When the Super Friends finally returned to television with new episodes, they were of a somewhat different character. First and foremost, the pacing was quickened as these were not hour-long single stories, but an essemble of shorter tales. Typically an episode of what was now called The All New Super Friends Hour began with a shorter story featuring one of the four mainstays (Superman, Batman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman) teaming with a lesser known hero such as Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Green Lantern, Flash or a few times even Rima the Jungle Girl. Then we had a cautionary tale for youngsters featuring the Wonder Twins (more later). Then a longer epic tale with most of the team which often had wild fantasy elements and lastly a final tale again with a few members.
The biggest change was the removal of Wendy and Marvin and Wonder Dog (never addressed on the TV show but explained in the comic book) and the addition of Zan and Jayna the Wonder Twins with their monkey Gleek. They were aliens from a planet called Exxor and when they touched and said a key phrase, they changed. Zan could be any form of water, including countless things made of ice. He seemed also not to be limited by volume. Jayna turned into animals and they were almost exclusively Earth creatures. They looked alike and rarely was one seen without the other. Gleek was comedy relief and better at it than hapless Wonder Dog.
This version of the Super Friends was snappy and played well to an audience which with each passing year was losing more and more attention span. These are a great deal of fun to watch, but the stiff formula loses its edge by season's end.
But The Super Friends had at long last become a part of DC's publishing schedule as well, with talents like writer E. Nelson Bridwell, Ric Estrada, Ernie Chan helping to launch the book. Later Ramona Fradon came on as regular artist and gave this title a handsome flavor all its own, a worthy addition to the DC line-up in a time when the company needed friends of all kinds, super and other wise.
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The Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna, with their monkey Gleek, were a definite improvement over their predecessors. If there had to be "teens in training" at least these teens had some unique powers of their own that could be put to use during the adventures. Breaking the hour down into smaller segments was another good idea. However, the second version of the Super Friends needed that first season as sort of a warm-up, because by this time the series feels like it is starting to hit its stride.
ReplyDeleteThe 3-part comic book story arc chronicling the departure of Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog along with the arrival of Zan and Jayna is a great story in its own right. It's very satisfying to see the transition being played out, and to see one adventure that contains all of the junior partners working together beside the first-stringers.
The comic book managed, even better than the TV series, to tell compelling stories that worked as part of the DC universe. If memory serves, there was even some cross-referencing with other comic books in the narration boxes. At the same time, the print version maintained a degree of consistency with the animated version.
The Super Friends comic book was always a fave of mine. When that launched I was in a DC-loving groove and found the light-hearted stories very involving. The tempo really does improve, though I've noticed going forward to other seasons I somewhat miss the pace of the 1973 stories, but not totally. Bridwell knew his comics and knew how to bridge the space between the JLofA and the lighter Super Friends and Ramona Fradon's art was ideal.
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Super Friends added ethnic heroes such as Apache Chief, Samurai and Black Vulcan because of some network edict. HB wanted to use Black Lightning, but didn't want to pay Tony Isabella, so they created their own imitation. (From what I understand, Tony's still angry about that.)
ReplyDeleteI respect Tony, but sadly he's angry about a lot of things. I've been reading his blog (at lots of different places) pretty much since I discovered the internet over twenty years ago and his genuine fervor for comics is only mitigated a bit by a tinge of bitterness. But if it had been me, I might still carry a grudge too.
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