The Zn'rx are a fictional extraterrestrial race who has appeared in many Marvel Comics. They are known better as " Snarks" among Earth's superheroes because they were nicknamed that way by a Kymellian called Whitey, who named them after the monster in Lewis Carrol's poem " The Hunting of the Snark". They first appeared in Power Pack #1 (1984.)The Zn'rx are a humanoid, reptilian race (although, unlike most Earth reptiles, they have legs that bend forward at the knee.) They are intelligent an have interstellar travel technology. However, they are also a warlike race by tradition.
The Zn'rx are divided into many clans, but all of them are ruled by an Emperor. The Emperor is married to the female rulers of each clan. Upon the death of the Emperor, the clans fight wars against each other; the son of the Queen of the winning clan becomes the next Emperor.
Surprisingly, the current Emperor has actually tried to soften his race's warlike tendencies, including trying to reduce the process of sucesion to single combat between all the princes. His changes were not popular (although he was a beloved leader.) One of his wives, Queen Mother Maraud, secretly began to poison him slowly. She was grooming her son, the strong (but not very smart) warrior, Jakal, to be the next Emperor. It was Maraud's clan that attempted to gain the Kymellian anti-matterformula wich led to the creation of the superhero group, Power Pack. Maraud and Jakal would become the Power children's personal enemies. Maraud even arranged for Jakal to receive the powers stolen from the Pack, using an alien machine, becoming a "Super-Snark". However, the process slowly damaged his mind. Eventually Jakal realized his mother's evil and turned against her, although he was eventually left mindless (the stolen powers returned to the Power Pack.) The Emperor died, but he was saved when his mind was transplanted by his people into Jakal's body. He then banished Maraud and her clan.
Still, Maraud managed to destroy the Kymellian's artificial home planet. She blames the Pack for all of her failures, and remains one of their deadliest enemies.
|External Link: Snarks
