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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Super Friends #21 - June 1979

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Comics Weekend "Battle Against The Super Friends" by E.Nelson Bridwell, Ramona Fradon, and Bob Smith.

Okay, the last couple issues of Super Friends we've covered here on the Shrine have been shockingly Aquaman-light, but I guarantee (because I looked through it first!) this adventure makes up for that:
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Inside the ship is Illik the Laughmaker and Ulpar the High Counselor from the Wonder Twins' planet Exor, who need help!

Turns out that the only other two shape-shifters from Exor, named Yeltu and Fegla, stowed away on a spaceship and when they learned there is a planet filled with costumed heroes, they decided to assume the identities of Superman and Wonder Woman--but this time as criminals!

With Yeltu and Feglad going on a crime wave on Exor, the Wonder Twins are asked to return to their home planet and stop them. The Twins, still considered escapees from Exor, ask their mentors for advice:
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The Super Friends go to Exor, and Superman and Wonder Woman take on their evil dopplegangers, and fairly quickly our heroes defeat them.

Yeltu and Fegla are brought back to the authorities, but before they can be handed over:
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Once again, Yeltu and Fegla are brought back in defeat, only for them to change forms again--this time into versions of Batman and Batgirl!

This time its Batman and Robin's turn, and once again Yeltu and Feglar are outmatched. Three strikes, and you're out:
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...the end!

While I don't think this is one of ENB's best Super Friends plots (Yeltu and Fegla are a particularly hapless set of bad guys), its great seeing Aquaman get such a large chunk of the action--in fact, his sequence is longer than either Superman and Wonder Woman's, or Batman and Robin's. Being a fan of Hawkgirl, bonus points for having her in there, too (even if its not really Shiera).

And of course, Aquaman drawn by Ramona Fradon is always the best!

7 comments:

Aaron said...

I've been picking those up lately and love them, the art is just so smooth and clear. I had a couple as a kid that stuck with me. I also really like Ramona's rendering of the Wonder Twins.

Wings1295 said...

Very cool. I always wished the introduction of Zan & Jayna into the "real" DCU would have been more successful.

Wings1295 said...

Cool post, Rob!

JoséVC said...

This is too funny! I posted about the same adventure last night in my Blog "Chicas de Rojo". My focus , of course was on "Birdwoman".

dannyagogo said...

I love this issue. I had it when I was a kid and would re-read the issue until the cover came off. This story was wonderful!

Scott said...

Thanks for posting this great SuperFriends story!

hobbyfan said...

I remember buying this second hand back in the day when I was trying to build the set after the series had ended. This was great fun. I have to agree with Wings in that the attempt to integrate the Twins into the current DCU hasn't worked out (largely because of how they've been written), but I'll take this any day of the week.

Not too fond of what DC's done to Aquaman in recent years, either, but then you have a generation of writers with new ideas that don't quite connect with the past. We need to educate today's readers, not render them ignorant of history.