At this point we’ve covered a lot of the animal life that can be found on planet Gurx, and we may have seen some of planet’s version of plantlife along the way, but we haven’t focused on it. Here’s where we remedy that:

For the most part, the type of life forms that the Strondovarians classify as “Aataa” have roots that they use to anchor to soil, and extract nutrients and water, and many can use photosynthesis. They are as similar to the plants one would find on Earth as anything on Gurx.

Ovauep

One of the most common kinds of Aataa on the planet are the Ovauep, which have petal-like leaves on top of a large bulb. In addition to taking in sunlight, the leaves will, when in the presence of moisture such as rain or dew, react by forming a sort of funnel to help the plant drink it all up through its top. The Ovauep uses this moisture to make a kind of “juice” that seeps out of its sides to attract animals who drink it. This juice contains the Gurxian equivalent of pollen, which can travel via the animals to mingle with other Ovauep and allow for reproduction.

Aeklay

Found mostly in batches alongside rivers and streams, Aeklay are essentially straws that draw moisture from the wet soil to produce a fruitlike bulb that, when matured and pollinated, will dry up and blow away in the wind usually falling into the water that will wash it to some other wet soil where it can begin again.

Aeossolay

Similar to the Ovauep, the Aeossolay attract animals with the promise of a meal and will send them away with pollen. There are some differences in technique here, though: the meal of an Aeossolay is not juice, but a nut-like substance that is, by most accounts from Strondos, quite delicious. But don’t get too greedy, because if an animal digs in too deep (where the food is softer and easier to eat) while the plant is hungry, it can trigger the Aeossolay to release a chemical that will paralyze and digest the animal.

Aishiaro

Considered beautiful by Strondovarian culture, the Aishiaro are an ancient form of Aataa that grows in a sort of layer-cake form. Each year, a new tier of the Aishiaro grows from the middle of the last, building up and up until the time comes for it to release a cloud of spores, which are followed by the beginning of next year’s tier.

Ooabbi

Located on the dark floors of the Gurxian forests, the Ooabbi are named something close to “blinkers” for the bioluminescent patterns they use to attract their prey. Like the Aeossolay, these are carnivorous Aataa, but they do it with poisonous pollen-juice that can drop a victim dead near-instantly when it comes into contact. Luckily for the Ooabbi there are some species of small Vootuph flying about the forest floors that love to scavenge and are immune to this poison, so these Aataa can still pollinate and reproduce effectively even as they pile up corpses around them.

I worry that, when I frequently repeat my refrain about how I don’t want any Darkseid in my Superman stories, I make it sound like I don’t want any of the contributions that Jack Kirby made in his Jimmy Olsen run to carry on into Superman stories. That’s not true at all!

I’m actually a huge fan of Jack Kirby’s work and I think any superhero franchise that has the opportunity to draw upon his imagination, it would be a mistake not to. It’s just that I consider the New Gods a separate franchise altogether, so I don’t want them to pollute one another. Similarly, I don’t care to see Guardian and the Newsboy Legion in Superman, because they ought to be allowed to stand on their own, not that I expect DC to ever be brave enough to try that (and I love those kids). But Kirby definitely put things into Jimmy’s book that I think belong in Superman:

To start, there’s the whole of the DNA Project (except, as I’ve said, for their Newsboy Legion connection). If Superman is, as I believe ought to be, an aspirational figure meant to show what the “Man of Tomorrow” should be like, then the DNA Project is a natural accompaniment to that idea. They are scientists in the employ of the government trying to create “men of tomorrow” with their science. There’s a whole race of “better” people called the Step-Ups who have essentially been created by the military industrial complex and who became hippies. And, of course, there are the less human “DNAliens” they create, such as Dubbilex, who is a fun character I absolutely think deserves to show up more often. (Naturally after some continuity revisions in the DC universe, the DNA Project would become known as Cadmus and would be responsible for cloning Superman to give us the 90s iteration of Superboy as well.)

