QUARRNIANS

Classification: Semi-humanoid extradimensional (see comments) race

Location/Base of Operations: Quarrn

Known Members: Invaders from Quarrn (Erop, Garto, Krang, Commander Voro)

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Hulk (Bruce Banner)

First Appearance: Hulk Comic (UK)#26 (August 29th 1979)

Powers/Abilities: The Quarrnians possess advanced technology enabling interdimensional travel, and carry stasis-rays that can paralyze and stun. They are presumably stronger and more durable than normal humans, given their bulky builds, but nowhere near to the level of superbeings such as the Hulk.

Traits:The Quarrnians are a belligerent, warlike race who take pride in conquest.

Type: Bilaterally symmetric bipeds, perhaps reptilian based on their apparently scaly skin/
Eyes: Two (on head, no details visible of sclera, irises or pupils)
Fingers: Five
Toes: Unrevealed
Skin color: Gray
Average height: Approx 7" (by estimation)

History:
(Hulk Comic#26 (fb) - BTS) - The Quarrnians were a belligerent race of beings from the "parallel world" of Quarrn (see comments) who used their advanced technology to launch invasions against other worlds.

(Hulk Comic#28 (fb) - BTS) - The Quarrnians believed they knew everything there was to know about war and killing.

(Hulk Comic#26 (fb) - BTS) - They set their sights on Earth-616 (the mainstream Marvel Earth) and sent a scouting party led by Commander Voro to plant a transmitter in a remote area, presumably to monitor some aspect of Earth (see comments) and relay information back to Quarrn.

(Hulk Comic#26) - The Invaders from Quarrn chose an isolated spot in a mountainous wilderness area of the United States of America, believing it would minimize the chance of them being observed as they set up their transmitter. Despite their intelligence suggesting the region should be uninhabited, Commander Voro nevertheless played it cautiously and instructed his subordinate Krang to keep a close watch out. Voro then supervised other members of the crew as they set up and hid a transmitter beacon. Despite their remote locale, their arrival had indeed been witnessed, by the fugitive scientist Bruce Banner, who had spotted their ship coming in to land and now watched with curiosity as they went about their work. Becoming careless, he was suddenly spotted and then stunned by a blast from a sentry's stasis-ray. The guard took the unconscious Banner to Voro, who decided not to kill the witness but instead take him back to Quarrn, reasoning that they needed as much information as possible about Earth before they made their move. Swiftly finishing off planting the beacon, the Invaders returned to their ship and departed, taking Banner with them.

   On board Voro loomed over Banner as the captive came to, and when the man demanded to know what planet the Invaders were from Voro chided humanity in general for being so simple, boasting that their ship did not travel through space but rather hopped across dimensions, heading to the "mighty parallel world of Quarrn." Voro then demanded Banner tell them everything he knew about Earth's defenses, and when Banner defiantly refused Voro ordered his subordinate Garto to beat the information out of him. However, as soon as Garto started slapping the prisoner about Banner became angry, and rapidly transformed into his monstrous alter-ego, the Hulk. Unsure what the behemoth was, the Quarrnians watched in surprise as the beast easily ripped free of the bonds that had been restraining it.

(Hulk Comic#27) - Voro hastily ordered Garto to subdue the Hulk, but despite being larger, Garto swiftly discovered he was nowhere near as strong as the gamma-powered human, whose blows sent the Quarrnian flying. A guard shot Hulk with a stasis-ray, but while that had been powerful enough to stun Banner it merely irritated the Hulk, who smashed the guard and snapped the weapon with contemptuous ease. Hastily the Quarrnians retreated down the corridor and sealed a bulkhead to stop the pursuing Hulk from reaching them. However, while the durable door (made of Krel metal) proved strong enough to withstand the Hulk's continued blows, they shook the entire vessel. Desperately Voro called out to the Hulk to stop before he broke the interdimensional stabilizer, but this merely egged Hulk on, and seconds later Voro's fears came true. With the stabilizer out, the ship veered wildly, throwing around the inhabitants while the ship itself hopped out of control from one dimension to the next. On the bridge the pilots tried in desperation to keep the ship from shaking itself apart, only able to guess at where to steer the craft until they suddenly found the ship caught in a vortex of unknown origins. Back at the bulkhead Voro and his subordinates noticed that the pounding had finally ceased, then realized to their horror that this probably meant the Hulk had headed away down the corridor to the other end... and the engine room!

(Hulk Comic#28) - On the bridge the pilots continued trying in vain to regain control and get back on course, only to suddenly lose what little control they had, unaware this was because the Hulk had just ripped apart the engines. The ship spiraled around at the mercy of the spatial winds, then to the pilots' horror began falling into a black hole. Luckily for all aboard, this had the unexpected result of rewinding time back to just before the Hulk's pounding caused the pilots to lose control. Though time had rewound, the Quarrnians retained their memories of the disaster, and so Voro decided he had no choice but to take a different path. Shouting to his men to run, he unlocked the bulkhead, then he too fled, heading for the bridge. By the time the bulkhead opened moments later and admitted the Hulk, there were no Quarrnians in sight. As he set off to find someone to hit, Voro reached the bridge, instructed the pilots to turn the ship around and set an automatic course for the beacon they had left on Earth, then ordered an evacuation to their escape capsule, giving the entire crew one minute to board or be left behind. True to his word, a minute later Voro and the others were gone from the main ship, with Voro vowing that if they were ever picked up he would tell his people to cancel their invasion, rather than take on humanity and the raging brutes they had hidden within them.

