Faceless Hunter
Encyclopedia
The Faceless Hunters are an alien
race in the DC Comics
universe that first appeared in Strange Adventures
#124, (January 1961). They were created by Gardner Fox
and Mike Sekowsky
. The Faceless Hunters hail from Klaramar, the word Klar-a-mar breaks down into "clear of imperfection". Klar is the German language
term for "clear", and "mar" can mean either blemish or imperfection.
, #142 (July 1962) with art by Carmine Infantino
and Murphy Anderson, and #153 (June 1963), with art by Gil Kane
and Sid Greene
. All three stories also featured on the covers of those issues, with art by Murphy Anderson.
Since then they have made few appearances in the DC Universe: as one of 'The Forgotten Villains' in DC Comics Presents
#77 - 78 (January - February 1985), written by Marv Wolfman
and drawn by Curt Swan
and Dave Hunt, briefly in Resurrection Man
#25 (February 1999) and Young Justice
#50 (December 2002), in Green Lantern
vol 5 #12 (July 2006) and #15 - 16 (December 2006 - January 2007), written by Geoff Johns
, and most recently in Superman: World of New Krypton
#9 (November 2009).
heads and the Easter Island
statues. Oregon
Highway Patrolmen
Bob Colby and Jim Boone are assigned to Mount Rushmore, and confront Klee Pan, who explains that he 'comes from Klaramar - a world revolving within an atom on the planet Saturn
' and he is looking for a stone face left on Earth millennia ago which can help prevent Saturn exploding. He reveals that an evil Faceless Hunter, Chun Yull, has planted an 'ultimate energy time-bomb' and threatened to detonate it unless he is made supreme ruler, but died giving no clues as to where the face, which can defuse the bomb, was hidden. Boone deduces that the face is on The Moon, and Klee Pan takes Colby and Boone there and then to Saturn - after cutting the face from the Moon's surface. When the face is destroyed by a trap set by Chan Yull the patrolmen help reconstruct it (using an astronomy
book Boone happens to have had in the patrol car), disarm the bomb and save the planet. The Faceless Hunters replace the face on the Moon in gratitude, and Klee Pan gives both men telepathic abilities.
Having in fact teleported himself to Saturn instead of dying, Chun Yull later revives and vows revenge on the patrolmen who had thwarted him, and on Earth. He captures Colby and Boone and builds a new bomb, then teleports them all to Klaramar, where Klee Pan once again foils Chun Yull and returns Colby and Boone to Earth. A year later, Chun Yull telepathically commands Colby and Boone to build a machine which increases his size and transports him to Earth again, which he threatens to destroy unless he is made 'Earth Citizen Number One'. After the United Nations
comply, he reveals that he lied - Faceless Hunters are unable to destroy a planet unless they are citizens of it. Meanwhile Colby and Boone manage to beam themselves to Klaramar and Klee Pan saves Earth and again captures Chan Yull.
because she needed his space traveling powers; he then travels the stars for over 20 years looking for a sorcerer she wishes to team up with to rule the Universe. Together with Yggardis the Living Planet, Atom Master, Kraklow the Mystic, Vandal Savage
, Mister Poseidon and Ultivac, Chun Yull and The Enchantress form part of a criminal organization known as The Forgotten Villains. Superman joins a disparate group of minor heroes from the 20th century and the future banded together as 'The Forgotten Heroes
' and defeats Chun Yull in the future, returning him to captivity. However, he briefly reappears during the Crisis on Infinite Earths
as a member of Lex Luthor
and Brainiac's
army of villains.
After the Crisis, nothing is known of Chun Yull or the other Faceless Hunters until he and the Forgotten Villains battle the Forgotten Heroes again; this time 1.93 million years in the past. He is returned to captivity back in the 20th century in Rip Hunter's
Time Machine, after being abandoned with the rest of the Forgotten Villains by Kraklow and defeated by Animal Man
. Eighteen months later he is fighting Young Justice
on the island nation of Zandia.
to capture Green Lantern Hal Jordan
; but are mistakenly attacked by a team of Rocket Reds assuming Green Lantern is with them - thwarting their plans to wipe his memory.
who appears to be the de-facto ruler of all three known Saturnian races, including the albino "Koolars", and the yellow skinned "Faceless Hunters".
