Back Issue Box: Super Friends #31

Welcome to another segment in my look at Black Orchid and the fan theory that she was Supergirl in disguise. While I haven't  been able to discover the origins (or even the publication) of this theory, I have found it intriguing. 

So far I looked at the original story where Orchid purportedly used X-rays to reprogram a computer. Next I looked at her Who's Who page where the use of X-rays was swept away as hyperbole.

Today I look at Super Friends #31. While Super Friends has never been considered in continuity, writer E. Nelson Bridwell was a continuity wonk and often wove elements of DC history into his story. No big surprise, Bridwell beings in some Black Orchid continuity into this story and definitely touches on the rumor I am exploring. The cover screams it! Orchid is weakened by Kryptonite. But why is Superman unaffected?

Ramona Fradon brings her clean style to the proceedings. While her Orchid isn't as exotic as the original stories or the Phantom Stranger backgrounds, there is a certain elegance. 

As for the ultimate answer to the rumor, this issue might answer it ... if you think Super Friends is in continuity. 

On to the details!

Super Friends Supergirl

Hat tip to blog friend Craig who emailed me some images of Supergirl as part of the DC Super Friends merchandising line. I haven't seen this version of Supergirl here in the States and Craig said that these images are from international sites.

As someone who bought this Super Friends comic book when it came out (art by J. Bone in places!), I was waiting for Kara to appear but she never did.

But there she is in the upper right corner, wearing her white t-shirt, DCAU costume. One of 8 heroes on the cover!

And here is her 'Who's Who' page in the Super Friends book. "Don't let her sweet smile fool you - Supergirl is an unstoppable force for good!" I love it.

There is a fresh, young, sweet look to this version of Supergirl which I love. And I am a complete sucker for the 'Gwen Stacy' head band look.

Craig also pointed out that this version of Supergirl was also a toy in the Happy Meal equivalent at Quick restaurants. I never heard of Quick so I had to do some research. I bet the Suprême Cheese tastes great.

But onto the toy. Pretty slick toy with a nice base sporting the S-shield. Again, just a lovely look to this.

And it has some action! You can push the button on the back and her arms move up and down.

Such a nice design. If only I lived in Belgium when these were out.

And the Quick love isn't done. They also came out with Super Friends sticker books. Supergirl versus the Riddler? Seems almost unfair. But the Supergirl stickers are lovely.

As part of the DC Super Friends line, we get some 'chapter books' including a Supergirl one. This one sports a New 52 costume and looks pretty stylized. But it also includes 30 sparkly stickers! How much fun!

Hope someone out there got to enjoy these treats! And thanks again to Craig for sharing!

Review: Scooby Doo Team-Up #6

Every so often, comics throw me a wonderful surprise, something so unexpected but so great that I am reminded why I still love this medium. And then, there are the even rare surprises which not only remind me why I love comics but also transport me back to being a kid, which bring such pure happiness that I am a little Anj, sitting under a tree at a beach house, reading a dog-eared comic in sunlight.

Scooby Doo Team-Up #6 was one of the latter. An all ages book by uber-writer Sholly Fisch, this issue harkens back to Saturday morning cartoons, the Super Friends comic book, and a hot pants wearing Supergirl. Fisch is able to perform that rare magic in a book like this, make it kid-friendly but throw in enough Easter Eggs and silliness to please the adult comic reader who picks it up. Heck, I'm not even a Scooby Doo fan and I liked this. It brought me the same joy that Super Friends #37 did back in the day, seeing Supergirl get some exposure with small screen superstars.

The Scooby Gang has been invited to the Hall of Justice to help the Super Friends solve a mystery. (That is another sentence I never thought I would ever write.)

It seems the Hall is haunted by 'The Rainbow Ghosts', seven ghosts each of whom is a different color. And the Green Ghost attacked Superman making him disappear!

With Superman missing, the Friends need to step in for him, making it appear that he has not disappeared. And that means they need help with the mystery. And to keep things looking normal in Superman's absence, they will disguise the Scooby Gang as people who would normally hang around there.

So Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby become 'Wendy', 'Marvin', and Wonder Dog. Holy 1970's Batman! I love how Wendy is in the FBI, Wonder Dog is involved with national security, and Marvin is a dentist.

And Fred and Daphne get dressed up as Zan and Jayna. I love how Daphne is almost embarrassed to be the twins.

And to hide Superman being missing even more, the Friends called in Supergirl to be a 'red and blue blur', stepping in for him in a pinch.

There is so much goodness in this panel that I smiled for hours when I first saw it. A classic hot pants Seventies Supergirl. A Smallville blur reference (maybe). Her handling crises, a reference to COIE (maybe).

But to have her call herself 'Rupergirl', imitating Scooby, was soooooo perfect. Perfect.

