In time for Thanksgiving, Rob welcomes long time Nuclear Sub Shawn Myers to talk about the little-seen 1970s Super Friends book REVENGE OF THE SUPER-FOES!
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What a nice treat! I had no idea that this story existed either! It was nice listening to you both discuss the more innocent days of the 1970s superheroes. As a kid, I never cared for Wendy & Marvin or the Wonder Twins as I was more interested in the grown=up heroes. Still, Wendy & Marvin were more tolerable than the alien teens. It’s also kinda fun when they pop up here and there in the DCU: Kingdom Come, Young Justice, Teen Titans, etc. According to wiki: Wendy and Marvin were set to appear in Powerless, portrayed by Kate Micucci and Josh Fadem as main characters, but the series was canceled after one season.
How long had Batman been away from Wayne Manor? Well, from 1969 to 1982, Bruce Wayne’s home and Batcave were stationed at the Wayne Foundation building in downtown Gotham…
Fun show! I think I first saw this book on The Aquaman Shrine, so I have never got to peek inside much, so thanks for the coverage. I think the cover looks like Schaffenberger too, especially Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman. Superman looks less definitively Schaff to me, because by that point he had the character down. But maybe someone else inked it?
The art inside reminds me a lot of an artist who worked on DC coloring books in the 70s and 80s. The big hero shot of WW swinging her lasso looks very similar to a WW coloring book I own. Not sure of his/her name, however.
The story does seem very ENB, so I think Shawn may be right that someone tacked on that early promotional bit about Wendy’s family lineage. ENB later explained away she was related to Batman’s detective mentor, Harvey Harris, while Marvin was the son of the ORIGINAL Diana Prince, who Wonder Woman bought her identity off of!!!
I’m a big fan of the SF comic too, although I don’t have a whole run…yet. I bought it when I saw it as a kid, and I now pick them up when I see them in the wild. They are just good old fashioned comic book fun, and always very inventive. ENB weaves in fan service like no other.
The bit at the end with Batman and Robin buying fresh produce makes me both happy and sad. I lament today when a character like Batman, who in my mind should always be at least somewhat accessible to kids, is showing his junk in modern comics. Blech.
Chris
Batman went Full Cfranks!
Wendy, Daughter of Hush!
I’m just glad someone else remembered this! Thanks for featuring it on your show. I had it when I was a kid (who are we kidding? I still have it.) and I’ve never run across any other comics fan that knew anything about it.
A couple of observations. I really thought the part where Penguin took out Superman’s X-ray with the lead-based paint was pretty clever. Really, though, has there ever been a more ignominious defeat than Penguin’s capture here? Really, getting clocked in the head when Robin flung his shoe.
Rob, although she is a “star” now, Poison Ivy was probably as obscure a villain as Human Flying Fish at the time. I was surprised the text referred to her as a Batman villain, since I had never heard of her. I never saw her in a comic book until Justice League of America #158, and Batman doesn’t even appear in that issue. I got that JLA in a Whitman three-pack. Anyone remember those?
If you don’t believe that Ivy wasn’t considered a major Bat-villain back then, just pull out your Batman’s Villains digest. Ivy isn’t even featured in the two-page pin-up of Batman’s greatest foes. I guess DC only had rooms for the really big names, like Captain Stingaree, on the pin-up.
Oh, those Whitman 3 packs. My folks would get us those for Christmas or long vacations. That was how I first learned of Captain Atom and Blue Beetle from their Charlton days. Craziest pack had 3 issues of Conan the Barbarian, and his love interest Bêlit. Oh. My. http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/B%C3%AAlit_(Earth-616)
One of my three-packs had Invaders 17 with Warrior Woman on the cover. This had to be the middle comic because I know my mom would never have bought this for five-year-old me if she had seen this cover.
http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/comic.php?comicid=47008
According to the letters’ pages in both SF #9 and #12, ENB admits to writing this. And in #12 he says he did NOT write the intro. “….(T)here’s a Super Friends Golden Book out….authored by yours truly (except for a brief intro in which someone foolishly refers to Wendy as Batman’s niece….which we all know is impossible.)”
WOW!
Thanks Russell for that letter column find!
That is FANTASTIC!
Also, ENB set the Hall of Justice in Gotham City in the comics because of Batman and Robin. His idea was that it had to be easier for them to get to because they were more land-locked than the others.
Man, I missed out on so many cool books from my pre-collecting years. This looks so fun! Thanks for sharing it, guys!
From the ‘What are the odds?’ department…I had this book as a child. According to the inside cover, it was a 1978 Christmas gift (most of my childhood books have this sort of notation thanks to my mother). I had forgotten all about it until 2 weeks ago when I came across it while cleaning out my parents’ house. I brought it home and have been meaning to re-read it. Imagine my surprise to find you actually did a podcast on this very book so soon after rediscovering it.
Looking through the book again answered a question for me. Where did I know the Human Flying Fish from? I’ve heard Rob and Shag discuss this character before and I know I don’t have any actual comic books with him. I knew the name and what he looked like anyway.
https://flic.kr/p/2ddDZi3