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
race in the DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
universe that first appeared in Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures
Strange Adventures was the title of several American comic books published by DC Comics, most notably a long-running science fiction anthology that began in 1950.-Original series:...
#124, (January 1961). They were created by Gardner Fox
Gardner Fox
Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....
and Mike Sekowsky
Mike Sekowsky
Michael Sekowsky was a Jewish American comic book artist best known as the exclusive penciler for DC Comics' Justice League of America during most of the 1960s, and as the regular writer and artist on Wonder Woman during the late 1960s and early 1970s.-Early life and career:Mike Sekowsky began...
. The Faceless Hunters hail from Klaramar, the word Klar-a-mar breaks down into "clear of imperfection". Klar is the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
term for "clear", and "mar" can mean either blemish or imperfection.
Publication history
The Faceless Hunters made three appearances in DC Comics flagship science fiction anthology title, all written by Gardner Fox - Strange Adventures, in issues #124 (January 1961) with artists Mike Sekowsky and Murphy AndersonMurphy Anderson
Murphy Anderson is an American comic book artist, known as one of the premier inkers of his era, who has worked for companies such as DC Comics for over fifty years, starting in the 1930s-'40s Golden Age of Comic Books...
, #142 (July 1962) with art by Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
and Murphy Anderson, and #153 (June 1963), with art by Gil Kane
Gil Kane
Eli Katz who worked under the name Gil Kane and in one instance Scott Edward, was a comic book artist whose career spanned the 1940s to 1990s and every major comics company and character.Kane co-created the modern-day versions of the superheroes Green Lantern and the Atom for DC Comics, and...
and Sid Greene
Sid Greene
Sidney "Sid" Greene was an American comic book artist known for his work for a host of publishers from the 1940s to 1970s, most prominently DC Comics, where as an inker on series including Batman, Green Lantern, Justice League of America and The Atom he helped to define the company's house style...
. All three stories also featured on the covers of those issues, with art by Murphy Anderson.
Since then they have made few appearances in the DC Universe: as one of 'The Forgotten Villains' in DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents
DC Comics Presents was a comic book published by DC Comics from 1978 to 1986 featuring team-ups between Superman and a wide variety of other characters of the DC Universe...
#77 - 78 (January - February 1985), written by Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman
Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.-1960s:...
and drawn by Curt Swan
Curt Swan
Douglas Curtis Swan was an American comic book artist. The artist most associated with Superman during the period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books, Swan produced hundreds of covers and stories from the 1950s through the 1980s.-Early life and career:Curt Swan, whose Swedish...
and Dave Hunt, briefly in Resurrection Man
Resurrection Man
The Resurrection Man is a fictional character, a superhero whose adventures were published by DC Comics from 1997 to 1999 in a serialized comic book of the same name, created by Andy Lanning, Dan Abnett and Jackson Guice...
#25 (February 1999) and Young Justice
Young Justice
Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes. The team first appeared in Young Justice: The Secret , before graduating to their ongoing monthly series...
#50 (December 2002), in Green Lantern
Green Lantern
The Green Lantern is the shared primary alias of several fictional characters, superheroes appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The first Green Lantern was created by writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell in All-American Comics #16 .Each Green Lantern possesses a power ring and...
vol 5 #12 (July 2006) and #15 - 16 (December 2006 - January 2007), written by Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics, where he has been Chief Creative Officer since February 2010, in particular for characters such as Green Lantern, The Flash and Superman...
, and most recently in Superman: World of New Krypton
Superman: World of New Krypton
Superman: World of New Krypton is a twelve-issue American comic book limited series produced by DC Comics. It is written by the team of James Robinson and Greg Rucka, who at the time of this publication are the current writers of the Superman and Action Comics titles, and illustrated by artist Pete...
#9 (November 2009).
Strange Adventures
The Faceless Hunters first come to public attention in 1961 after one of them, Klee Pan, is intercepted trying to steal major world sculptures such as the Mount RushmoreMount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States...
heads and the Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
statues. Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
Highway Patrolmen
Highway patrol
A highway patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is primarily concerned with such duties.Duties of highway patrols or traffic...
