For All Mankind #1

FOR ALL MANKIND #1 – SUPER FRIENDS #1

Welcome to the debut episode of FOR ALL MANKIND: A SUPER FRIENDS PODCAST! Rob and guest co-host Shawn Myers review “The Fury of the Super-Foes!” by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ric Estrada, SUPER FRIENDS #1!

Check out images from this comic by clicking here!

Opening and closing themes by Hanna Barbera.

This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK:

Thanks for listening!

24 responses to “For All Mankind #1

  1. I just had to look up Honeysuckle and I gotta say… I like it! I’m disappointed to see that she was never used further. I definitely want to sit down and draw fanart myself! She doesn’t have quite as rememberable/unfortunate name like Toyboy but man, I need more of her. As Rob said, ‘Yowza!’

    BTW, Thomas Wayne Jr doesn’t sound Bob Haney-ish, he WAS a Haney creation!

  2. I’ve never read a SUPER FRIENDS comic (or any other comic for that matter) but I really enjoyed this inaugural episode and I’m looking forward to following the series through your reviews. Over the last couple years, my preferred iteration of the classic Justice League heroes has trended more all-ages family friendly. Might have something to do with reading the DC SUPER FRIENDS Little Golden Books.

    Fun discussion. Looking forward to part 2.

  3. According to Mike’s Amazing World, the first comics I bought had September and October 1976 on-sale dates, so I missed this one when it first came out. My first issue of Super Friends was #4. I first encountered the villain grouping here in the prose/illustrated hybrid book that you mentioned.

    That book was my first exposure to Poison Ivy. I was shocked that she was referred to as a Batman villain since I had never heard of her. I consider her to be a pretty deep-cut at the time. Prior to her appearance in this Super Friends issue, she only appeared in Batman 181 and 183, a couple of Rose and Thorn back-ups in Lois Lane and one of Len Wein’s JLA issues. I hope her exposure here is what led to her being around the consciousness just enough that she was featured on the 1990s Batman animated series, which is what really made her a star. If you’re wondering, Ivy made a few Justice League, Secret Society of Supervillans, and World’s Finest appearances before returning to Batman in the early 80s. Gerry Conway wrote a lot of her appearances so I credit him with keeping her alive.

    I really enjoyed the show and am looking forward to

    1. One thing I forgot…I haven’t been able to donate to the Patreon yet. I hope to after Christmas, but this time of year, I donated to Angel Tree in addition to my regular donations to the Rescue organization that I adopted my dog from. If any of you are considering getting a pet for yourself or your family this Christmas, please consider a rescue. There are some great dogs there that need your love and have lots of love to give. Also, don’t hesitate to adopt a señior dog. They need love too.

      1. A couple of other things I forgot….I do have this issue of Super Friends, now.

        I got a lot of my Super Friends issues in the “Superman” branded Whitman 3-packs. If you’ll recall, in addition to Superman, Action and DC Comics Presents, the Superman packs often had JLA, Super Friends and Superboy and the Legion issues.

        I

  4. Another great show that I am looking forward too!

    It is funny. I thought I used to scoff at the Super Friends comic but in looking at the cover gallery I bought quite a few more Thani remembered. I think I looked at this book the way I looked at DCCP and B&B, as a way to meet new faces in the DCU. Plastic Man, Black Orchid, the Demon, the global guardians … I loved seeing them and seeing them here.

    As for this issue, I’m more a Kitten guy than a Honeysuckle. But I would take either to the Prom.

    Can’t wait to see who is going to guest star for Supergirl issue!

  5. I had no idea this existed? So the teen Poison Ivy apprentice is a go-go dancer or something? Got it!

    Glad Rob found someone who shares his love of this corner of the DCEU. Love that Toth!

  6. I bought every issue of SUPER FRIENDS and watched the show until I was in high school! I have a few SF stories I could share, like having one of my first letters printed in SF #40, or writing the story editor of the show after he asked fans to write him (I got an autographed SF script from him!) . I loved the book because for awhile there, it was the only place we could find Aquaman on a regular basis!
    Looking forward to this podcast, and hopefully being a guest on it at some time, too!

