Jupiter in Fiction - On Jupiter - Comics and Manga

Comics and Manga

• In the Battle Angel manga series by Yukito Kishiro, Jupiter has been colonized by humans and is now in the process of having a large artificial surface built over the clouds, having consumed all but a few of its moons for raw materials. The Jupiter Union, as they are known, are in conflict over control of the solar system with Venus, Mars and Earth.

• Early issues of 2000 AD comic featured a version of the character Dan Dare. The first 11 issues contained a story in which Dare and his allies fought a malevolent alien race - the Biogs - who had set up a base of operations on Jupiter, apparently within the Great Red Spot itself.

• In All-Star Comics #22 the JSA battle a group of creatures from Jupiter that absorb metal, and defeats them all.

• In All-Star Comics #13 the Justice Society of America are gassed and sent to different planets by Nazi scientist Hans Goobsten. As Starman awakens from his gas-induced sleep, he sees the planet Jupiter looming before him. As his ship begins to crash, he is saved by several flying men of metal, who explain that, due to the cold and lack of oxygen, they wear metal clothes for protection. They show Starman what had happened to the JSA back on Earth and how Hitler had had the members rocketed to different planets. The metal men then tell him that they are doomed because some mysterious force is eating the planet. Starman flies out to investigate and is attacked as he flies over the mysterious red spot on the planet, which is the source of the problem. Starman then builds a giant "gravity rod" and uses it to fling the dangerous foreign matter into space. In gratitude, the men of Jupiter give Starman books that tell how to treat metal so it can be woven into cloth, or made transparent as glass or entirely invisible! Starman then uses the force of the giant gravity rod to propel his ship back to Earth.

• In All-Star Comics #55 Jupiter was the first planet to be invaded by a race of green-headed aliens, who threatened to destroy the Jovians unless they assisted them in conquering the Solar System's other planets. Earth is the last planet left. The JSA travel to Jupiter, and are able to finally defeat the Invaders. The Jovians are 10 ft tall and telepathic.

• As a boy, Clark Kent meets an eight-armed inhabitant of Jupiter publicly promoting an "Interplanetary Circus" (Adv No. 198, Mar 1954: "The Super-Carnival from Space").

• In Marvel Family #5 Jupiter is shown to be inhabited by a race of cavepeople, with dinosaur-like creatures also on the world. They go to rescue astronauts whose spaceship is stuck there. They civilise the inhabitants, giving them fire, the wheel, knowledge of the production of iron, and the Alphabet. The ship is fixed and the Marvels leave the world, delighted at doing in one day what took thousands of years on Earth.

• In Marvel Family #36 the Marvels go to Jupiter, which according to this story has gravity 300 times stronger then Earth (it actually has gravity nearly 2.3 times stronger). The Jovians resemble very short, stout humans. They are an advanced race, capable of interplanetary travel, and their scientific equipment helps the Marvels discover the nature of the Invaders from Infinity, which resemble giant fireballs, (see List of Marvel Family enemies). The Jovians are forced to evacuate after their fleet is defeated by the Invaders, but after the Invaders are contained and destroyed they get back to Jupiter, and tell the Marvels they will be their friends. They know of the Martians, calling them a treacherous race.

• In the Tommy Tomorrow series of stories, Jupiter and the outer planets are giant worlds with solid surfaces and native life.