Bob Colby and Jim Boone are assigned to Mount Rushmore, and confront Klee Pan, who explains that he 'comes from Klaramar - a world revolving within an atom on the planet Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
' and he is looking for a stone face left on Earth millennia ago which can help prevent Saturn exploding. He reveals that an evil Faceless Hunter, Chun Yull, has planted an 'ultimate energy time-bomb' and threatened to detonate it unless he is made supreme ruler, but died giving no clues as to where the face, which can defuse the bomb, was hidden. Boone deduces that the face is on The Moon, and Klee Pan takes Colby and Boone there and then to Saturn - after cutting the face from the Moon's surface. When the face is destroyed by a trap set by Chan Yull the patrolmen help reconstruct it (using an astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
book Boone happens to have had in the patrol car), disarm the bomb and save the planet. The Faceless Hunters replace the face on the Moon in gratitude, and Klee Pan gives both men telepathic abilities.
Having in fact teleported himself to Saturn instead of dying, Chun Yull later revives and vows revenge on the patrolmen who had thwarted him, and on Earth. He captures Colby and Boone and builds a new bomb, then teleports them all to Klaramar, where Klee Pan once again foils Chun Yull and returns Colby and Boone to Earth. A year later, Chun Yull telepathically commands Colby and Boone to build a machine which increases his size and transports him to Earth again, which he threatens to destroy unless he is made 'Earth Citizen Number One'. After the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
comply, he reveals that he lied - Faceless Hunters are unable to destroy a planet unless they are citizens of it. Meanwhile Colby and Boone manage to beam themselves to Klaramar and Klee Pan saves Earth and again captures Chan Yull.
DC Comics Presents
After this defeat, Chun Yull is imprisoned within inescapable 'Spheres of Light', from which he is almost instantly freed by The EnchantressEnchantress (DC Comics)
The Enchantress is a DC Comics character who has been both a superheroine and supervillainess. She first appeared in National Comics flagship science fiction anthology title Strange Adventures #187 , and was created by writer Bob Haney and artist Howard Purcell.More recently she is usually called...
because she needed his space traveling powers; he then travels the stars for over 20 years looking for a sorcerer she wishes to team up with to rule the Universe. Together with Yggardis the Living Planet, Atom Master, Kraklow the Mystic, Vandal Savage
Vandal Savage
Vandal Savage is a fictional character, a supervillain published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 1 #10 , and was created by Alfred Bester and Martin Nodell....
, Mister Poseidon and Ultivac, Chun Yull and The Enchantress form part of a criminal organization known as The Forgotten Villains. Superman joins a disparate group of minor heroes from the 20th century and the future banded together as 'The Forgotten Heroes
Forgotten Heroes
The Forgotten Heroes are fictional superhero team in the DC Comics universe. The group is composed of superheroes that had faded from the limelight...
' and defeats Chun Yull in the future, returning him to captivity. However, he briefly reappears during the Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 12-issue American comic book limited series and crossover event, produced by DC Comics in 1985 to simplify its then 50-year-old continuity...
as a member of Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a supervillain who appears in comic books published by DC Comics, and the archenemy of Superman, although given his high status as a supervillain, he has also come into conflict with Batman and other superheroes in the DC Universe. Created by Jerry Siegel and...
and Brainiac's
Brainiac (comics)
Brainiac is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Action Comics #242 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
army of villains.
After the Crisis, nothing is known of Chun Yull or the other Faceless Hunters until he and the Forgotten Villains battle the Forgotten Heroes again; this time 1.93 million years in the past. He is returned to captivity back in the 20th century in Rip Hunter's
Rip Hunter
Rip Hunter is a DC Comics character who first appeared in Showcase #20 . Following three more appearances in Showcase , Rip Hunter was given his own series, which ran for 29 issues . He later starred in the six-issue Time Masters series , written by Bob Wayne and Lewis Shiner...
