You are quite possibly the coolest man on these boards. I salute your encyclopedic knowledge and hereby bow down and worship you as my god.
Marc
Kryptonite was created on the Superman radio show in the 1940’s. Bud Collier, who was the voice of Superman, wanted a vacation. So… for two to three weeks, all you heard was Superman groaning and then the stories featured the rest of the cast for the story. This info is found in the booklet that comes with the Superman radio show CD set.
Sure is a lot of goddamn Kryptonite on Earth. Why is that? I’d think that an exploding planet would deposit a very tiny fraction of itself on Earth. But you can scarcely walk around without tripping over more Kryptonite.
Nope, since the Crisis, we’ve seen Krimson Kryptonite (removes Superman’s powers-created by Mxyztplk) and there’s a piece of Red K that just showed up in JLA (Mutates Superman and causes great physical pain that Batman and/or Luthor discovered.)
Fenris
This very question was addressed in a story in the late '60s. Turns out that the experimental space-warp engine in the rocket that carried Kal-El to Earth permanantly “tore” space leaving a space-warp between Earth and Krypton. That’s why there was so much of the stuff here, even though Krypton orbited Antares.
Fenris
Didn’t Luthor figure out how to produce synthetic kryptonite at one point? He DID seem to have an unending supply.
I believe that was the “Virus X” story, but White Kryptonite had appeared before then.
It’s still one of only about 4 times the stuff was ever used. Gold K was used more often.
Here’s a trivia question for everyone: In the mid to late
60s, there was a short backup feature that appeared in several issues about a piece of Kryptonite. Other than the fact that throughout the series the Kryptonite changed colors several times, what else was unusual about that particular piece of Kryptonite?
Fenris
He figured it out a couple of times (one famous bit has a machine that could shoot out beach-ball sized chunks of various colors of Kryptonite (including the mysterious Yellow Kryptonite), but there really wasn’t much point, given how easy it was to get the stuff. Don’t forget, Lex (Earth-1) could (and did) easily build to space-ships with warp drives (Anyone else remember Lexor and Ardora?). Any time the supply got short, a quick jaunt into space could easily renew the supply.
Fenris
Fenris–I think Niven also posited in his story that Krypton was a very large planet, possibly even a cooled brown dwarf. This is supported by the pre-Crisis fact that gravity was much stronger on Krypton.
Fenris – Impressive list, but you left off Purple Kryptonite (red kryptonite for Bizarros).
As for the origins, green was the original. Red, white, and gold went through various space clouds (there was a series which was told from the point of view of a chunk of kryptonite, and he was all three at various points). Blue and purple were made by aiming the Bizarro duplicator at green and red, repectively. Jewel was created by a Phantom Zone criminal from the Jewel Mountains on Krypton when Superman released him temporarily and sent him back in time.
Then, of course, all kryptonite on Earth was destroyed in the early 70s. At that point, Superman’s only weakness was the Sand Superman. 
You’re good. You’re VERY good. 
But YOU left off the alternate origins for Gold K. One is that a piece of Green K., subjected to a nuclear explosion that’s of just the right amount of radiation can transform Green K into Gold K. The other varient origin, is that it’s just what happened to the Gold Volcano.
I’ve heard of Purple Kryptonite for years, but I’ve never actually seen it in print (people keep mentioning that it may have been in a Jimmy Olsen). I’ve got every issue of Superman and Action back to about 1954, a huge percent of World’s Finest’s and about half of all Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes and don’t remember seeing it in a story. Do you have a reference? An issue number? A site?
I’ve always considered it an Urban Legend. But if you have a reference, I’ll pay homage to you and conceed that you’re the Gawd of Kryptonite Trivia (I feel a brotherly kinship to you though, since you remembered the Talking Kryptonite! I thought I was the only one left )
Fenris
Could you give me a list of the best Superman titles? I’ve read tons of Batman, but I’d like to read more Supes. I’m looking for the well-written multi-parters, if possible. Don’t care how far back they go, but I really love the different genesis stories and “deaths of superhero” stories.
Any help would be much appreciated. 
No prob. It’ll have to wait 'till I get home to get issue numbers and stuff.
However, possibly the best Superman stories ever weren’t in the comics, they were in two novels:
Superman: Last Son of Krypton and
Superman: Miracle Monday
Both are by Elliot S! Maggin and are easily and cheaply available on http://www.bookfinder.com (or http://www.half.com ) at less than a buck each. They’re the best version of the Earth-1 Superman ever, and they’ll give you a chance to see how stupid Byrne’s disparaging comments about the Earth-1 Luthor were. (There was also an issue of Superman (About #292 or so 1976-ish) that featured Maggin’s take on Luthor.
