Rob and Super Friend Sholly Fisch review “The Scarecrow Fights with Fear” by E. Nelson Bridwell, Kurt Schaffenberger, and Bob Smith, from SUPER FRIENDS #32! Plus Listener Feedback!
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The bracelets keep Wonder Woman from turning savage!?! You really do learn something new every day! Mind, officially blown! To think, I thought the cover was drawn wrong when I saw Wonder Woman without her tiara. It’s shows what a clever writer E.N.B. was, having Scarecrow be able to take on the Super Friends on his own. Aquaman, with hydrophobia!?!!Batman, afraid of the dark!?! Robin, afraid of showing his bare legs in public!?? Up is down and black is white!
In regards to my comment for the previous episode where I wrote “new interpoofs on classic monsters”. I t was supposed to be new interpretations on classic monsters. Although maybe interpoofs will catch on as a slang turn all the hep cats will use. Instead of say The Super Friends comic is “the bees knees” or “the ginchiest” they’ll say it’s “the interpoofs!” Kookie, kookie, lend me your comb…
Hello Super Fans! Sholly Fisch, welcome to the podcast.
While I was aware of DC Super Friends, I must admit I never read it. It seemed to be geared for kids, and since I was 39 at the time it was released, and have no kids, I never got it. Sounds like you really had a good time working on it, and I wish you much success with your future comic work. Any chance we’ll see The Wonder Twins appear in anything you work on? I think I know at least one person who would buy issues with them in it! 😉
Now, to issue #32. Second consecutive cover that included all the characters on it. It was a trend I wished had continued, but I guess that would’ve taken up too much time for the artists.
This issue was published in 1980, when Challenge of The Super Friends was off the air, and I can remember thinking it was cool to finally see a member of the Legion of Doom in the comic, and then puzzled over the fear toxin, as Scarecrow didn’t use that while he was in the Legion, in fact, he really just kind of stood around in those episodes. It wasn’t until the Galactic Guardians season where we saw him again, in the great episode, “The Fear”.
The fears given to Aquaman and Wonder Woman touch on some old characteristics for them, the bracelets helping to contain WW’s berserker rage, and Aquaman needing to be in contact with water once every hour.
Found some minor mistakes in the issue, revolving around the Wonder Twins. (some of these were pointed out in a later fan letter column). In the beginning panels, Zan & Jayna each have a plaque. However, when the group picture is taken, they have one plaque that they hold up in between them. After they get their phobia (the fear of being touched), they’re afraid to touch to activate their Exxor powers. However, in a fight scene panel, they have no problem punching the criminals. Also, there is a panel where Gleek is sitting on Zan’s shoulder. He should’ve cringed in fear at that.
As you said, the action was spread pretty evenly, so I can’t name one “Best Friend” this issue.
Regarding the FanSet pins, I just went to their website and was disappointed to read that due to the changes at DC, DC is not renewing their license with FanSets, so the pins of all DC characters are no longer being produced. Once what is left is gone, they will be unavailable to purchase. Leftover stock is being sold here, if anyone wants to see, and maybe buy.
https://pinforce.io/collections/dc
fear gas is great stuff! it affects Superman even if he’s faster than air currents and breaths in space
Another great episode!
Welcome to the show Sholly!
I read and loved each of your DC Super Friends issues so it’s great to hear you talk about this story!
At the time of your series, there were very few comics that were just light-hearted fun, so it was much appreciated!
I’m also a huge fan of your work on Scooby-Doo team up.
I loved that you had not only heroes like Deadman and The Justice Society, but also the Hanna Barbera characters like Jonny Quest and Quick Draw McGraw!
Oh, and Rob – you were great as always!
Rob, this is one of my favorite issues of SUPER FRIENDS, and you and Sholly did a great review of it. Funny, I also remember Sholly’s Scarecrow story and it reminded me of this issue! He says they were not connected, but I think maybe a little sub-conscious work was going on with him there….
Part of the reason I liked this issue was because of the emotional stakes it had. Aquaman kind of freed himself and Wonder Woman from the power of the gas (which is cool in and of itself) but Batman saves Robin and then, as you pointed out, Robin saves Batman. That’s a great example of their love for each other. And you didn’t really mention it, but Superman’s scene where he talks himself out of being controlled is pretty strong stuff, too: he thinks of how proud his adopted parents were of him, and how he can’t soil their memory on some puny made-up phobia…. Great!
Glad you all enjoyed the podcast (and thanks again for having me, Rob). A couple of quick replies:
– For more information on what happens if Wonder Woman doesn’t wear her bracelets, check out https://www.cbr.com/wonder-womans-bracelets-15-things-you-need-to-know/ — specifically, #s 10 and 9.