  7. Love the new show; Shawn’s return to a Super Friends show was also welcome.
    I started picking Super Friends regularly around issue 10 or thereabouts (Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog were gone, and the Wonder Twins were in). At the point, I was already consuming more ‘sophisticated’ comics fare, and I could tell the target audience for this series was younger children, but that didn’t bother me. I found the stories quite enjoyable, and the art, mainly by Ramona Fradon at that point, was wonderful.
    I’m looking forward to future discussions of the series.

  8. There’s a certain ineffable quality that the rounded panel borders give this comic. I want to lead my everyday life with those rounded panel borders all about me; they carry a suggestion that reality is less sharp and somehow friendlier. Super friendlier, you might say.

  9. Holy Honeysuckle Batman!!!
    Both the costume and the name are provocative! However, had I seen the comic when it came out, I agree it would have gone right over my head and I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
    I’m very excited for this new addition to the podcast! Super-Friends is one of my all time favorite cartoons. (Yes I’m so old I still call them cartoons) and was my gateway into comic books, along with reruns of the 67 Spider-Man cartoon.
    Justice League of America was my favorite comic book, but for mist of my childhood, I didn’t even know there was a Super-Friends comic book! I would have been all over that! Over the decades I’ve read an few issues but the series has been as elusive as Robert Denby. None of my local comic shops carry back issues regularly. At best I can find a beat up copy in the dollar bins. This series will be my way of getting to enjoy the full series.
    Thank you Rob. Can’t wait for the next installment.

  10. Great introductory episode Rob! I have been looking forward to this podcast since it’s announcement. I have been trying to procure a full run of the 47 issue run and one special for the better part of 10 years now. Trying to find them all out in the wild at comic shows and conventions without resorting to Ebay was a difficult task. However I finally finished gathering them all earlier this year and did not want to start re-reading them until I had them all. Then your podcast announcement came out so I figured I’d wait read along with the podcast. All the better I say! I never owned the Super Friends comics as a child but I feel as I had read almost all of them asa they seemed to be popular fare at my doctors office and barber shop in the late 70s and early 80s. As you can imagine those copies were never in very great condition, which is probably why so many of the original issues are hard to find and are scarce as they were aimed at the young children and many have been destroyed early on. This first issue was the second most expensive one of the lot for me to obtain with the first being issue #7 which is the very first appearance of the Wonder Twins (which predates their appearance on the TV show). Other first appearances include Ice Maiden (Ice) and Green Flame (Fire) from the Global Guardians and then later JLI and I look forward to reading along with the podcast. Well done, sir. Your doing the work for all mankind!

  11. Several years ago, my wife bought me a refrigerator magnet with the cover art from this issue on it. I had no idea where that image came from until today. Thank you for solving this long-standing mystery, and bringing a little peace to my troubled mind. As a fan of the cartoon show, I’m looking forward to learning about the comic book it inspired.

  12. Impressive pod cast. Most impressive. Huh that was an interesting comic. Sorry I missed it. Ah the Side kicks seem fine. I agree with Robin. I my self have never hit a Cis born Woman. He’;s right he shouldn’t, but Why wasn’t Windy or Wonder Woman sent? The art is pretty good, but I am defiantly not a fan of Collates inking. Though I am wondering how the story ends. can’t wait to hear the next pod cast.

  13. Thanks for a great first episode. I’ve never actually seen an episode of Super Friends, was that the real opening narration, about FOUR heroes? The Wonder Dog gets a mention but Robin is ignored? Sheesh.

    Oh, and terrific show logo, Rob!

    I’d always assumed Ramona Fradon drew this from the start, so Ric Estrada was a surprise.

    I’ve never heard of Honeysuckle, what a great design. It is indeed amazing that she was never put into the main DCU. Still, there’s time, I expect some of those Harley and Ivy slash fiction people have a petition on the go to get themselves a threesome.

    I looked up all the Golden Age appearances of the Cheetah and one unpublished story that appeared in 1969 to find that pose Rob reckons, very reasonably, is an HG Peter swipe – no luck, but maybe someone else can find it.

    Shawn using ‘Tomahawked’ made my day!

    How about making this podcast bimonthly? That would fit the comic’s schedule.

    The comic began appearing in the UK with #7, a rather significant one. I’d love to do an episode sometime if you’re after volunteers (shy bairns get nae sweeties!).