Alan Moore wrote a two part imaginary story of the way that the Earth-1 Superman might have ended his career. It’s called “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” and it’s a tear-jerking, moving story (with one continuity error that Chuck and I would get and I’d be willing to bet that no one else would)
There was a long Superman Post-Crisis story starting right after Superman kills the Phantom Zone Criminals through his self-imposed space exile that ran for the better part of a year which was pretty good. The Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite storyline was good too. I’m not a huge fan of the Post-Crisis Superman, though.
Action around 470-475 introduced the first serial killer to comics (Faora Ul-Hul(sp)) and featured a great war with the Phantom Zone prisoners.
If you like “Death of Heroes” stories, there’s a heartrending Imaginary Story where Luthor wins from the '60s. There’s also the “Virus X” story, both from the mid-'60s.
When I get home, I’ll give you a more complete list, but these should get you started. (And do try the novels: the really are excellent!)
Fenris
Oh, well…learn something new every day.
(What’s Red K’s new origin? Synthesised on Earth, changed Green K, or just a natural occurance…?)
No prob. It’ll have to wait 'till I get home to get issue numbers and stuff.
However, possibly the best Superman stories ever weren’t in the comics, they were in two novels:
Superman: Last Son of Krypton and
Superman: Miracle Monday
Both are by Elliot S! Maggin and are easily and cheaply available on http://www.bookfinder.com (or http://www.half.com ) at less than a buck each. They’re the best version of the Earth-1 Superman ever, and they’ll give you a chance to see how stupid Byrne’s disparaging comments about the Earth-1 Luthor were. (There was also an issue of Superman (About #292 or so 1976-ish) that featured Maggin’s take on Luthor.
Alan Moore wrote a two part imaginary story of the way that the Earth-1 Superman might have ended his career. It’s called “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” and it’s a tear-jerking, moving story (with one continuity error that Chuck and I would get and I’d be willing to bet that no one else would)
There was a long Superman Post-Crisis story starting right after Superman kills the Phantom Zone Criminals through his self-imposed space exile that ran for the better part of a year which was pretty good. The Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite storyline was good too. I’m not a huge fan of the Post-Crisis Superman, though.
Action around 470-475 introduced the first serial killer to comics (Faora Ul-Hul(sp)) and featured a great war with the Phantom Zone prisoners.
If you like “Death of Heroes” stories, there’s a heartrending Imaginary Story where Luthor wins from the '60s. There’s also the “Virus X” story, both from the mid-'60s.
When I get home, I’ll give you a more complete list, but these should get you started. (And do try the novels: the really are excellent!)
Fenris
It was just in a (great) Justice League story…I should remember this. Ummm… I’m pretty sure that Batman theorized a way to change Green K into “Red” K as an attempt to make a non-lethal alternative to Green K if Superman ever went bad. Ras Al Ghul got ahold of Batman’s notes and actually made the stuff.
Fenris
No, Fenris, the original (pre-Crisis) red Kryptonite was just a swarm of plain old green Kryptonite that passed through a mysterious red cloud on its way to Earth. The properties of the cloud altered the chunks of Kryptonite.
It should be noted that pre-Crisis, everything from Krypton became super in the Earth (that is, yellow-sun) environment. Not just people and animals, but also objects: all of them became super-strong, such that Superman couldn’t bend a Kryptonian steel bar any more than humans could bend an Earthly steel bar.
However, it was also established that Kryptonite was the exception to this rule; it could be crushed like any ordinary stone.
However again, it was also established that Kryptonite, despite not being super, was still friction-proof, so pieces falling to Earth remained intact down to the Earth’s surface. And partly why there were so many to be found.
A little too convenient, I know, just like the off-hand fiat that Superman’s hair doesn’t grow under a yellow sun.
Post-Crisis, the single chunk of red Kryptonite we know of was made magically by Mr. Mxyzptlk.
But major props to you, Fenris, for having read the two Maggin novels. I never read Miracle Monday (I couldn’t find it, back in the day), but Last Son of Krypton was excellent, particularly in the characterization of Luthor and his relationship with Superman.
Well, hey, props to you then. Glad to see they offered an explanation for this.
Sorry to disagree with you, but the stuff Mxyztptlk made was “Krimson Kryptonite” (DC makes that distinction). The one piece of post-Crisis “Red” Kryptonite came from Bruce Wayne/Ras Al Ghul as stated. This happened within the last 10 issues of Justice League.
Anyway, quibbling aside, congrats on having read the Maggin novel: there aren’t many of us these days who remember it!
If you’ve never read Miracle Monday then rush out and get it! It’s better than Last Son and the characterization of Luthor is even more stunning. Plus there’s a wonderful scene with Superman and Lois that completely redefined their relationship for me.
Fenris
I don’t have a cite, but I do recall it being mentioned in one of the “Tales from the Bizarro World,” which ran in Adventure Comics, not Action or Superman.