The time to contemplate the mystery ends rather quickly. The ghosts arrive and attack.

Supergirl is tasked with keeping the Scooby Gang safe while the Super Friends battle.

Amazingly ... somehow ... the ghosts defeat the heroes, making them all disappear too!

There is something unsettling about these ghosts. They are tangible.

This one is stronger than Supergirl.

And the yellow one can emit an energy beam, trapping Supergirl like a fly in amber.

I suppose it isn't too big a surprise to discover they aren't ghosts.

They are the Legion of Doom in disguise. That explains their powers. And Lex explains that by hiding who they were, by pretending to be ghosts, it gave the Legion an element of surprise.

Like before, there is such wonder here. As a kid I loved Battle of the Super Friends. So to see a classic Hannah Barbera Legion of Doom, right down to the pantsless Brainiac, was fantastic. The Scarecrow even calls the gang 'meddling kids', the classic tagline for the group!

Amazingly, the Gang is able to escape. Partly due to some quick thinking by Velma who uses Bizarro-speak to set the imperfect duplicate on to his comrades.

That Velma ... always thinking!

And the rest of the Gang realize that the 'disappearance' of the Super Friends is probably them being shrunk by Brainiac. And since Brainiac likes to put shrunken things in jars, they decide to look in the kitchen. And there are the Super Friends, in what appears to be an empty peanut butter jar.

They are freed and attack the Legion, even though they are 'reeny riny' ... or teeny tiny.

How great that Superman yells 'For Justice'!!

But perhaps the best turn is when Sinestro's ring leaves him and goes to Shaggy and Scooby. They are able to instill great fear ... because they always scare themselves. Unreal. Strange. Perfect. And, I suppose, plausible in this wonderful Saturday morning world.

With Sinestro's ring on his finger, Shaggy enlarges the Super Friends and binds the Legion of Doom.

All except Luthor who pulls out some sort of ultimate weapon.

Who saves the day?? Supergirl!!

Freed from Sinestro's amber when Shaggy took over the ring, she arrives to capture Superman's arch-enemy! The day is saved.

I said it before, I am not a Scooby Doo fan.

But this was just about as perfect an issue as I have read recently. Suddenly I was a 8 year old kid again, grinning like a goof, and thrilled to see the good guys win in a nutty way. Yes, it is nostalgic for an old guy like me. But it works on a kid level too.

And 'Rupergirl'!

Overall grade: A

The Wonder Twins on Smallville; review: Super Friends #37

Any one else excited about tonight's episode of Smallville? There have been many appearances by DC Comic characters on the show ... so why not The Wonder Twins!

Here is the YouTube link to the preview in case you haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj2UNOZuflQ

That's right ... The Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna. She could take 'the shape' of any animal. He could take 'the form' of anything made of water. On the Super Friends, they had tepid solo adventures that were, in essence, public service announcements against cheating, joy riding, etc.

With the Wonder Twins making their live debut, I figured I would dust off their one adventure with Supergirl, Super Friends #37.

Released way back in 1980, Super Friends #37 had a fairly legendary creative team. E. Nelson Bridwell wrote the story. Ramona Fradon was the penciller.

Titled 'Bad Weather for Supergirl', the issue gives a less than flattering portrayal of the Maid of Might. Even the cover has her sulking enviously while children fawn over the Super Friends.

The issue opens up with Supergirl telling the Super Friends that she, as Linda Danvers, is bringing some of her students from the New Athens Experimental School to Gotham City on a field trip. The trip is to attend the Nostalgia Convention, a sort of historical and pop culture exhibit and fair.

Since her students are big fans of the Super Friends, Linda is hoping that cousin Kal and his friends will drop by and say hello.

While waiting to check into the hotel, everyone notices that it is snowing ... an oddity given that it is the summer.

Linda sneaks off to investigate as Supergirl. She quickly discovers that it is the Weather Wizard who is trying to steal a valuale collection of presidential campaign buttons.

Wonder Woman also arrives to see what is causing the snow. The Weather Wizard turns out to be wily foe. He dispatches Wonder Woman with a point blank lightning bolt to the face.

Supergirl is able to save the Amazon and grab the stolen buttons. Unfortunately, the Wizard escaoes during the confusion.

Despite her heroics, Supergirl is sort of shunned by the students who flock to Wonder Woman to get an autograph.

It seems somewhat petty that Supergirl would get flustered like that.

And it certainly reads strange to hear her say 'I like being a celebrity, I hate being ignored!' Doesn't really read like a true hero does it? In fact sounds kind of creepy.

Back at the hotel, the kids ask why the Weather Wizard would steal some buttons. Linda explains that they are valuable because they are so rare.

In fact, lots of other collectibles can be valuable: comic books, movie posters, baseball cards.