Related to the DNA Project is Dabney Donovan. He’s one of many mad scientist villains you can have in Superman, but science is one of the key themes, so you can never have too many. Donovan’s particular brand of cloning and genetic modification gives him a niche to stand out against the rest. And his finest creation, the planet Transilvane, is simply a wonderful concept and the fact it has not yet been crossed over with Kandor in some story is a shame.

And it goes on. I’ve already mentioned that I think the books should keep Morgan Edge around, although I’d want him to use the post-Kirby characterization. Intergang has had iterations on television and (I think) in comics that had noting to do with Darkseid so that’s fine as the name for fancy sci-fi gangsters for Lois and Clark to deal with. Heck, even the Outsiders biker gang gives Metropolis something that resembles a common crime story element but with a more sci-fi take. I’m just saying, there’s plenty of things in Kirby’s short Jimmy run that are more than welcome in my idea of Superman books. Just not Darkseid. I can’t reiterate this enough. Let the New Gods have their villain.

I’ve said already that I don’t want writers to take Robert Farrell and treat him like he’s one of the smartest people in the world. But I want to make it clear I don’t want them to treat the Rocket Racer as if he’s incapable of kicking a little ass.

I get that he’s a skateboard-themed supervillain and your instinct is that he’s a goofy joke character. I can understand that impulse. The inherent goofiness of the character is part of the appeal to me. But this is the superhero genre, people! It’s all goofy as hell! One of the most popular guys is a rich amateur detective who dresses as a bat so he can drive around in a bat and throw little bats at the bad guys. Just because this stuff is goofy doesn’t mean we can take it seriously.

I don’t want Rocket Racer to be one of the most powerful forces in the Marvel Universe, mowing down cosmic enemies with ease. I don’t even want him to be on par with the heavy hitters on the Avengers or the X-Men or whatever. As with his intellect, I want him in the middle. I just want it to be such that if some street-level hero or villain is up against the Rocket Racer, he’s not someone who is taken out in a panel because he’s “lame” and “lame” characters are bad.

Bob Farrell is definitely a loser and probably has only grown to doubt himself more as his career has been a trainwreck, but he is also an above-average skateboarder who has designed clever bits of technology to help him do what he does. If we make enough stories that treat someone like that as a human, readers will learn to take it seriously. Like that amateur bat detective guy.

In a swampy region near the slimelands, an Ekilaei returns to the stream while other animals nearby watch for a potential meal.

Ekilaei

An Ekkpay species that has evolved to live a mostly aquatic life, the Ekilaei still come to land for things such as escaping aquatic predators and, more importantly, burying eggs. Full-grown Ekilaei have barbs on their forelimbs that can deliver a small amount of toxin to a predator, but Ekilaei young hatch under sand then make their way to the nearest body of water, with only luck helpinig them to avoid predators along the way.

Sesennrel

Lurking among the grassy plants is a Sesennrel, whose name means something close to “Stabtongue” in English. This is because the Rel of the Sesennrel is split into three sharp tendrils, each coated with a paralyzing ooze, that can be used to stab prey. Their primary mode of attack is that of an ambush predator, waiting among foliage until a victim wanders within range, but they are not unwilling to act as scavengers when the opportunity presents itself.

Elleero

Hidden in the water here is an Elleero, a type of air-breathing, river-swimming predator. A cousin of the Ekkpay, the rear end of the Elleero is developed for swift bursts of speed in water and their beaks allow them to grab smaller animals. The flexible snorkel allows them to remain still and wait to pounce, acting as another ambush predator. Things like infant Ekilaei make a good meal to an Elleero.

Chirgen

There are a couple more animals in there, but sedentary ones that could be easily mistaken for a weird sort of plant. The Chirgen look like balls of gelatin with tendrils that hold them in place along the flow of rivers and streams. The tendrils extend into the water to leech nutrients from slime runoff. After reaching maturity, about once a day they will deposit a tadpole-like offspring into the water which will swim off to find its own place to anchor, though only a few survive the trip. Mature Chirgen are quite poisonous, but they were a useful ingredient for Strondo medicine in the early days of the species.