Q-Energy was mentioned in early DCP issues, IIRC. Specifically, those where the Qwardian weaponers fight Superman, guest-starring Green Lantern and Red Tornado.

And re: 1965… “When Superman Lost His Memory” was in Superman #178, not #179. The details of “The Menace of Gold Kryptonite” from #179 (my very first issue of Superman!) are a tiny bit off. A stray radioactive beam transmuted a chunk of Red K in the Fortress (which had already affected Superman, causing him to read and write only in Kryptonese) into Gold K. Jay-Ree and Joenne (named, BTW, after Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, though Siegel’s wife was really named Joanne) were chosen to leave Kandor and project the chunk of rock into the Phantom Zone before Superman could return and be exposed to it. While doing so, they accidentally freed the Metal-Eater from it’s cage, and it bit off their lead suits, exposing them to the Gold K.

In the last panel, Superman uses his Zone viewer to show them that the Phantom Zone criminals are now terrified that if they ever find a way to escape, the Gold K may be released with them, and strip them of their powers. So this was a side benefit of the Kandorians’ plan, not the main intent.

I guess I should add that the villains were safe as long as they remained in the Zone. There have been many, many stories (a topic for another list, perhaps?) demonstrating that Kryptonite only affects Kryptonians with super-powers, which the villains lack while in the Zone.

And here’s the lettercol excerpt from JO #96:
http://i26.tinypic.com/14do64z.jpg

(And no offense meant, but I’d need to see some confirmation from another source before I took it for granted that you had those details exactly right, and incorporated that information into a future post. My own memory certainly is far from perfect!)

As to when word first leaked out to the general public whether on Earth, or across entire galaxies) about Gold K specifically depowering Kryptonians, I have no idea. Since I haven’t read any of the early Gold K stories from the Silver Age, for one thing, so I really don’t know just how much media coverage the substance got, the first few times it was put to the test!

Okay, but still ….I find a gold rock. How do I know it’s Gold Kryptonite?

An alien many light years away find a radioactive gold stone.
What tells anyone (not kryptonian) that this is Gold Kryptonite?

It appears to be the rarest color also.(?)
I am sure many heard about Green K somehow but who made public Gold K and it’s effects?

Personally, when I read silver age stories I thought all the various Kryptonite colors were an annoying
plot device. I especially hated Red K.

Who told any non-kryptonian what Gold K could or would do to a super-kryptonian?
How does anyone even KNOW it’s Gold Kryptonite?

It’s not like Superman blogs this stuff……..or does he?

Alan

And as Mike Blake ironically alluded to, I don’t think I’d ever even heard of Q-Energy before! I doubt it’s been used in any subsequent Superman story, Pre- or Post-COIE! (I guess Stalker Lorraine’s secrets died with her?)

However, from what I’ve heard about it, I gather that the retcon that brought the clone back was done in a fashion which was particularly insulting to Peter Parker. We were asked to believe that when he tried to “cremate” his clone by dumping the dead body down a smokestack back in the mid-70s, he somehow totally failed to notice that the clone was just unconscious instead of dead. Heck, not even maimed! My attitude since then has been: “If I were a Marvel superhero who simply got knocked out cold in a big slugfest, Spidey is the last person I would ever want to do triage on me when he was trying to judge whether or not there was any point in getting me some professional medical care, as opposed to just burying or cremating me as soon as possible!”

comixkid2099 — Last August someone called the first appearance of Black Flame to my attention. A few days ago, when I was finally compiling and double-checking information from other people’s suggestions, I double-checked on the accuracy of the Black Flame stuff (her first appearance and her next one as well, when she tried to turn the tables by using Gold K against Kara) by going to:

http://darkmark6.tripod.com/sgirlind.htm

DarkMark, the compiler of many indexes about the appearances of various Earth-1 characters from the good old days, agrees that Black Flame first met Supergirl (and lost her powers) in “Action Comics #304.” I took his word for it. I imagine the all-girl “DC Special” issue you mention probably did some reprinting of select stories that would fit the theme.

But I think in the future, I’ll have it say “By Lorendiac (here’s an archive of his past lists.” I think that sounds better.