Real Name: Dave Bartlett
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-62145, 2065 AD) human
Occupation: Space Patrol pilot; later promoted to Commander of Space Patrol
Group Membership: United Earth's Space Patrol; "The Galactic Federation" (as Zarkorr)
Affiliations: Martians
Enemies: None
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Zarkorr
Base of Operations: His apartment in New York City
First Appearance: Tales of Suspense I#35/1 (November, 1962)
Powers/Abilities: As a veteran pilot with the Space Patrol, Bartlett was exceptionally skilled at "flying by the seat of his pants"--using only stellar constellations as his guide, along with his knowledge and instincts born of twenty years flying experience, he could successfully navigate his spaceship past various interplanetary hazards without instrumentation. However, when technology had advanced, Bartlett's skills were considered to be "old-fashioned," and he was forced to retire when he reached the age of forty-five.
He later secretly employed a disguise as the yellow-skinned extraterrestrial Zarkorr, all in an effort to prove he still had useful skills--other than seemingly appearing from a flash of light (likely accomplished by conventional means), Zarkorr displayed no paranormal abilities.
Height: (Bartlett) 6' (by approximation); (as Zarkorr) 6'6" (by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: (Bartlett) Black; (as Zarkorr) bald
History:
(Tales of Suspense I#35/1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point on
Earth-62145, all the countries of Earth were governed by the United
Nations, and spaceflight allowed humanity to travel as far as the planet
Mars. A defense force known as the Space Patrol was formed, and Dave Bartlett was one of the pioneering pilots of the
organization--for twenty years, he was considered to be the best pilot
in the Patrol.
(Tales of Suspense I#35/1) - On August 10, 2065 AD, Bartlett was returning to Earth in his spaceship after an interplanetary hop. Upon landing, he received some disparaging news: Having reached the age of forty-five, he was given an honorary discharge from the Space Patrol, as he was the last of the manual pilots before the Patrol switched to electronically-piloted spaceships. Bartlett resented his early retirement, believing that no machine could ever perform better than a human.
Three months later, an alien named Zarkorr appeared out of nowhere and demanded an audience with the United Nations. Once there, Zarkorr explained that he was an emissary of "The Galactic Federation," a league of planets determined to test all races that became capable of space travel, to ensure none were malevolent. Zarkorr's test required an Earthling to manually pilot a spacecraft to Mars and back, thus proving the human race's intelligence and maturity; otherwise, Earth would be quarantined, and possibly even destroyed, as a safeguard measure.
As all the other pioneer Space Patrol pilots had been grounded for too long, and were too "rusty" to make the trip to Mars, there was only one possible choice left: Dave Bartlett, who was the only human to have most recently piloted manually without electronic controls. Bartlett agreed to perform the task, and requested for his old spaceship to be readied.
As his spacecraft launched skyward, Bartlett instinctively knew how best to avoid radiations belts. With his "old-fashioned" knowledge, he navigated using star constellations, and he even took a shortcut by flying through a time warp that he knew of. With his twenty years of flying experience, he managed to dodge an oncoming meteor shower, and finally reached Mars. After landing and refueling on the red planet, Bartlett flew back to Earth, where he was greeted by cheering crowds, having successfully performed the feat.
Later, at the United Nations, Zarkorr deemed Earthlings worthy of joining the Galactic Federation once their civilization finally reached the stars.
Realizing their error in preferring electronics over human abilities, Bartlett's superiors reinstated him, and even promoted him to Commander of the Space Patrol.
Later, while he was alone in his apartment, Bartlett took the Zarkorr costume out of his closet (thus revealing to the readers that he had been Zarkorr all along, and had used the guise to prove his worth); he placed the costume in the fireplace and burned it, putting Zarkorr to rest forever.
Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
While most of the pre-FF monsters and aliens are hard to place within Earth-616’s continuity, Zarkorr can easily be written off as part of any number of infinite possible futures.
How Bartlett could fool the entire world into thinking he was a true alien just by appearing out of nowhere, in what had to amount to just a Halloween costume, is beyond me (assuming, of course, that future clothing doesn't come in realistic-skin fabrics).
Because of Zarkorr's physical
appearance and attire, some comics price-guides
consider this 7-page story--"I Accepted the Deadly Challenge of
Zarkorr!"--to be a prototype of the Watcher.
--Ron
Fredricks
Profile by Madison Carter. Expansion by Ron Fredricks.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Zarkorr should not be confused with:
Dave Bartlett has no known connections to:
The Martians of Reality-62145 have no known connections to:
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On Earth-62145, it was a clean and ultra-modern metropolis. The city was also the home of the United Nations Building, which governed the entire planet. The extraterrestrial Zarkorr addressed the leaders of the U.N., demanding that an Earthling accept his challenge and prove the planet's worthiness to join the Galactic Federation. --Tales of Suspense I#35/1 |
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It was a one-man spacecraft of Earth-62145's Space Patrol; it was piloted by Dave Bartlett, who used his own skills and instincts to navigate it. By 2065 AD, with the advancement of technology, the Space Patrol had adopted new electronic navigation systems; consequently, Bartlett was forced to retire because his skills were considered to be "old fashioned"--the spaceship was probably considered to be obsolete as well. But Bartlett accepted the challenge of the extraterrestrial Zarkorr and successfully piloted the ship on a round trip from Earth to Mars--the spaceship was capable of faster-than-light speeds, and likely made the voyage in a matter of minutes. --Tales of Suspense I#35/1 |
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In 2065 AD, the planet Mars was inhabited by a race of slender humanoids; possibly reptilian, they seemed to have scaly green skin and large pointed ears. The Martians were apparently on friendly terms with Earth, as they allowed Space Patrol pilot Dave Bartlett to land his spaceship and refuel. --Tales of Suspense I#35/1 (Comments: This is the only panel in which these Martians actually appeared, so nothing more was revealed about them; considering their general appearance, perhaps they're this reality's non-hostile version of the Skrulls [or an offshoot thereof].) |
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images: (without ads)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p3, pan5 (main image - Zarkorr amongst the crowds of New York City)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p5, pan5 (headshot - Dave Bartlett aboard his spaceship)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p7, pan2 (headshot - Zarkorr)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p7, pan3 (Dave Bartlett gets promoted to Commander of Space Patrol)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p7, pan5 (Dave Bartlett holding Zarkorr costume)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p3, pan3 (New York City of 2065 AD)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p3, pan7 (United Nations Building of 2065 AD)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p4, pan3 (inside United Nations, Zarkorr addresses world leaders)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p1, pan1 (Dave Bartlett's spaceship approaches Mars)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p5, pan7 (Dave Bartlett's spaceship flies toward time warp)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p6, pan2 (Dave Bartlett's spaceship inside time warp)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p6, pan6 (Dave Bartlett's spaceship approaches mars)
Tales of Suspense I#35/1, p6, pan7 (Dave Bartlett's spaceship prepares to land on Mars; two Martians [foreground])
Appearances:
Tales of Suspense I#35/1 (November, 1962) - Stan Lee
(plot/editor), Larry Lieber (script), Jack Kirby (pencils), Dick
Ayers (inks), Stan Goldberg (colors), Jon D'Agostino (letters)
First posted: 02/07/2003
Last updated: 08/28/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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