The Great Unknown

The Great Unknown

Created by Robert E. Wronski, Jr.

Partially based on a real historical being

Real Name:  Has gone by a few different names, including the Great Unknown, God, Yahweh, Jehovah, Allah, I am, the Alpha and Omega

Current Occupation:  Protector of the Universe

Parents:  None (was born in the Big Bang)

Siblings:  Allorin Vonski, Zeus, Morgoth, Evil (deceased), the Forbidden Planet (deceased)

Spouse:  None

Children:  None

Group Affiliation:  Universal Protectors

Place of Birth:  The center of the Universe, where Oa now exists

Current Place of Residence:  A cave on the planet Kookoorongba

First Historical Appearance:  The Bible

First Super Comics Appearance:  Adventures on Other Worlds # 1 (September 1978)

Biography:

At the dawn of time, six cosmic beings were born, three of good, three of evil.  The being who would become known as the Great Unknown joined with his good brothers to battle his evil brothers.  However, they found themselves equal and chose to go their separate ways.

The Great Unknown first found a world called Heaven.  The race of this world, called Angels, worshiped the Great Unknown and made him their ruler.  This race became highly evolved over billions of years.  All was well, until one of the Great Unknown's brothers came to this world.  Calling himself Lucifer Morningstar, he corrupted Heaven, creating a civil war in a bid to rule.  However, the Great Unknown and his warriors were the greater force, and defeated the evil ones.

As punishment, the Great Unknown created a pocket dimension called Hell where he banished Lucifer and his minions.  These angels eventually evolved into demons.  Over time, Lucifer would find a way to turn the prison into a realm that he ruled.  He was able to leave anytime, as was his demons.  However, Lucifer found a way to capture the souls of Earth humans who were evil, and those who willingly trade their souls to him, each one giving him greater power.

Meanwhile, the Great Unknown to protect his angels, sent Heaven into it's own dimension.  Heaven also became home to human souls after death, but only those who wanted to go.

Around 51,000 years in the past, the Great Unknown came to Earth, where his two good brothers had already made a home.  At the request of Vonski, the Great Unknown became guard to the Sword of Power.

Around 1260 B.C., the Great Unknown is angered by the evil of humanity, but also sees the potential for good.  He chooses his first Champion of Earth in Moses, by giving him a mystical staff and advising him as he battled Ramses to free the slaves of Egypt.

This began a trend in which the Great Unknown would continue to create champions on Earth.  Not all of the champions have been chronicled as of yet, but we do know of some of them.

In 8 A.D., the Great Unknown chose an twelve year old boy in Israel who was the son of the angel Gabriel, who had raped a woman named Mary.  He granted him with amazing powers, but the boy named Jesus used his powers only is pacifistic ways.  He was killed in 33 A.D.  He could have saved himself but he refused to use his powers to harm others.

After this, the Great Unknown, saddened, left Earth, and settled on the planet Kookoorongba.  He would keep watching Earth and creating champions, but he also started manipulating events off of Earth.

On Kookoorongba, he started giving people of a heroic quality super-powers, turning them into the police force called the Powermen.  It was the people of Kookoorongba who named him the Great Unknown.  They worshiped him and allowed him to rule them.  He also created the Council, a group represented by various alien species.  This council then created the Interstellar Peace Organization, a police force composed of aliens from throughout the universe.

In the 6th century, in the kingdom of Camelot, the Great Unknown granted a knight with a mystical sword, turning him into the Purple Knight.

In the 17th century, a French Musketeer is also given a mystical sword, becoming the Scarlet Swordsman.

In the 19th century, another Frenchman became the second Scarlet Swordsman.

In the 1960s, the Universal Protectors became aware of a coming Crisis, in which the Universal Destroyers would take advantage.  And so the trio each decided to create their own champion out of the sons of three sisters.

The Great Unknown chose Christopher Kowalky, born in 1972.  His mother was Maureen Hasser, the middle sister.  Only this wasn't exactly true.  Christopher was actually born on the planet Hanguk.  His father was from Earth, a member of the Interstellar Peace Organization.  His mother was a native woman.  When the planet was invaded by Booer, the father took Chris to Earth.  He met Maureen and she married the space hero and raised the child as her own.  What nobody knew was that the Great Unknown had orchestrated the whole thing.

In 1979, when Chris was 6, the Great Unknown set things in motion.  He sent a ball of energy towards Earth which struck Chris, granting him amazing powers.  Chris would choose the name Superboy, but would go on to be called Super-Bob, Powerkid, and Powerman.

Just after this, the Great Unknown observed a man about to commit suicide.  He implanted an idea into his head, which inspired the man to not kill himself, but instead become the costumed vigilante called the Unknown.  (This implanted message also got bounced into the alternate reality of Earth-5, where the man's counterpart in that reality also received the message and also became the Unknown.)

The Great Unknown then sent Krazel, one of his best Powermen and IPO agents, to visit Chris and train him.

In 1983, Powerkid finally went to Kookoorongba  and visited the Great Unknown.  After this, the Great Unknown began communicating directly with Powerkid via mental telethapy.

At the end of 1988, Cronstar, a time travelling robot, hatched a plan that threatened to destroy reality.  Powerman joined with past Champions of Earth, to form the History's Heroes.  Though the heroes defeated Cronstar, it was not before there was a negative effect which caused the Great Unknown to survive only by merging with Powerman.  During a one year period, Chris maintained control of his body when normal, but when he became Powerman, the Great Unknown would take control.  Fortunately, after a year, the Great Unknown gained enough power back to leave Powerman's body and reform on his own.

After the separation, the Great Unknown stopped communicating with Powerman.  Recently, in 2008, Chris Kowalsky's son, Connor, who had become the new Powerkid, found he can communicate with the Great Unknown.  The Great Unknown revealed to Connor that he tries to communicate with Chris and also Chris' sister Michelle, who had also served as Powerkid in the 1990s, but they choose to ignore him.

During the Crisis of 2008 to 2009, the Great Unknown and his good brothers created a massive spell the resurrected many dead super-heroes and also restored the memories and powers of other heroes that had lost both from a spell cast by Allorin Vonski in 1998.

Currently the Great Unknown continues to guide Connor Kowalsy as the new Powerkid. Though there is no recored stories of the Great Unknown in the future, his legacy will continue on.  Powerman will live on as an immortal with the powers granted to him by Powerman at least into the 32nd century.  The council he created will still exist in the 31st century, running the United Federation of Planets (or United Planets) and the Star (or Space) Patrol.  The Interstellar Peace Organization will become the Star Patrol.  In the late 21st century, the IPO will create the Ticon Force.

Comments:

When I first created the Great Unknown in 1978, he was inspired by Orson from Mork and Mindy.  When Adventures on Other Worlds ended, the Great Unknown faded from my memory, until 1983.  In 1983, I reintroduced the Great Unknown and his connection to Krazy-El and Kookoorongba.  In 1985, in the History of the Super Universe, I created the mythology that explained his relationship to his cosmic brothers.

In 1988, my friend John Barstow started scripting and editing Powerman.  He decided to take the relationship between Powerman and the Great Unknown, and create a mini-series off of it called Past Imperfect.  This is when we were introduced to the concept of there being previous champions.  He also created the merging, which I was then left to try to write stories about.

After a year of writing stories of the Great Unknown as the main character, I think I got fed up with him.

I used him just once in 1992, in a story that revealed that the Great Unknown was God.

However, after that, I stopped using him for almost 20 years.  However, since the new Powerkid series is about nostalgia, it was only logical to make the Great Unknown a supporting character.