the rest of us are ashamed we ever allowed him on our world!"
• Bullying a Dragon: After getting Superman infected with an incurable disease, and conning one million dollars out of people who were foolish enough to believe he would freely give one cure to his worst enemy, Luthor boasts that he has gotten away with everything to Superman's face. Superman feels incredibly tempted to reach out, touch him and get him infected, but he restrains himself because it would be murder.
  Lex Luthor: "See? I conned your friends out of a million bucks! And you're still a candidate for a coffin!"
  Superman: (thinking) "I could pierce this protective suit...touch Luthor...and he'd get the virus! But— I can't break my code against murder!"
• Captain Obvious: As a family is watching Luthor's broadcast, the father exclaims (after Lex has introduced himself, mind you) "Lex Luthor!"
  Lex Luthor: "Attention! This is Luthor speaking from Metropolis Prison via an electronic thought-projector which has cut into the transmission frequency of your tv hookup!”
  Man: "Lex Luthor!"
• Captured on Purpose: Clark Kent let himself be captured by Ventor's gang to investigate their criminal activities; he did not count on their boss testing a brainwashing machine on him.
• Character Witness: When Superman asks the Flammbronians why they saved a total stranger, they remind him that he saved one kinsman of theirs during his Superboy years. They were just repaying their debt.
• Clothes Make the Superman: Batman uses an anti-gravity belt to pose as Superman.
• Coincidental Broadcast: Superman is walking by a tv store right when Lex Luthor hijacks the news channels to announce he has gotten Superman infected with a virulent and incurable alien disease.
• Complexity Addiction: Supergirl cannot deal with the wave of crime brought about by Superman's alleged death on her own, so she asks the Kandorians who can perform as a Superman substitute. Kara is told they are already conducting a selection process to choose several candidates, after which they will call upon all Kandorians to vote for one of the nominees. Kara points out that Van-Zee and Don-El already impersonated her cousin successfully, but the Kandorians reiterate that this question must be determined democratically.
• Contamination Situation: Lex Luthor gets Superman infected with his own and highly contagious strain of the Virus X.
• Continuity Nod:
  • As on route to Flammbron, Superman remembers his whole life: Krypton exploding, Martha and Jonathan Kent finding him and adopting him, his public appearance as Superboy, the meeting with his future nemesis in How Luthor Met Superboy, the arrival of Supergirl in The Supergirl From Krypton (1959), Kara's public reveal in The Unknown Supergirl...
  • When Superman asks why the Flammbronians saved him, they remind him that he helped their kinsmen in Superboy (1949) #115.
  • When Superman figures out his impersonators are his fellow Leaguers, he guesses he can find them in the Happy Harbor's cave, the Justice League's first headquarters.
• Covers Always Lie: The cover for issue #366 shows Supergirl holding an audition among Kandorians for the role of the next Superman. In the inside, Kara recruits several male Justice Leaguers to replace her cousin.
• Criminal Amnesiac: Ventor's brainwashing makes Clark Kent forget his real identity and believe he is one of Ventor's henchmen.
• Cry into Chest: Kara breaks down crying onto Kal's right shoulder when his cousin, who had been declared dead, reveals he survived.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: After being informed that he has gotten Superman infected successfully, Lex Luthor hacks every tv channel to announce he has finally destroyed Superman. Remarkably, he does this while locked up in prison.
  Lex Luthor: "Attention! This is Luthor speaking from Metropolis Prison via an electronic thought-projector which has cut into the transmission frequency of your tv hookup! I have an important announcement! I've just achieved the ultimate triumph of my criminal career!"
• Due to the Dead: When Superman decides to build a rocketship which will take him to Flammbron, the hottest sun in the universe, where his body will be cremated, a huge group gathers around his rocket in front of the UN headquarters to say goodbye. Superman asks them to not build any memorials, steps into the rocket and takes off. The Justice League hold a private funeral, in which even Batman cries. Meanwhile, entire planets mourn the incoming death of Superman.
• Dying Alone: Given that he has only some few hours left to live, Superman builds a one-passenger rocket and heads towards a faraway star to be cremated. Supergirl (carrying her cousin's past and present sweethearts Lois, Lana and Lori in a survival pod) and a funeral cortege trail behind him, but they turn around when he is approaching the star Flammbron so he can face his end alone.
• Evil Is Petty: After discovering some impersonator has been replacing him since he left Earth, Superman checks if some Phantom Zoner has escaped. Neither of them has left the Zone, but Jax-Ur contacts him to specifically say they could actually tell him who his replacement is, but they will not do so because seeing him distressed is very entertaining.
  Jax-Ur: "Superman! We're contacting you mentally through the Phantom Zone viewer! We could tell you who has replaced you...But squirm, baby! Squirm!"
• Evil Plan: Lex Luthor plans to kill Superman by bio-engineering a new and deadly pathogen.