– CellarDweller: I haven’t had the chance yet to do a full-length Wonder Twins story, unfortunately, but I did give them a cameo in my graphic novel Teen Titans Go! to Camp. And, in Scooby-Doo Team-Up #7 (featuring the Super Friends), I had Scooby and the gang disguise themselves — for reasons too involved to go into here — as Wendy (Velma), Marvin (Shaggy), Wonder Dog (Scooby), and yes, the Wonder Twins (Fred and Daphne).
– Little Russell Burbage: You’re probably right about the original Scarecrow story being somewhere in the back of my head when I wrote mine, although I had no conscious memory of it. Actually, the same thing happened recently when I got advance copies of something that’ll be out soon, and my kids pointed out a plot point that was similar to something I hadn’t read in decades. Aagh! Oh well, I suppose if it only happens once every 10-15 years, that isn’t so bad…
Sholly
Thanks for the link. Interesting stuff
the funny thing is Scarecrow never having been on the adam west show was probly a scarier bad guy to most superfriend readers than the Joker. Most kids reading superfriends had seen fairly mild joker’s get their butt whipped but Scarecrow? If you’re a little kid watching the legion of Doom episodes of superfriends scarecrow is this scary looking guy they never SHOW do ANYTHING so I always assume he was really REALLY EVIL and they did’nt show it.
Another great episode and another great guest! This show is truly one for the ages!
I love that Wonder Woman’s fear ends up making her more ruthless rather than helpless. A miscalculation for sure. I love the picture of her holding the Scarecrow upside down. Looks like she is going to pile-drive him!
I am a big fan of Mr. Fisch’s work. His Super Friends book came out at the perfect time for my kids. I got them every month and read the issues to my girls. They loved them and I loved them. Such a great book.
But I also am a huge fan of his work on the back-up material in Grant Morrison’s Action Comics run in the New 52. I always felt like when Morrison left, Mr. Fisch should have taken over. A sincere thank you for those stories which bolstered Morrison’s magic. Just wonderful synergy.
Thanks for this episode Rob! And hope to hear more from Sholly in the future!
Great to hear Sholly on the show. We read my son the Super Friends comic until he was old enough to read them himself, and my daughter has all the Scooby-Doo Team-Ups and the Batman/Scooby-Doo issues! We were very excited last week to hear it is returning! I can’t recommend these comics enough to our listeners here, who I know are mostly Bronze Age-geared. The essence of those classic comics is within those series, and Sholly does a wonderful job capturing that feel. And they are just a lot of fun!
I somehow have neve read this SF issue, despite being a big fan of the Scarecrow. He was definitely under-utilized on Challenge of the Super Friends, but man, was he scary with that creepy design, and that voice! Wonder Woman’s bracelets were VERY important in the Golden and early Silver Age, and not just for deflecting bullets! If you took them off, she went nuts as seen here. And if a man bound them together, she lost her powers! Now, neither of those really hold up well in today’s more (supposedly) enlightented times, but still, it was part of the lore.
I love Kurt Schaffenberger’s art. Except his Batman. He drew the most un-mysterious, known Darknight Detective Batman at DC in the 70s/80s, in my opinion. His Robin looks a bit young, especially compared to the Man Wonder Ramona usually draws, but I like it. I love everyone else, but I miss Ramona when she’s off the book. Schaffenberger continued his association with the brand by drawing SF licensing art as seen in the 1982 DC Style Guide. It wasn’t all quite JLGL (PBHN)!
Great show fellas!
I decided to check out Michael Fleisher’s Wonder Woman encyclopedia from the 1970s in regards to the Amazing Amazon’s bracelets:
1. Originally, the “bracelets of submission” were treated inconsistently during the Golden Age. In WW #2 (1942) it states “when an Amazon girl permits a man to chain her bracelets of submission together she becomes as weak as other women in a man-ruled world.” If a woman chains the bracelets together, however, Wonder Woman’s strength remains completely unaffected. The level of her power loss also is inconsistent.
2. Stories also differed on the question of who must sever the chains linking Wonder Woman’s bracelets before her Amazon strength can be restored to her. In some texts, her strength only returns if the chains are cut by a male (human or animal).
3. In 1943, Wonder Woman’s bracelets are removed by a villainess named Mavis. Once this occurs our heroine thinks: “I’m not weak – I’m too strong. The bracelets bound my strength to good purposes – now I’m completely uncontrolled! I’m free to destroy like a man!” No longer bound by Aphrodite’s law, WW goes berserk in a “mad orgy of unleashed power.” She is restored to sanity when Paula von Gunther subdues her with the magic lasso and binds her wrists.