As a kid, this was the first time I ever heard of something like a 'comic book convention'. I thought it sounded like the best thing since sliced bread.

Assuming that the Weather Wizard will strike again at another priceless collection, the Super Friends decide to stake out the convention. Again, the students flock to the Super Friends which makes Linda more jealous.

I think I would be more angry than jealous if my students thought the Wonder Twins were cooler than Supergirl. I mean ... really ... the Wonder Twins? It would mean that as a teacher/guidance councilor that I am not educating them.

The Super Friends' hunch turns out to be correct. The Weather Wizard does return.

One thing that I do like about this story is how confident Supergirl is portrayed when dealing with the villain. I like her witty banter as she confronts him. Unfortunately, the Weather Wizard collapses the roof on top of the patrons. Supergirl has no choice but to save the attendees and allow the Wizard to run off.

In what is the most unbelievable part of the story, the Weather Wizard actually evades direct interactions with Batman and Robin, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Superman.

He is about to escape when he is thrown back into the hotel by Zan who has taken the form of a monsoon. Jayna catches him in her shape of an elephant and tosses him to the waiting Supergirl.

That's right! It's the Wonder Twins and Supergirl who catch the villain and save the day!

The next morning, the students run to buy a copy of the Gotham Gazette hoping it will be loaded with pictures of the Super Friends. Instead, the front page is dominated by pictures of Supergirl!
They don't seem to understand that, for Gotham, Supergirl is the news. The Super Friends are always around. Her battered ego soothed, Linda puts on a big smile. The front page story has made her day.

Well ... I hope people weren't expecting War And Peace. This was the Super Friends after all, the Johnny DC title of its time. While it was good to expose the title's readers to Supergirl this wasn't a great showcase for Kara. Supergirl comes off a bit petulant. Still, in the end, she was the most effective hero against the villain and saves the day. The Fradon art is clean and simple, appropriate for the book.

As for Super Friends #37's place in a Supergirl collection, I find that owning these rarer appearances in odd books (like the seat belt public service issues or the Radio Shack computer issues) are what make me think I am approaching a more comprehensive Supergirl collection. For that reason, I think it fills an appropriate niche in a Supergirl collection. If you can find this issue it is usually around $5.

And as for the Wonder Twins, I am interested to see what Smallville does with the characters.

Overall grade: C

Review: Tiny Titans #15

I have written in the past how much fun Tiny Titans is as a title, walking the tight rope between 'all ages fun' and intricate DC continuity. It always seems to be able to seamlessly mesh the two and this month's issue, Tiny Titans # 15, is no exception.

This month's main story involves another meeting of the Titans Pet Club at Wayne manor. As the last meeting ended with the place in shambles, Alfred decides he is going to sit in and make sure mayhem does not ensue.

There is the usual 'the first rule of pet club is we don't talk about pet club' jokes, a reference to the movie Fight Club, which hopefully no young reader has watched. The rule seems to perplex Alfred since he wants to talk about it and lay down some rules.

Supergirl is welcomed back to the club and has brought all of the super-pets: Krypto, Streaky, Beppo, and Comet.

I like how Robin just seems to be swooning over Tiny Kara. Look at the silly grin he has as he tells her that bringing all her pets was 'super duper super'.

Zatara makes it to his first meeting and has brought his pet rabbit Abby (short for Abra Kadabra).

Abby makes her way around the room saying hi to all the other pets.

She then makes the mistake of waking the sleeping Streaky by plugging Streaky's nose. Suffice it to say, Streaky wakes up in a bit of a snit.

A massive pet chase rocks stately Wayne manor and chaos erupts.

You think the fun is over once everything settles a bit. Unfortunately, Abby has decided to hide in Zatara's hat and Beppo has got hold of Zatar's wand.

A quick tap to the hat brim and we have a bunny population explosion.

The kids are sent to the corner but not before Beast Boy notices that one bunny is brown.

Hmmm ....

The epilogue of the issue shows the brown bunny shout 'Shazam' and turn into Hoppy, the Marvel Bunny.

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny!

I thought another Streaky sighting would be the high point of the issue!

But Hoppy the Marvel Bunny! Aw yeah!!

I haven't seen Hoppy since he was the hero in DC Comics Presents #34 where he is the hero who ultimately knocks out King Kull!

Too awesome!

Overall grade: A

For completeness sake, I figured I would also mention that Streaky and the super-pets are also heavily featured in Super Friends #14.

The pets here seem more like those seen in the Krypto cartoon. Streaky is wearing a blue cape in this one. Still, this was an amusing issue which harkened back to a Silver Age Kanjar Ro story and also included Silver Age pets Beppo, Kanga, and Topo.

But two Streaky comics in one month?

Surreal!