Krazel

Krazel

Created by Robert E. Wronski, Jr.

Real Name:  Krazel

Alias:  Powerman I, Krazy-El, Powerkid I, Space Hero II

Current Occupation:  Agent of the Interstellar Peace Organization

Parents:  Unnamed

Siblings:  None

Spouse:  None

Children:  None

Group Affiliation:  Powermen, Interstellar Peace Organization, Mystery Men, Powerkid Police, Heroes of Earth

Place of Birth:  The Main Part of Kookoorongba (Koorongba)

Current Place of Residence:  Mobile, aboard an IPO space vessel

First Appearance:  Adventures of Other Worlds # 1, September 1978

Biography:

Krazel is a native of the planet Kookoorongba.  When Krazel was a teen, he was chosen by that world's god, the Great Unknown, to serve in the Powermen, which was this world's planetary protectors.  Powermen were endowed with super-human strength, near invulnerability, speed, and flight.

Kookoorongians age much slower than humans, and in fact he had joined the Powermen in our 17th century.  In the 18th century, Krazel's superb service gained him the attention of the Interstellar Peace Organization, who recruited him for their interstellar police force.

He served with excellence for about a century, when he was reassigned to what he considered punishment for something he felt me must have done wrong.  He was assigned to stay in a satellite orbiting Earth, and just make sure no aliens interfered with Earth.

This was the 1880s, and Krazel didn't understand the importance of this primitive world.  But the IPO's masters, the Great Unknown, knew that Earth had been the hiding spot of a powerful weapon called the Universal Transponder, which, because it had been there for thousand of years, had transformed Earth itself into a powerful space/time nexus with strong cosmic power.

Krazel's job was very much like that of mall security.  He was to observe and report.  He was not to engage.  If an alien entered the atmosphere, he was to call for back-up.  And he wasn't ever to actually visit Earth himself, as they weren't ready for knowledge of aliens yet.

In 1891, he broke the rules.  A time travelling robot from the future arrived in Paradise City, CA in an attempt to conquer Earth before the era of super-heroes.  However, this time period did also have some great heroes.  Krazel came to Earth and worked with these heroes to defeat the villain, who fled into the timestream.

After this encounter, Krazel was reprimanded by his superiors and so stayed out of Earth's affairs, even when the Martians of Barsoom came just a few years later.  It was decided that Earth was developing it's own extraordinary gentlemen and a golden age of heroism was coming, thus humans were becoming able to handle their own threats.  The IPO was waiting for something much bigger (as in god like villains.)

In 1941, Krazel felt compelled to again break the rules.  The greatest evil he had ever witnessed had risen on Earth, and the American President had called out for heroes to join his All-Star Squadron.  Krazel answered this call.

He observed the masked heroes of the era and realized his Powerman uniform looked similar.  He donned that and after telling an eyewitness that he was a Powerman, soon Powerman became his official costumed identity.

A government agency called Operation:  Super Soldier recruited Powerman and some other All Stars to join a special covert team called the Mystery Men.

After war's end in 1945, Krazel returned back to the satellite, and his mission there.  However, he was now given more leniency in going to Earth to apprehend alien intruders, since they were becoming more common.

In one such case, in 1969, Krazel found himself cornered in an alley in Worcester by an alien villain who was about to shoot him.  A teen named Michael Bossman happened to come across them and sensed who was good and who wasn't, and used his martial arts to disarm and incapacitate the villain.

Krazel was so impressed by Bossman's instincts, fighting prowess, and ability to process the unusual that he recommended Bossman for the IPO.

They not only agreed, but the partnered the two up and reassigned them to the planet Hanguk, a world where they were able to operate planet side as it was aware of aliens and part of the Federated Planets.

While on Hanguk, Bossman fell in love with a native and they had a child, Christopher.  A month after the birth, the alien Booers invaded Hanguk.  The attack was such a surprise, and the forces so overwhelming, that the planet was taken despite the best efforts of the IPO.  Bossman fled the planet with his child, and went into hiding.

But in fact, the IPO knew exactly where Bossman had went, but let him go under instructions from above.  The Great Unknown had a special destiny for that child.

And so Krazel was sent back to Earth, to watch again.  In 1978, he spent some time on Earth, living with two humans who were brother and sister in the Pacific Northwest to better understand humanity, and to overcome loneliness.

But then he returned to the satellite.  But soon after, he got a special extra assignment.  That child, Chris Bossman, had been renamed Chris Kowalski, as his father had taken on an alias of Robert Kowalski.

Chris was not aware of his alien origins, and had recently been mysteriously endowed with super-powers.  It was Krazel's job to go to Earth, tell the boy that his powers came from the Great Unknown, and then to train the boy to become Earth's champion.

Krazel trained Chris for three years, and then, when he was ready, Chris went public as the super-hero called Powerkid (adapted from the name of the heroes of Krazel's world.)  Krazel was then finally allowed to go home, and rejoined the Powermen.

A year later, Kookoorongba was invaded by Booer, and Powerkid was summoned to aid the Powermen.  Krazel was mortally wounded, but the Great Unknown was able to save him by placing his consciousness inside of Powerkid, so that whenever Chris transformed into Powerkid, Krazel would take over.

This arrangement lasted for a year, until the two were both split and fully restored in an act accomplished unintentionally by Doctor Deadly when he was trying to kill Powerkid.  (He was unaware of the fusion, which caused his spell to drain Powerkid's abilities to have this side effect.)

Once he was free, he once again returned to serve his homeworld as a Powerman.

In 1991, Krazel returned to his Earth satellite, and served Earth as a member of the Heroes of Earth.  He became a special agent for the IPO and was able to travel freely among the stars performing special missions either solo or with other agents.

In 1995, a mutant named Adam took over the Earth, and though he maintained relations with the IPO, had created a strict rule that no aliens were allowed on Earth.  Krazel was assigned to keep watch but not allowed to interfere.  After Adam's defeat three years later, Earth secretly kept relations with the the Federated Planets, with Krazel now acting as an ambassador.

In recent years, Krazel has returned to operating on special missions for the IPO, and is considered to be perhaps the best of these space heroes.

Comments:

Krazel first appeared in Adventures on Other Worlds.  This was a magazine created before Super Comics, but was incorporated into the Super Universe.

He was originally called Krazy-El.  (The 1991 reboot was when his name was retroactively changed.)  The name is obviously a spoof of Superman's Kryptonian name, but the series itself was more in the style of Mork & Mindy.

When he next appeared, in Super Comics, he was as a recurring guest in Super-Bob, coming to train the hero.

In the second year of the Powerkid run, Krazel became the star, as he had taken over the hero's body.  The premise here is similar to Firestorm or Marvel's Captain Marvel, but I had actually come up with the idea independently (or at least that's how I remember it.)

Following that year, Krazel became an obscure comic book limbo character, until 1991 when he became a leading character.  He took the lead as the new Space Hero, a series once about a time traveling hero from the future, but now about the IPO.  He also was a temporary member of the Heroes of Earth, and was featured in the 1940 retro series Mystery Men, and the western series, Stranger.  He also appeared in the spin-off series, Space Heroes, and guest appeared in many other titles of the time.

Then two years later, his over exposure went to no exposure.  That is, until 2009, when Space Heroes was revived as a series, which is still ongoing.