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Super Friends
The Strips

Martian Manhunter & J. Hex New!

Superman and The Flash New!

Justice League of America

Jonah Hex

Green Lantern

Batman

Green Arrow and The Flash

Hawkman

The Flash

Shazam!

Gotham City Police Dept.

Johnny Thunder and Shazam!

Batman, Green Lantern,
and The Flash

Man-Bat

Metal Men

Pete Ross and Lana Lang

Superman & J'onn J'onzz

Charles M. Jones

Batman and Robin

The Flash and Zatanna

Jor-El and Lara

DC Prez Jenette Kahn

Deadman

Clark Kent and Lois Lane

The Haunted Tank

Superman and Lois Lane

The Unknown Soldier

The Vigilante

The Private Life of Clark Kent

Green Arrow and Black Canary

Sgt. Rock and Easy Company

Witching Hour

Green Arrow, The Human Target,
and Superman

Super Friends

Lois & Clark

Green Arrow & Black Canary

Superman & Jimmy Olsen

Gravedigger

Batman & Shazam!

Justice Society of America

Phantom Stranger and
Phantom Girl

Batman and Robin

Black Lightning

Private Life of Clark Kent

Green Arrow and The Warlord

Eclipso / Mr. Mxyzptlk

The Flash & Adam Strange

Aquaman

Lightning Lad & Chameleon Boy

Justice League of America

Wonder Woman

Zatanna and Professor Zoom

Firestorm, the Nuclear Man

Swamp Thing

Gotham City Police Dept.

Bizarro World

The Atom

The Flash and The Mirror Master

Two-Face

The Batman and the Joker

Lex Luthor and Brainiac

The Flash

Enemy Ace

Green Arrow & Black Canary

Hawkman & the Flash

The Phantom Stranger

Legion of Super-Heroes

Green Lantern

Hawkman

Batman and Red Tornado

Green Lantern and the Flash

The Creeper

Robin, the Boy Wonder

Justice League of America

Legion of Super-Heroes

Elongated Man and Plastic Man

Superman Family

The Flash and the Spectre

Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen

Deadman

Hawkman & Hawkgirl

Starman

Wildcat & Dr. Fate

Batman & Robin

Mon-El

Plastic Man

Bob 'Answer Man' Rozakis

Batman & the Flash

Green Arrow & Green Lantern

The Atom

Batman & Robin

Coming soon

Jimmy Olsen & Lois Lane

Steve Trevor

Superman

Steve Savage

The Flash

Johnny Thunder

Sgt. Rock & Easy Company

Scalphunter

Johnny Cloud

Green Lantern

Lois, Clark & Jimmy

Plastic Man

Perry White & Jimmy Olsen

Martian Manhunter

Madame Xanadu

Bruce Wayne

Krypto

Swamp Thing

Fred Hembeck


Super Friends
Uploaded October 12, 2000

The story behind the joke: the primary visual distinction between the Super Friends series and the rest of the DC line was that the panel borders of the former were rounded, instead of square.

Kind of ironic, considering the extent to which most of the super-heroes' characterizations were square instead of well-rounded.

I was a late-comer to the Saturday morning world of the animated Super Friends, mainly because our basic cable hook-up at the time didn't carry the nearest ABC affiliate. As a result, I only ever got to see the show on family vacations to various exotic travel destinations like Baltimore and Philadelphia. My appetite had been whetted, certainly; I was addicted to CBS' New Adventures of Batman series, and the knowledge that there was another DC-based show out there that I wasn't able to revel in was nothing short of slow torture.

Hey, I was only nine, okay?

In the grand tradition of comics imitating rating points, DC packaged a book that took inspiration from the cartoon series, complete with non-powered teenage and canine sidekicks. For whatever reason - common sense prevailing, perhaps - the typical earthling-type sidekicks were usurped in short order by a trio of extra-terrestrials named Zan, Jayna, and Gleek, The Wonder Chimp. Zan had the ability to transform his body into that of any shape of any form of water, and Jayna could change hers into any kind of animal. Or maybe it was the other way around. Like it matters.

Meanwhile, Gleek's only power seemed to be a very long, prehensile tail.

Yeah, you can just feel the excitement.

In all fairness, though, this book was targeted at a relatively young market, compared to the usual age range of DC's audience. It was a television tie-in aimed at fans of the cartoon, and on that level, the series worked well enough.

Ramona Fradon's artwork matched the tone of the source material very well, and the plots and dialogue hit their marks too. Surprisingly, series writers and editors even had room to indulge their own creative impulses, introducing many characters in those pages who would go on to form the collective Global Guardians team of heroes. Heck, one of 'em even made it into the Justice League! Well, okay, so it was during the Giffen years, but it still should count for something.

Not a bad legacy, Mr. Bridwell. Not too shabby at all.

- NP


The copyrights, trademarks and publication rights to Fred's cartoons belong to DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Fred Hembeck where appropriate. Proud Robot Productions graphics, site design, cartoon re-coloring and commentary copyrights belong to Neil Polowin and Proud Robot Productions.

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