It’s the final part of our Super Powers 40th anniversary celebration! Join Chris, Shag, Derek and David as they talk about the three Super Powers comic miniseries, featuring the work of Paul Kupperberg, Carmine Infantino, and Jack “King” Kirby’s take on the DC Universe!
Then we wrap up the discussion with how the legacy of the Super Powers toys and media have impacted the DC Universe, later toy lines, and pop culture, including the current McFarlane Toys line! All this, and a special personal story about what Super Powers means to blogger and actor Steve Givens!
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Guest Links:
Derek William Crabbe’s Fanholes Podcast
David Gallaher’s Amazon Author Page
Steve Given’s “It’s a Givens” Blog
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Clip credits:
Music and clips from Kid Stuff See and Read Video Book, Super Powers: Battle at the Earth’s Core, and various seasons of Super Friends/Super Powers, by Hoyt Curtin. Special thanks to Isamu Hidekai Yukinori and Xum Yukinori.
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Chris really leaning into the ‘extreme’ sculpting of Total Justice
Yeah, sorry, I have all of them, but I think the line is tainted by the “90s-ness” of it all, and not in a good way. There are a few that escape the static-posed, over-roided look. The Huntress is a standout for me. She’s actually pretty nice! But overall, they can’t compete with the timelessness of the Super Powers line, IMHO.
I love the Total Justice line (enough for Shag and I to do an episode of Views to cover the entire line) but Chris is 100% right here. They are very much a product of the time they were released and gave Jon Bogdanove some extra scratch for the card art, but the Super Powers line is iconic.
I give them a break on “What universe” business. I mean “the new Gods,DR Fate, Captain Marvel and Plastic Man? Those are charcters everybody forgot were from other earths anyway
By the time series three came out, we were on the post-Crisis Earth, so everyone could just show up with no explanation needed.
Also Batman did’nt have questions about a hero named “janius” “Darkside? That’s weird. Not Two-Face?
If only Two-Face had a figure! Then he could have questioned who Janus was. Let’s not talk about the Toy Biz Two-Face. UGH!!!
Wow. It’s incredible to hear how similar your experiences are to my own.
At the time of Super Powers, I was all about Crisis on Infinite Earths and Who’s Who.
These were my gateways to the DC universe.
Compared to those two titles, the “Super Powers” comic series was a throw away marketing gimmick.
There were no references to these events or these characters in any Who’s Who entry.
However, while browsing the spinner rack at the local 7-11, I just happen to see issue number 1 of the second series in 1985.
On the cover were Darkseid and my favorite, Martian Manhunter!!!!
In that issue, I still love that Page 11 image of the entire Super Powers team gathered in the lemon yellow Hall of Justice!
Um, correction, I should say, almost the entire Super Powers team.
It wasn’t until year’s later that I even realized that Aquaman wasn’t in the picture and Batman explained that he was on his way to England.
Even Jack Kirby forgot about Aquaman!
Sorry Rob Kelly.
Outside of Who’s Who, this is my first exposure to Jack Kirby on a “modern” series.
Although I did not prefer his style, I appreciated the dynamic layouts and high energy.
I have since read all of three series.
Series 1 and Series 3 are not nearly as enjoyable as Series 2.
It would be interesting to see a modern retelling of the Super Powers series.
If, as you discussed, there are rights issues, then we can forgo any of the intellectual properties that were created specifically for the line.
I’m looking at you Cyclotron.
Maybe we can keep Golden Pharoah . . . maybe.
As an admittedly nostalgic fan, I must admit that the toys, the comics, the cartoons, and the entire Super Power brand, encapsulates that specific moment in time when DC presented modern mythological battles of good vs evil.
Thanks for the series and the Fire and Water network!
I feel awful for admitting that while working on this series, I hadn’t noticed Aquaman wasn’t in that awesoem Kirby spalsh (shared in the gallery for this episode)! I may get kicked off the network for this!