• Face Death with Dignity: When Superman guesses his death is inevitable, he does not weep, get mad or suffer a breakdown. Instead, he very calmly builds a rocketship which will take to a star where he has chosen to be cremated, says goodbye to Earth, asking them to not cry over him or build any monuments, and steps into the rocket, hoping that Supergirl can successfully take over him.
• Flaming Hair: The whole Flammbronian alien race have flaming heads.
• Fleeting Demographic Rule: Every so often, Superman gets infected with a seemingly incurable alien illness. The Last Days of Superman (1962), The Jungle Line (1985) …
• Green Around the Gills: Both people and animals turn sickly green when they catch Kryptonian leprosy.
• Humanoid Aliens: The natives of planet Knorr are vaguely bird-like humanoids whose bodies and scaly legs are covered with bright-yellow feathers.
• Hurl It into the Sun: Since he will die within hours and he does not want to risk infecting others, Superman opts for building a rocketship which will take him to Flammbron, the hottest sun in the universe, where his body will burn away together with his germs.
• Immune to Fire: The Flammbronians are an alien race who can live in stars thanks to being naturally and completely impervious to fire and heat.
• Karma Houdini:
  • After getting Superman infected, Lex Luthor demands $1,000,000 in payment for the cure (taking inflation into consideration, this is roughly equivalent to $8,276,559.03 in 2022). Although Superman advises to not trust Luthor or give in to his blackmail, the money is raised and paid. After he has sent the money to one of his secret lairs using an untraceable delivery method, Lex Luthor reveals he has conned them: there is no cure, and even if he developed one, he would never give it to Superman. Even though Superman ultimately survives, Luthor keeps the blackmail money.
  • Ventor Caine faces absolutely no repercussions either for kidnapping and brainwashing Clark Kent and helping Lex Luthor out. As far as is known, he was not even caught.
• Kill It with Fire: In order to not spread his disease, Superman decides fly into the hottest sun in the universe and to be cremated together with his germs.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: The criminal Gimmick Gang are raiding a gold shipment when they spot Superman flying overhead. Aware that Superman is out of his league, and that he has just gotten infected with a dangerous and contagious alien disease, they surrender immediately out of fear of being both beaten and infected.
• Kryptonite Factor: In this instance, it saves Superman's life. When Kal-El is dying, two Bizarros try to make his demise quicker and less painful by tossing chunks of White Kryptonite at him. The Bizarros are too dumb to understand that white Kryptonite cannot kill him because it has no effect on animal lifeforms...but it does destroy other lifeforms, such like the bacteria which was killing him.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Bizarros keep buckets full of Red and White Kryptonite rocks which they can use at any time.
• Latex Perfection: Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter impersonate Superman successfully, even though they wear Superman's full-face mask upon their own masks or cowls.
• Meaningful Name: The hottest star in the universe, said to be the equal to thousand normal suns, is named "Flambronn". "Flamber" is French for "blaze".
• Mercy Kill: Since Superman will die within hours, one pair of Bizarros try to end his suffering quickly by throwing chunks of Red and White Kryptonite at him. It does not work, though, because Red-K merely causes mental or physical changes, and White-K is non-lethal to animal lifeforms...but it completely destroys the bacteria which was killing Superman, unexpectedly saving his life.
• Microts: In planet Knorr, a chronon is a Knorrian hour, about 40 minutes Earth time.
• My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: As Superman is dying inside his rocket/coffin, he starts seeing images of his past since he was a baby rocketed from a dying world.
  Superman: "I feel weaker...weaker...Death must be approaching...I can see my whole life pass before my eyes!"
• Never My Fault: The inmates of Metropolis Prison hate Superman and bristle at him being called a hero, since he had the gall of arresting them when they committed crimes. It does not occur to them that Superman would have left them alone if they had not murdered anybody.
  Inmate 1: "Superman...a hero? He's the rat who put me in here!"
  Inmate 2: ''"That jerk in the long johns got me a life rap for murder!"
• Non-Indicative Name: The pathogen called "Virus X" is not a virus at all, but a bacterial species. Superman eventually explains "Virus X" is really a placeholder name.
• Noodle Incident: When Superman's rocketship passes by planet Knorr, the Knorrians mention he once saved them from the serpent people of the Viper planet.
• Not Enough to Bury: Invoked. In order to not spread his germs, Superman builds a rocket and sets course for the hottest star in the universe, where he expects to be turned into a pile of ashes.
  Superman: (thinking) Flambron, mightiest solar furnace in the universe, whose incandescent, neutronic flames match the searing heat of a thousand normal suns! In another second, I'll be a pinch of cosmic dust!
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The Justice League hold a private funeral for Superman, and the Flash notes even their stoic and guarded teammate Batman is crying openly.