4. The lack of her bracelets resulting in madness is seen again in stories from 1945 & 1946. However, a 1949 story reverses this plot point when a male villain removes her bracelets. Wonder Woman says: “Fortunately for him, I’ve worn those bracelets so long that even though they are removed, their imprint still binds me to Aphrodite’s law!” Since that story in WW #18 (“The Menace of the Rebel Manlings”) WW suffers no ill effects whenever her are removed. Fleisher goes on to state that there was a period in 1966-67 (WW #160-169) when many of the traditional Amazon aspects of the mythology were returned. She briefly became berserk when stripped of her bracelets during this era.
On the subject of an obvious phobia for Aquaman, I’m surprised – esp. given the surname of this week’s guest Super Friend – that neither of you mentioned what to me is the obvious one: ichtyophobia, i.e., the fear of fish!
Regardless, I really enjoyed the show. Having Sholly as a guest was an extra special treat.
And I have to say, Rob, I totally agree with you about the fact that DC could/should have reprinted Sholly’s Super Friends in a series of digests. That seems like a no-brainer to me, although I’m sure there’s some complicated explanation, full of charts and terms like profit margins and ROI, for why it wasn’t and probably never will be done. I just know I’d love to finally get a chance to read the series in some nice, reasonably priced books…
Funnily enough, Aqualad was deathly afraid of his future finny friends when he debuted in Adventure Comics #269.
Okay, so you won’t cover the Super Friends series. How about the SUPER POWERS comics series done by Jack Kirby? Nobody I know has covered those ones, and I think you might get a kick out of them.
Count me as another Sholly fan delighted to hear him on the network again.
So Aquaman could communicate with with Gleek? Maybe he’s a sea monkey!
Ok Marin, that was funny to me, but maybe you won’t know why.
I’m sure most of you will remember that you could order sea monkeys from ads in the comic books. In the 2019 maxi-series for the Wonder Twins, when Zan & Jayna come to Earth, Gleek is not their pet. In issue #2, Zan is reading a comic called “Laser Eyes”, and sees an ad for a “Failed Circus Monkey”, so he orders it, and that is how they got Gleek, ordered from a comic like the “Sea Monkeys”.
This is one of those issues where the heroes should have been able to wrap it up in a page and a half despite Scarecrow’s machinations, but that wouldn’t have served the story very well, I guess. Like others, I generally prefer Fradon, but berserker Wonder Woman as drawn by Shaffenberger is strangely appealing.
Regardless of the issue covered, any podcast Sholly guests on is great, and Rob hosting makes it even better. I need to read Sholly’s work.
Great episode Rob and Sholly! A fun issue, and I will re-iterate Chuck’s comments above about the bracelets of submission. This is something I recall from bronze age WW, which admittedly was not her strongest era.
And the Gotham architects who designed the Wayne Foundation may have been influenced by Scarecrow’s fear gas…or some other foreign substance.
Sholly – keep up the great work. Loved Scooby Doo Team Up and Batman/Scooby Mysteries!
Another fun episode, Rob. It was great listening to Sholly Fisch. I’ve read almost all of his DC Super Friends comics to all three of my kids at various points. They’re the perfect reading material to entertain a young girl or boy.
Regarding the issue at hand, I remember this issue well. Though I’m not sure how well the conceit that Wonder Woman requires bondage to ensure she stays in line has aged. Maybe work those issues out on your own, Bridwell.
Given the god-like evolution of the character of Batman, there was something very satisfying about seeing Superman knock his ass out. For a kid’s comic, the Super Friends version of Superman isn’t shy about handing out a beating. And then Batman is further humiliated by Aquaman tossing his unconscious body over his shoulder and dropping him in the passenger seat of the Batmobile, just so Aquaman can open her up on the Gotham highways. Let’s see Tom King write 12 issues about that!
Also, despite my dismissal of Bats, it’s always good to see the Wayne Foundation super tree building and Bruce’s cocaine fever dream F-U money penthouse on top. It’s got a moat on the top of a skyscraper! I take it all back, Bruce. I’m sorry Superman put you to sleep, you magnificent bastard. Go eat sushi off a super model’s stomach on a polar bear rug while your man servant blares some Night Ranger.
Yes…12 issues covering the lead-up to Aquaman driving the Batmobile, the actual event, and then Bats processing it all after he comes to and finds out it happens. I’ll look for the trade paperback on In-Stock Trades!
Regarding the Wayne Foundation building, same…always been same.
Also, I imagine at least one Wonder Twin would meet a grizzly end during the long, emotionally tortured drive.