  14. I was seven when this came out. Spidey SuperStories was a thing and I wanted the “Saturday cartoon thing to go with the Muppet thing” according to my dad. (It was the non Muppet, Electric Company- and I was aware of DC and Marvel as “teams”- and wanted to give both sides a chance.). This comic never showed up on the racks in Apple Valley. I looked- the search made me aware of the spinner rack- and my father’s inability to find it led to him buying me Justice League147-148 instead. Which is where I decided I was a DC fan. Reading this as an adult young me would looked down on this.

    Adult me however loves it- and your coverage here makes it that much more joyful. Thanks for a fun show

  15. I was seven when this came out. Spidey SuperStories was a thing and I wanted the “Saturday cartoon thing to go with the Muppet thing” according to my dad. (It was the non Muppet, Electric Company- and I was aware of DC and Marvel as “teams”- and wanted to give both sides a chance.). This comic never showed up on the racks in Apple Valley. I looked- the search made me aware of the spinner rack- and my father’s inability to find it led to him buying me Justice League147-148 instead. Which is where I decided I was a DC fan. Reading this as an adult young me would looked down on this. I think I might have had a different hobby if I had found this then-

    Adult me however loves it- and your coverage here makes it that much more joyful. Thanks for a fun show

  16. Great first episode, Rob and Shawn! I didn’t get to read this story until the SF TPB you mentioned, and have never gotten around to Part 2, unfortunately. I wonder if SF is on the DC Universe app? I’ll have to check that out!

    I LOVED the SF comic as a kid, although newsstand distribution and being a pre-literate kid for the most of the run kept me from being a completist. I saw it as a completely legit, in universe DC comic, just like ENB did, even if no one else did! I can even forgive the presence of Marvin here. ENB’s version is certainly less annoying than his TV counterpart. I came into the series around issue 7 or 8, when the Wonder Twins were introduced.

    As for the villains sidekicks, for years I wondered who “Kitten” was on my Super Friends lunchbox. It seems like she could have fit in nicely with all the DC feline fatales, such as the original Huntress, Catwoman, etc. I’m surprised someone hasn’t done something with Honey Suckle and Chick. I think Puffin would have been a better name for him, though.

    Again, great start!!!

    Chris

    1. I have that SF lunchbox too and actually used it as a kid. Color me confused on Kitten, too. If Honeysuckle had been on the lunch box, who wants to bet my teacher would have banned me from brining it to school?

  17. Hey gang,

    Cool show! It really gets the nostalgia flowing.

    While a big fan of the show at the time, I only got the occasion issue of the book. My spending money was quite limited at the time. Go figure.

    And including the letters page was a really good idea. That tied a bunch things together that I did not know. Nice touch by both the writer, and you guys. 🙂

  18. [I originally sent this by email. It wasn’t read, so I guess you missed it. So I decided to cut and paste it here] (FOR ALL MANKIND #1 – SUPER FRIENDS #1) Hi Rob! I always thought this would have the makings of a great podcast, and you have proved it. I think the Super Friends comic is highly underrated. I remember enjoying it when I could find it as a kid. I don’t think I started buying issues until Zan and Jayna were well established. I went to Mike’s Amazing World to look at covers and nothing was familiar in my earliest collection until issue #25. I do remember when all the DC Comics added 8 pages per book and raised the price to 50¢. Of course Super Friends was among those comics. That’s where I was introduced to the Global Guardians. I also enjoyed the Wonder Twins back-ups. I didn’t have a full run until a couple of years ago when I found the entire series on eBAY for a very good price. I just couldn’t pass it up. Always wondered why there was never an Annual. Oh well. I’ll bring this up for anyone interested. They have solicited a Super Friends book without an announced on sale date. It would be called “Super Friends Saturday Morning Comics Volume 1”. Surprisingly it will be a hardcover. It collects Super Friends #1-26, the Super Friends features from Limited Collectors’ Edition #C-41 and #C-46, and the ultra-rare Aquateers Meet the Super Friends #1. I hope it actually comes out. In closing, I want to Thank You Rob for developing this podcast. The first episode was very enjoyable and I look forward to the second.

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