   Shortly after this the main ship crashed back on Earth, destroying both itself and the beacon. The explosion knocked the Hulk out, and he reverted to being Bruce Banner, who woke up some time later, unable to recall anything about his encounter with the Quarrnians.

Comments: Created by Steve Moore, Paul Neary and David Lloyd.

   The Invaders from Quarrn describe themselves as hopping across dimensions from the parallel world of Quarrn. This poses a slight quandary, as parallel worlds are usually considered alternate realities, but alternate realities are not synonyms for dimensions. For example, the Squadron Supreme come from a parallel version of Earth in another reality, whereas the Egyptian Gods live in Heliopolis, which is in another dimension from Earth but the same reality. Basically, all alternate realities are dimensions, but not all dimensions are all alternate realities, and at least in the handbooks we try to avoid using the more generic dimension if we actually mean alternate reality. Some writers, and hence some characters, however, don't do this, which can make things confusing. So the questions this raises are:
   Is Quarrn in Earth's reality, but another dimension of it, and the Invaders are not using parallel to mean "alternate reality"?
   Or is Quarrn in another reality, and is actually that reality's version of Earth? And if this is the case, are the Quarrnians effectively humans who went down a different evolutionary path, another species that evolved to become Earth's dominant race, or residents of Earth/Quarrn but originating from another part of that reality?
   Or is Quarrn in another reality, but also either another planet elsewhere in the galaxy or also within another dimension?

   The Invaders of the story are apparently only a scouting party, as they arrive with the sole intention of setting up a transmitter in a remote location undetected by the residents of the planet, then depart. What information the transmitter was intended to send back to Quarrn wasn't clarified - it might be that it was going to monitor radio and similar signals, so the Invaders could learn about Earth's culture and thus indirectly its defenses, or it might have been able to monitor things like the atmosphere and energy discharges, which could potentially tell the Invaders a lot about the technology level of Earth's inhabitants.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Quarrnians have no known connections to:

Erop

Erop was one of Voro's crew and was on sentry duty when Banner was spotted. He may have been the one who first spotted the movement in the foliage, but was definitely the one who identified the cause of that movement as a human spying on them. Because he was shouting rather than shooting, another guard actually stunned Banner, then chided Erop for talking to much.

Comments: The Quarrnian pictured may not be Erop. It is the sentry who first spotted movement in the foliage, while Erop, off panel on the next panel, is the one who identified the movement as a human.

--Hulk Comic#26

Garto

Garto was Voro's chosen interrogator, and tried to extract information from their captive by force, but as a result of this he found himself on the wrong end of the Hulk's fists and got pounded for it.

--Hulk Comic#26-27

Krang

Krang was in charge of the guards patrolling round the Invaders' landing site to keep an eye out for potential witnesses. 

--Hulk Comic#26

Voro

Voro was the leader of the Invaders from Quarrn, but made the critical error of deciding to take Bruce Banner prisoner to interrogate rather than killing the human while he was unconscious. As a result the Hulk subsequently rampaged through Voro's ship, forcing him to abandon both it and the plan to invade Earth.

Comments: He's called Vord in his first appearance, but Voro in the subsequent two.

--Hulk Comic#26-28

Quarrn

Quarrn was a parallel world with advanced technology but an aggressive population who invaded worlds in other dimensions.

--Hulk Comic#26

Invader's ship

Tje Quarrnian ship was a saucer-shaped vessel capable of hopping between dimensions and had bulkheads made from Krel metal, durable enough to withstand the pounding fists of an enraged Hulk. Unfortunately the engines were made of a much weaker metal that the Hulk could rip apart like tissue paper. The ship included a more streamlined escape capsule.

--Hulk Comic#26-28

images: (without ads)
Hulk Comic#26 cover (main image)
Hulk Comic#26, p2, pan1 (Krang)
Hulk Comic#27, p1, pan3 (Garto)
Hulk Comic#26, p2, pan1 (Voro)
Hulk Comic#26, p3, pan3 (Quarrn)
Hulk Comic#26, p1, pan8 (ship)
Hulk Comic#28, p2, pan7 (escape capsule)

Appearances:
Hulk Comic (UK)#26 (August 29th 1979) - Steve Moore (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), David Lloyd (inks), Dez Skinn (editor)
Hulk Comic (UK)#26 (September 5th 1979) - Steve Moore (writer), Paul Neary (pencils), David Lloyd (inks), Dez Skinn (editor)
Hulk Comic (UK)#26 (September 12th 1979) - Steve Moore (writer), Paul Neary (art), Dez Skinn (editor)

First Posted: 02/28/2023
Last updated: 02/27/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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