Chris KL-99

CHRIS KL-99

Real Name: Christopher KL-99

Class: Human

Occupation: Space explorer, commissioner for Protection of Planetary People

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Jon ST-94 (father, deceased), unnamed mother (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: space, 21st Century

First Appearance: Strange Adventures #1 (September, 1950)

Powers: Chris possessed a genius-level intellect and was a skilled fighter, scientist and astronaut. He wore a jetpack that allowed him to fly. Chris piloted the Pioneer, a spaceship capable of interstellar travel. When necessary the Pioneer could also function as a submarine.

History:(Strange Adventures #1, 7 (fb)) - Jo ST-94 was the father of the first baby born in space, and named the baby Christopher after Christopher Columbus. Venturing off on an exploratory mission in the Starfarer, Chris KL's parents were lost in space, and years later he joined the Space Academy in hopes of finding them. He finished Academy in the 99th percentile, and had 99 added to his name as a reward. He was given the government job of exploring uncharted areas of outer space.

(Strange Adventures #1) - Chris and his companions Halk and Jero explored and mapped the Alto Star-System's three planets. On returning to Earth they received a distress call from Nebula World, a planet Chris had never traveled too because of the dangerous Green Nebula surrounding the planet. The distress call actually came from a robotic drone sent to the Nebula World by Jan Varden and a group of criminals who wanted Chris to lead them to Nebula World so they could steal the valuable radium ore that was so abundant there. On Nebula World Chris was approached by the Radioactive Men, who alerted him to Jan's presence and complained that Jan was stealing the radium that constituted their food supply. Chris arrested Jan and promised the Radioactive Men no one else would bother them.

(Strange Adventures #2) - Chris, Halk and Jero explored the World of Metal Giants, where Zuur had conquered his homeworld by hijacking control of giant robots that were originally designed by scientist Karath to fix the damage caused by planetwide earthquakes. Chris took control of one of the robots and battled Zuur and his robot atop a mountain, where Zuur fell to his death.

(Strange Adventures #7) - Chris, Halk and Jero discovered the planet where Chris's parents crash-landed on years ago. Chris learned they had died to save the lives of their crewmates. The planet was soon to be destroyed by a meteor shower, and Chris would not accept that his parents sacrifice had been in vain. He couldn't fit the stranded Starfarer survivors aboard his ship, so he repaired the Starfarer using metal from destroyed ships floating around the planets atmosphere. Returning to Earth Chris was ready to retire from space exploration since he finally learned the fate of his parents, but one of the Starfarer crew gave Chris a video his parents left for him; in the video his parents told Chris they knew he would someday continue their career of charting undiscovered worlds. Chris determined to do just that.

(Strange Adventures #9) - Chris received a distress call from offworld and set off for the planet with Halk and Jero. As they neared the planet they noticed power crystals floating in space. Halk revealed that he was banished from his homeworld Mars because he accidentally destroyed the power crystal that powered Mars' giant water pumps, but if they could bring one of the crystals back to Mars he would be forgiven. On they planet they learned that a tyrant named Rork used the crystals to rule his world with an iron fist. Chris and his crew destroyed all but one of the crystals, releasing Rork's people from slavery. They took the last crystal to Mars to undo Halk's mistake, and although Halk was offered the chance to resume his life on Mars he instead decided to stay with Chris.

Comments: Created by Ed Hamilton & Howard Sherman

Chris KL-99 received profiles in Who’s Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #4 and The DC Comics Encyclopedia.