I think DC has used all of these characters often enough that they haven’t slipped into public domain. Even “made-up” characters like Golden Pharoah and Cyclotron. The DCUC figures are over 10 years old now, but I believe both characters are still included in a retail poster that is just a jam of style guide art.
And I’m with you, the Super Powers encapsulates my favorite era of DC. It’s one reason why I wanted to produce this series. Thanks for listening!
Chris,
I added Aquaman to the Kirby splash page for you, Rob, and all of the Aquaman fans!
https://imgur.com/a/843GUh9
If the link doesn’t work, I’ll happily send you the file.
Nice work Rudy! Looks great!
I had so much fun with the first that I created another!
https://imgur.com/gallery/justice-league-super-power-hall-of-justice-WT18wKR
First, I want to say that I am insanely jealous of Steve Givens and how he was able to get those wave three figures from Sears where I was not. I am also happy for him.
The first issue of the second series and one of the issues from the third series were some of the few DC books I got during my primordial (i.e. before discovering the Byrne Superman) days of reading comics. A friend of mine that was into comics a little more than I was (mainly the Marvel Transformers series) and he gave me a copy Super Powers #1 from series two with that awesome giant Darkseid holding the heroes and I read that thing over and over again. Sadly the rest of it was not at any of the places in town that sold comics, though the third series randomly popped up.
Ah the newsstand. How I miss you but remember what a cruel mistress you were.
But these comics are fun. Are they best examples of a tie-in comic? Maybe not, but DC was never as good at these things as Marvel was. As an adult that has come to love KIrby’s artwork I’m glad these exist.
Great…now I want to re-read these.
Well, the first two are in a trade, and on the DCU Infinite app. The third one, start hunting those back issue bins!
And yeah, anyone who got Cyborg back in 1986 makes me a bit jealous. But I had my shot, and blew it…
Another great episode, Chris. Can’t wait for episode 4!!
I scheduled it to come out with the next episode of Midnight, The Podcasting Hour.
Thanks to all for taking all that time to record (and then to edit!) this celebration.
While I do have a fragmentary memory of seeing one of the Super Powers comics on a spinner rack at a store near my old bus stop many years ago, I didn’t pick it up at that time (I could really only afford about a single comic issue a month, and that was usually Transformers!). I did have the fortune of picking up all of volume 2 at one go during a Free Comic Book Day event some years ago (no, THOSE comics weren’t free, but the price was still pretty good), and although Kirby has never really been my jam, it was nonetheless an enjoyable read.
I’ve really only started picking up the modern Super Powers figures recently (John Stewart on clearance for $4 was impossible to turn down, and I’ve since picked up several others, including Blue Beetle and his Bug… the latter just today at GameStop!), and while I’ve enjoyed the nostalgiafest, I’m rather surprised that no one seemed to mention the line’s main failing (IMHO, of course): none of the modern figures have any Power Action! This was a HUGE part of what I loved about the originals, and while the modern figures look *just* right on the shelves, the loss of that feature does bother me a bit (not enough not to get any of the figures, obviously). Just thought it deserved more of a mention.
I look forward to future endeavours, as always!
That’s a good point Mark. I guess the reality of modern toy production lets me overlook the lack of “Power Action Features” in the modern McFarlane line. The SP figures are a steal at $10 (and you can often find them cheaper, as you point out). If they were to add the special features, the price would go up to at least $15-17. I would rather keep the aesthetic and pay a lower price, so I can collect more figures, myself. I know it kind of goes against the legacy, since the features are what the brand was named for, but now “Super Powers” means that style of figure, in that scale. Even other companies are copying it, as we mentioned.
To me, they are not “Super Powers” figures if they don’t have an action feature. Sad!
Honestly, even as a kid, the Power Action Feature was never that important. It was a nice bonus, sure, and I utilized it in play, but when they became well worn and barely worked, it didn’t bother me. So I don’t miss them in the McFarlane figures.