Super Friends #2 - Dec. 1976

Comics Weekend "Trapped By the Super Foes" by E. Nelson Bridwell, Ric Estrada, and Vince Colletta.

After all the death, blood, and misery from last week's Comics Weekend, I thought we'd switch it up again and talk about something far more cheerful: The Super Friends!

This issue picks up the continued story in the title's first issue (which I profiled back in 2007), where the Super Friends not only have to take on a group of their own individual super-villains, but the junior partners of those villains!:

...notice that Aquaman isn't wearing his green gloves? It'll get worse!

Anyway, two of the junior super-foes, Kitten and Chick (the proteges of the Cheetah and the Penguin, respectively), have been captured by Wendy and Marvin, and are holed up in the Hall of Justice.

Turns out, though, this was Chick's plan, and thanks to a homing device in his umbrella, he signaled the Super Foes to come to the Hall of Justice, and then they trick Marvin into opening their HQ's security door, allowing the villains to get inside!

Wonder Dog, being the smartest of the three junior Super Friends, sneaks away, and manages to make his way into the JLA Teleportation Tube, beaming himself up to the JLA Satellite, where he meets another superhero:

(See? Again with the no gloves!)

Anyway, Superman uses Krypto to communicate with Wonder Dog, so Krypto can "translate" for his master, Superman!

While this insane idea plays out, we see the Super-Foes tie Wendy and Marvin to some giant balloons, sending them into the sky. Then the Toyman will send his toy hummingbirds out to pop the balloons, sending the Junior Super Friends plummeting to their deaths. The Junior Super-Foes are uncertain about going this far: its one thing to steal money, but...murder?

Luckily for Wendy and Marvin, the Super Friends arrive to save Wendy and Marvin, but the Super-Foes sneak away before they can be captured.

Suddenly, the Super Friends Troubalert starts going off like crazy, all over the world, causing them to have to split off to take care of all the crises. Its here Aquaman--still sans gloves--finally gets something to do:

Batman and Robin go after the Penguin and the Toyman, but with the help of their sidekicks, the villains manage to knock Batman and Robin out.

When the Penguin and Toyman plan to "finish off" the two, the Junior Super-Foes revolt. Then Wendy and Marvin show up (they tagged along in the Batmobile), and convince all the youngsters to never trust a villain over thirty, and rebel against their mentors, which they do.

Penguin manages to start up the giant robot he'd been building, but its not much of a match for Superman, who has also just arrived:

I love how relaxed Aquaman looks, sitting up there. At least he's got his gloves on this time.

Luckily for us Aqua-Fans, the Sea King's meager presence in the Super Friends' initial storyline would not be the norm, and he'd get a lot more to do as E. Nelson Bridwell continued writing the book.


I mentioned in my post about the first issue how shocked I was at the costume of Poison Ivy's sidekick Honeysuckle, which was so skimpy I couldn't believe it passed muster at the Comics Code, especially in what was supposed to be a book for very young kids.

Honeysuckle makes a very brief appearance in this issue--only a handful of panels--but she is in her full glory on page two:

I like the body language between Cheetah and Kitten on the right. I can almost hear the Cheetah say: "No sidekick of mine is going to dress like that! You'll wear a top-to-bottom bodysuit and you'll like it! Mrrrrowrrr!"