For All Mankind #27

Rob and returning Super Friend Chris Franklin review "The Spacemen Who Stole Atlantis" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Ramona Fradon, and Bob Smith, from SUPER FRIENDS #27! Plus another segment of "For All Merchkind" and Listener Feedback!

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Opening and closing themes by Hanna Barbera.

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7 responses to “For All Mankind #27

  1. When describing the cover at the beginning of the show Chris said “For those of you who like Aquaman butt …”
    so I’d like to thank you for the personalized shout out to ME! It’s much appreciated!

    I echo both of you in the fact that I loved seeing heroes alternate costume choices. They were always fun and neat to see!

    Rob – have you reached out to Ramona for an interview? I know that we’d love to hear her talk about her career!

    This issue of Super Friends is one of the greatest comic issues ever created because it features 3, THREE, count ’em, 3 mentions of The Best Of DC Blue Ribbon Digest #3 featuring The Super Friends.
    The first is a full page ad alongside ‘Jonah Hex And Other Western Tales’ #3 (the last of that run). What’s interesting about that ad is that it has the JLGL (PBHN) artwork in a regular comic-drawn way instead of the beautiful painted cover that was published.
    The next mention is at the end of the letters page where ENB says that if you like the international heroes that appeared in Super Friends you be interested in the Russian hero who teams up with Robin in the Teen Titans story in that issue.
    And finally The Daily Planet news page in the issue features a story about the Digest as the headline and mentions the 3 Super Friends stories featured in the issue (The Cosmic Hit Man, Riddles and Rockets, and ‘The Monster Menace’) along with the Teen Titans tale “Eye Of The Beholder’, and finally, the JLA story ‘man, Thy Name Is Brother’

    And that ends this months episode of DigestCast – join me next month when I’ll be talking about The Best Of DC #68 – the final digest appearance of Sugar and Spike – and remember “Big things come in small packages!”

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  2. Great episode. It was the largest… I mean the most!

    Awesome art
    Special guest stars
    Wonder Woman’s wetsuit(although 2nd to Lynda Carter’s Wonder wetsuit)
    Dynamic hosts
    Super mobile
    I give this episodes 5/5 super stars.

    There should be a story that shows grown up Zan and Jayna getting married to Earthers and their kids grow up to discover they have powers. In other words , a typical CW show

    Can’t wait for the next issue-My favorite!

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  3. Yep, good show as usual, gentlemen.
    On the swim suits, I have to say that what I found a bit unusual is not that they cover more of the body – after all, they Super Friends were going down pretty deep and the water there is not warm. Rather, what I found odd is that they are kind of loose and baggy-looking, so basically the opposite of what a wetsuit should be (in fact, just Google the images for the undersea action outfit suit from the Wonder Woman TV show that Chris so astutely recalled – it’s basically a shiny scuba suit). The only way they make sense to me is if they are, in fact, originally intended as spacesuits and were just repurposed into diving suits for the trip to Poseidonis. Anyway, I’ll try not to lose sleep pondering this conundrum…

    And thanks to Cindy and Chris for sharing images of their Ramona Fradon commission pieces. Nothing to say except chef’s kiss.

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  4. Fun, fun fun! Even though my daddy took the T-Bird away…. Sorry, that one got away from me. While I am not even a fraction of the Aquaman fan that Mr Kelly, is, I do indeed enjoy seeing Aquaman as a badass! It really set him apart from the rest of the JLA. In recent years this attribute has been given to Winder Woman, but I’ll never forget Aquaman grappling the snake man by the throat in the 3 part BEASTS storyline. It really made me rethink my opinion of Aquaman as a kid. When he took leadership of the “Detroit Era” JLA a short time later, I accepted it without question.
    I always love these catastrophic misunderstanding stories. An incredibly advanced alien race comes along, that doesn’t anticipate the problems they’ll cause by tearing city full of people away from its planet! “Whoops! Our bad. Didn’t think that would be a problem.” Who do they think they are? Big business?
    Superhero air fresheners. Hmmm. If it does smell like Batman, I hope it smells like him before he’s chased Killer Croc through the Gotham City sewers. Why does Wonder Woman’s smell like clay? Odd. Sniff sniff, Superman’s smells like lilac… pleasant but unexpected.
    Thanks for another great listen.

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  5. Hello & thanks to Rob & Chris for the great podcast. Much to discuss, so let’s get to it!

    First, Rob, since you asked where I was from when I mentioned “snowy NJ”, I’m in Essex County, not far from Newark.

    As an adult, I’m now noticing how often this kids’ book talks about death! Issue #3, all those villains are killed to make World Beater. Issues #7-9, Grax plants bombs all over Earth to destroy all life. Issue #16, the aliens who ‘stole the sky’ are sending toxic waste down that will kill all life on Earth. #24, Zan & Jayna are punished (instead of their doubles) by being tied to a rocket and sent into space. #26, Johnny Witts and his crew think they’ve murdered The Batman in his secret identity. Now #27, all the Atlantides are taken into space and could suffocate.

    Regarding Aquaman and using his telepathy to speak to people, in Super Friends #25 (“Puppets of The Overlord”) The Super Friends are discussing going to confront Aquaman, and Bruce Wayne asks if they could fight forcefully enough in their civilian identities. Clark Kent replies with “No one would see us but the Atlantides! They’re telepathic anyway, and would be able to learn our identities if they wished – though they probably couldn’t care less who we really are.” So I always assumed that all Atlantides could telepathically communicate with other people.

    Aquaman is definitely the best friend here, and he earns the spotlight. This issue also spotlights how well Ramona can draw expressive faces….throughout the story Aquaman’s face is proof of it. We see him depressed, shocked, angry…..Ramona’s work shines here.

    One last item to discuss, the floating Wonder Twin heads! I hated them, and had no idea why they would add them to the cover that way. If you wanted them on the cover, just make everyone a little smaller, and fit them in.

    See ya next month!!!

    Chuck

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  6. As usual, awesome show guys! Chris thanks for sharing the awesome Ramona sketches! I second Shawn’s idea above for an interview. I met her at Baltimore Comic Con a few years ago and she is as nice as can be!

    The story itself was a great one this month. I too wish we could have seen the Wonder Woman Lynda Carter diving suit from the show – that is imprinted on my 12 year old brain for sure!!

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  7. What a great podcast. I’ve finally worked my way through the episodes from the first issue to the present so I can actually write in! Super Friends was one of the first series I started collecting as a kid so many of the episodes have been a fond walk down memory lane… from Honeysuckle (ahem) to Greenback blasting Marvin in the face with a quarter. And from the Global Guardians to Chronos’ pants. It’s been a blast re-reading this series along with the podcast. Terrific breakdown by Rob and Chris on issue 27. I always like it when you have Chris on because I know I’m about to learn about some obscure super hero merch that never made it out to Lancaster, PA when I was a kid. The only thing I ever had on an air freshener was Smokey the Bear.

    Anyway, a fun issue. Always nice when Aquaman gets a chance to shine. Although his whole escape plan using Zan’s cold current could’ve been a bust if one of the aliens decided to pee in the pool. Good thing they weren’t abducted by a water park.

    But my favorite parts of issue 27 had to be Batman’s all blue diving outfit looking like a grandma’s sweatsuit. All that was missing was a headband and some 2lb hand weights for walking the mall. Keep up the great work!

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