• Our Hero Is Dead: The third issue ends with Superman's rocket plunging into the star and being engulfed in searing flames. The fourth and final issue opens with Supergirl crying for her cousin's death, and two pages later it is revealed Superman survived and was cured.
• The Plague: Lex Luthor engineers a strain of Virus-X, a dangerous and incurable alien pathogen which had scourged Krypton several centuries before, and then he spreads it with the aim to kill Superman and blackmail the world into paying him a fortune for a non-existent cure.
• Playing with Fire: The Flammbronians can create and harness fire by virtue of being a race of human-looking living flames.
• Polka-Dot Disease: The Kryptonian equivalent to leprosy causes people and animals to develop a sickly-green complexion with black welts.
• Rule of Three: As he is dying, Superman ponders he has only loved three women: Lana Lang, Lori Lemaris and Lois Lane.
• Secret Identity Change Trick: As Clark Kent, Superman slips into his office at night to leave a goodbye note for his friends when Lois opens the door. Clark quickly takes advantage of the darkness in his office to change clothes at Super-Speed before Lois sees his greenish, marred face and realizes Clark Kent is Superman.
• Shrine to the Fallen: When a dying Superman heads towards a star to be cremated, the Justice League raises one statue of Kal-El in their headquarters.
• Sickly Green Glow: Lex Luthor mutates a strain of microbes by exposing them to Green Kryptonite radiation. The mutated and incredibly deadly pathogens glow an eerie pale green.
• Spotting the Thread: Superman returns to Earth after several days and finds out someone has been impersonating him during his time away. As investigating his impersonator's identity, Superman notices he handles each Crisis in odd ways: shattering an iceberg by vibrating instead of punching it, dodging a lava flow while rescuing a building... Then he realizes that it is not one single pretender but seven: his Justice League male teammates stepped in for him while he was away.
• Take Up My Sword: Supergirl takes her cousin's place when he leaves Earth, but a world-wide crime wave is overwhelming her, so she comes up with the idea to find a Superman substitute and spread a false survival story. Since the Kandorians cannot decide on a proper substitute, she asks Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman to take turns in impersonating Superman until the Kandorians pick one replacement.
• Tempting Fate: When a guard of Metropolis Prison asks the warden if it was wise to allow Lex Luthor free access to a lab, the warden replies he was given orders... and anyway, it is a biochemical lab, so how can Luthor possibly use it to carry some nefarious scheme out? Luthor, who is in hearing range, inwardly marvels at their stupidity as he engineers a lethal disease right under their noses.
  Guard: "But, warden, was it wise to let Lex Luthor work in a lab?"
  Warden: "Governor's orders! Luthor volunteered to find a cure for a strange epidemic that's destroying the cattle herds in this state! Besides, this is a biochemical lab, designed for experiments on animal diseases! What harm can he do here?"
  Lex Luthor: (thinking) "Will the fools never learn? My scientific wizardry could convert a sandpile into an atomic pile!"
• Terrible Interviewees Montage: Subverted. The final issue's cover implies that Supergirl will go through of a bunch of terrible candidates as looking for a replacement for her allegedly dead cousin, but the story itself skips over the selection process, only stating Supergirl found it frustrating.
• Third-Person Flashback: After being infected with the Virus X, Superman remembers what happened when that plague hit Krypton, several centuries before he was born.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: When Luthor is boasting to his face, Superman feels tempted to get him infected, but he restrains himself because he cannot break his vow against killing.
• Thrown Down a Well: Subverted. Supergirl comes up with the idea of sending her cousin into the Phantom Zone, where nobody can age or die, until she discovers a cure. The Phantom Zoners do not want him to be saved, though, so they use their combined mental power to set up a barrier which Superman cannot pierce through.
• Title Drop: As gloating, Luthor declares: "Superman...Wherever you are! This is my sweetest possible revenge! You are now the Leper from Krypton!"
• Ventriloquism: Villain Ventor uses his skills as a ventriloquist to infiltrate Metropolis Prison, with the excuse of giving a performance with his dummies, and stealthily receive a sample of Lex Luthor's newly-engineered virus.
• Video Phone: In this 1968 storyline, Supergirl talks to the Kandorians via video-link, using a real bulky monitor.
• Wall Crawl: After brainwashing Clark Kent, Ventor orders him to find and infect Superman with the Virus X. Clark has lost most of his memories during the brainwashing, including those related to his secret identity, but he instinctively knows where Superman lives. However, since he does not remember it is his own home, he decides to break into the apartment by climbing up the wall with his bare hands.
• Whole Episode Flashback: Most of the third chapter consists of flashbacks where a dying Superman reminisces his life's history.
• Working Through the Cold: Superman attempts to keep operating as a hero even though disease is killing him.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Even though neither Luthor nor Ventor had figured out how to exactly find and infect Superman, they still manage to expose him to the Virus X.

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