The Quarmer, a.k.a. the Sand Superman, is a fictional character from DC Comics, created by Denny O'Neil and Curt Swan. He was a living sand doppelganger of Superman and first appeared in Superman #233 (January 1971) in "The Sandman Saga", the first issue that introduced the Bronze Age-era Superman. Fictional origin Somewhere in the deserts of the United States there was a reactor in which experiments were conducted on pieces of kryptonite. When a powerful nuclear meltdown happened, Superman himself was there to attempt to stop it. He failed, however, and a powerful kryptonite-based explosion that rendered Superman unconscious resulted. Although he apparently had succeeded in stopping most of the deadly radiation from reaching humanity, a strange fission wave reached around the world and changed all kryptonite into pure iron. Miraculously, it seemed, Superman now had no vulnerabilities anymore, a fact that was told in newspapers worldwide. On the spot Superman had been lying in the desert unconscious after the explosion was formed the imprint of the Man of Steel. The explosion had mysteriously opened up a portal into another dimension called the Quarrm Dimension. In that dimension beings existed as non-corporeal spirits and, like most spirits, they wanted a physical form to accompany them. One of the beings of that dimension gained access to the ordinary DC Earth by attaching itself to the psychic and physical imprint of Superman left in the sand. Many hours after the explosion an uncanny version of Superman, made of sand, rose from the imprint. This being would in the months that followed meet Superman seemingly randomly and drain power from him in an attempt to create an identity for itself. Superman was left near powerless after each such encounter, while the Sand Superman grew more and more powerful and humanoid. Its presence became more and more of an annoyance to Superman, who wanted to know what it was. It could, however not speak, and mostly left more mysterious than it had been before the encounter. Superman, powerless at those occasions, was unable to follow it. During one of these encounters, it saved the life of Superman by destroying the magic weapon called the Devil's Harp, an artifact that was being used by a man named Ferlin Nyxly a.k.a. Pan. Pan had nearly killed Superman when the Sand Superman sneaked by and destroyed the weapon that had allowed Pan to steal all of Superman's