Time Machine, after being abandoned with the rest of the Forgotten Villains by Kraklow and defeated by Animal Man
Animal Man
Animal Man is a fictional character, a superhero in the . As a result of being in proximity to an exploding extraterrestrial spaceship, Buddy Baker acquires the ability to temporarily “borrow” the abilities of animals...
. Eighteen months later he is fighting Young Justice
Young Justice
Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes. The team first appeared in Young Justice: The Secret , before graduating to their ongoing monthly series...
on the island nation of Zandia.
Revenge of the Green Lanterns
Just over three years later, three Faceless Hunters working as bounty hunters, including Chun Yull, are hunting Green Lanterns. They take control of the minds of a number of the Global GuardiansGlobal Guardians
The Global Guardians is a team of fictional DC Comics superheroes whose members hail from countries around the world. The concept originated in the Super Friends Saturday morning cartoon, in which several heroes were added to the Justice League to give it more ethnic diversity.-History:The...
to capture Green Lantern Hal Jordan
Hal Jordan
Harold "Hal" Jordan is a DC Comics superhero known as Green Lantern, the first human shown to join the Green Lantern Corps and a founding member of the Justice League of America. Jordan is the second DC Comics character to adopt the Green Lantern moniker...
; but are mistakenly attacked by a team of Rocket Reds assuming Green Lantern is with them - thwarting their plans to wipe his memory.
New Krypton
The Faceless Hunters later appeared in Superman: World of New Krypton #9 (November 2009), under the command of Jemm, Son of SaturnJemm
Jemm is a fictional alien that has appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics. The character exists in DC's main shared universe, known as the DC Universe...
who appears to be the de-facto ruler of all three known Saturnian races, including the albino "Koolars", and the yellow skinned "Faceless Hunters".
Powers and abilities
- The Klaramarians are normally of sub-atomic size, although they can control this, and are often much taller than humans, with a corresponding increase in strength. They also have access to extremely advanced alien technology.
- Both Chun Yull and Klee Pan possess great strength and the ability to absorb the material or energetic properties of anything they touch and project those properties explosively.
- Most Klaramarians also appear to be telepaths. Klee Pan demonstrated the ability to grant a limited gift of telepathy to deserving humans.
Television
- A Faceless Hunter appears in Batman: The Brave and the BoldBatman: The Brave and the BoldBatman: The Brave and the Bold is an American animated television series based in part on the DC Comics series The Brave and the Bold which features two or more super heroes coming together to solve a crime or foil a super villain...
, voiced by John DiMaggioJohn DiMaggioJohn William DiMaggio is an American voice actor. A native of North Plainfield, New Jersey, he is known for his gruff, deep voice and New Jersey accent, which he uses to voice mainly villains and anti-heroes.-Filmography:...
. Faceless Hunter is a violent outcast of his otherwise-peaceful people. When StarroStarroStarro is a fictional supervillain that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Brave and the Bold #28 , and was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky....
comes to invade his planet, the faceless citizens find themselves immune to the Starro parasites. Faceless Hunter strikes a deal with Starro to destroy his own planet in exchange to work as his herald. He then travels to several planets, preparing them for Starro's destruction, eventually ending up in Earth. He takes down all the superheroes, and prepares to drain the energy for Starro, but is foiled by BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
, Booster GoldBooster GoldBooster Gold is a fictional DC Comics superhero. Created by Dan Jurgens, he first appeared in Booster Gold #1 and has been a member of the Justice League, DC Comics' all-star team of heroes. The character is initially depicted as a glory-seeking showboat from the future, using knowledge of...
, Captain MarvelCaptain Marvel (DC Comics)Captain Marvel is a fictional comic book superhero, originally published by Fawcett Comics and later by DC Comics. Created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker, the character first appeared in Whiz Comics #2...
, Firestorm, and B'wana BeastB'wana BeastB'wana Beast is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Universe. He first appeared in Showcase #66 , and was created by Bob Haney and Mike Sekowsky.-Publication history:...
. The Hunter then kidnaps B'wana Beast, and uses his power to combine all the Starro parasites and form a giant beast capable of destroying Earth. Batman then infiltrates his ship, and defeats Faceless Hunter, but is unable to save B'wana Beast.