Xemnu of the Magic Planet

[~atheist]

I had found a book at the library for my son on The Hulk. One of the entries was Xemnu.
I am trying to find out he was created. I looks like sometime in the early 70's.
I wonder when LRH came up with the idea for Xenu? Maybe LRH liked to read Marvel comics while downing pinks and greys.

http://www.geocities.com/marvel_monsters/xemnu/xemnu.html

Just found it from the link above. Journey into Mystery #62, 1960.

[agentx9]

I had an issue of THE DEFENDERS (Dr. Strange, the Sub-Mariner, and the Hulk) from 1971 where Xemnu returns to Earth and got a job as a mascot on a kids TV show. His plan was to hypnotize the planet's children so he could take them back to his home world.

Marvel's Roy Thomas wrote the story. I had planned to do some digging into it but never got around to following up.

X9

[~atheist]

When was OT III written?

[mikedewolf]

OT III dates from the mid-1960s and was announced to the membership in a tape called RJ-67 (Ron's Journal 1967).

[~atheist]

Thanks Mike,
So that put LRH right in the correct time frame for this.

[don_carlo]

XEMNU QUOTE # 1: ...an old marvel villain, Xemnu The Titan (who was originally called the Hulk when he first appeared in a 1950's horror comic.)
Xemnu was your typical Alien warlord who got trapped in a dimensional prison before being freed by earthlings, and like all evil overlords, after his intial defeat, he fled to his homeworld to assemble a battle fleet to crush the hairless monkeys.
What he did not expect, however, was that while he was locked away, his entire species had nuked themselves to extinction, and ths his motives changed from "Conquer all I survey" to "repopulate my species". END QUOTE from
guardiansoforder quote

XEMNU QUOTE # 2: ABC series: Monster Man... The show's concept... came from Xemnu the Titan, who intended to subliminally plant messages...to conquer the world. The alien was stopped by Wonder Man and the Thing but Silverberg was still able to take the footage and promote it as The Xemnu the Titan Show. (Marvel Two-in-One #78 ) END QUOTE from
ffplaza quote

XEMNU QUOTE # 3:
Journey into Mystery #62 & 66 (Nov. 1960 & March 1961): Hulk prototype... The similarity was basically in name only. He later reappeared as Xemnu the Titan...
The Overstreet Guide says...about Journey Into Mystery #62: "1st app. Xemnu (Titan) called "The Hulk."" This story was reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl #11 in 1971....his second pre-Marvel appearance...was reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl #14 (Dec. 1971).
...Xemnu the Titan appeared again in Defenders #12.
... he was not like The Hulk we know at all, but an alien with telepathy powers and covered with white hair.
END OF THIRD QUOTE from
tripod.com quote

My comment: Looks like quote # 3 has exact dates of Nov. 1960 and March 1961. Looks like Scientology's "core belief" is based on a comic book!

[~atheist]

So then would that mean that Scientology's core belief is a copyright infringement?

Great work Don

I would love to find someone who is a real comics buff of that era and see if they know of any similarities between comic story lines and the other aspects of OT III.

[don_carlo]

A Google search was unsuccessful for
xemnu & xenu

However, I got the following for
xemnu & xemu

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/xemu.htm

This Xemu appears to be unrelated to the Hubbard tale, and there is no mention of volcanoes, H-bombs, etc.

It appears Google has not located, at least yet, a web-page about the near-certain plagiarism of the Xemnu tale. Someone should write this up!

[agentx9]

So let's stir the shitstorm.

Allen Lipson, Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel
Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
10 East 40th Street
New York, NY 10016

Marvel vs. COS - IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!!!

Your Friendly Neighborhood X9

[don_carlo]

Someone should write Marvel Comics and tell them CoS has made millions off Xemnu.

Marvel Licensing Department
Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
10 East 40th Street
New York, NY 10016.

Isn't it funny that Hubbard alternated between calling his villain Xenu and Xemu? Maybe he couldn't quite remember how to spell it!

L.R. Hubbard contributed to Amazing Stories and Astounding. In fact, Dianetics first turns up in Astounding 195 # 4. An avid reader looking for ideas, he certainly would have read other comics (even Hubbard could afford the price of a comic book!) including Marvel Science Fiction.

Here Hubbard defends the pulps:
http://literary.lronhubbard.org/page28.htm

There's certainly enough direct and indirect evidence that LRH borrowed the Xenu idea.

[ltricha]

This is just too damn rich. Now if only we could find copies of marvel comics in Hubtards estate? Or a written testomonial of someone who was close to Hubtard stating that he read marvel comics?

[don_carlo]

Xemnu's creator!!
QUOTE: Sean McQuaid is a playwright, journalist and editor from PEI, Canada, currently completing a Masters degree in English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor. His favorite comic book subjects include Golden Age comics of all kinds, the Justice Society, the Legion of Super Heroes, the Justice League, Sandman, Starman, the Defenders, the Avengers (pre-Liefeld), and far too many other things to mention here. He is a recurring contributor to various web sites, including the Avengers Assemble page. END QUOTE from
http://www.geocities.com/marvel_villains/faq.html

McQuaid's e-mail address

mcquaid@server.uwindsor.ca

[don_carlo]

It's a bit murky: this website shows the various covers and credits Jack Kirby/Dick Ayers. I'm not sure whether these are "just" artists or if they played a part in the writing.

See
http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/journey_into_mystery_62.html

and
http://monsterblog.oneroom.org/journey_into_mystery_66.html

Here is a website about Jack Kirby, written by Mark Evanier, who is contemplating a biography of Jack Kirby.
http://povonline.com/Jack%20Kirby.htm
Mark Evanier's address and website:

Mark Evanier
5850 W. 3rd St., #367
Los Angeles, CA
90036-2860

me@povonline.com

Perhaps Mr. Evanier can help us straighten out who created the concept of Xemnu. It's not the art that Hubbard may have copied from the Xemnu comics: It's the idea of

The Name Xemnu
Alien warlord
escape from prison
mass death
telepathy
mental possession of other bodies

Now we just have to find ANOTHER pre-1967 comic with
Overpopulation
Volcanoes
H-bombs
and the Xenu story will have found ALL of its true creators.

[don_carlo]

Bingo. In 1966,
QUOTE: Fantasy Masterpieces reprinted Golden Age stories. It was the first
series of that name. It became Marvel Super-Heroes (1967)....and included "Journey into Mystery # 62.
http://www.math.ucla.edu/~alee/fm1.txt

And the Xenu story came from the Hubbard Journal of 1967.

There was an "animated TV show" (a cartoon) in 1966 called Marvel Superheroes. No idea if Xemnu was part of it. Wouldn't it be the soul of ignomy if LRH got his ideas from A CARTOON! ? !
http://www.marveldirectory.com/marvelmovies.htm


Dennis McQuaid (related to Sean?) has a page on Xemnu at
http://www.geocities.com/marvel_monsters/xemnu/xemnu.html

And here is Xemnu as one of "The Marvel Monsters"
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cje/mh/MicroMonsters.html#Xemnu

and all Xemnu comic book stories are listed here:
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/kirbymonsters/xemnu.html

[don_carlo]

Hubbard wrote the Xenu story in December of 1967, soon AFTER the re-publishing of the Xemnu story.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~kspaink/fishman/ot3.html