Pop Culture Safari!

Pop Focus: Super Friends of the 1970s!

Seven-year-old me couldn't wait to see the debut of "The Super Friends" on Sept. 8, 1973. ABC aired a sneak preview of it, along with the rest of its new Saturday morning lineup the night before.

I don't know if I slept a wink. But I still managed to awake in time to catch the show. Thank goodness since, in the days before VCRs, if you missed it, you missed it.

I was a huge Batman fan. I liked Superman. At this point, I was starting to pick up comics here and there, but didn't yet know a thing about Wonder Woman or Aquaman. I really dug Aquaman, as I was really into swimming at time. I used to plunge underwater and swim as far as I could before surfacing.

By statute in the 1970s, all Hanna-Barbera cartoons were obligated to feature a goofy dog, which the Super Friends did, along with "kids-we-could-identify-with" Wendy and Marvin. Even at 7, I wanted less of these goofballs and more superheroes.

Later, of course. Wendy and Marvin were replaced by the super-powered Wonder Twins. Which was just as lame. Making them super-powered didn't make them superheroes. Get out of the way so I can see more Batman.

Below are some pics, videos and memorabilia of the early Super Friends. Over the course of the 70s, the series changed its lineup and name and I grew up. I don't know a damn thing about "Challenge of the Super Friends" and the "Legendary Super Powers Show" or any of that. For me it all started i 1973 and ended a few years later.

In the early 1970s, Mego had the rights to make DC Comics-based action figures. And this was a very good thing. However, it little in the way of Super Friends-branded toys. There was a lunchbox, though.

The great comics artist Alex Toth did the character designs for the Super Friends. His career in animation also saw him work on Space Ghost, Johnny Quest and many other Saturday Morning favorites of the 1960s and 70s.

I also have fond memories of -- and still own-- this DC tabloid edition featuring Justice League reprints and a feature written and illustrated by Toth about the animation process.

I have a few issues of the DC's Super Friends comics series, but quickly opted for the real deal in the Justice League, instead. The Super Friends comics were recently reprinted in one of DC's giant Showcase Presents volumes.

Doctor Who season 8 teaser! Show debuts Aug. 23!

Here's the first trailer for "Doctor Who" season 8, which starts Aug. 23.

The feature length premiere episode entitled “Deep Breath” will see Peter Capaldi take on one of TV’s most iconic roles as the Twelfth Doctor, alongside Jenna Coleman as his companion Clara.

ZBS Media announces Saratoga Noir audio/comics series!

I've been a fan of ZBS' mystical/magical/comical audio programs since I first discovered Jack Flanders and the "Fourth Tower of Inverness" back in 1975.

Great stories that still dazzle today. So I always enjoy passing along news of their latest programs. This one looks like fun. Check out the ZBS website for more info. If you haven't tried any of these shows, and are a fan of old radio shows and good stories, you really need to. Any other fans out there? Let me know in the comments!

Above is an example of things to come. On Monday, June 30^th, we’ll post Episode #1 of Saratoga Noir. There are 20 episodes, we will offer them all, for free, on our website www.zbs.org

Along with the comic strip is the audio; a magnificent example of contemporary comic-strip radio drama created just for the internet. Many of the same actors you’ve heard in Ruby and Jack Flanders are playing different characters, acting their little hearts out, in Saratoga Noir.

Why Noir?

Because Saratoga Springs has such an amazing history, the oldest racetrack in the country, the old gambling casinos, the old spas and healing spring waters, and the shady characters that lurked about in the shadows. Even though this is set in present-day Saratoga, there’s plenty going on right now.

The Plot

Danny Boyee, a local private investigator, who is barely paying the rent, is hired to find a pussycat; a Balinese wearing a very expensive diamond collar. Vicki Millhouse, an ex-showgirl who married into old Saratoga money, hires Danny to find her kidnapped cat. But something as simple as finding a pussycat, quickly turns into danger and intrigue for unsuspecting Danny Boyee.

The Episodes

Starting June 30^th, Episode #1, the comic strip and the audio, will be on the ZBS website. It will be up all week. And then every Monday, and every Friday, a new episode will be released. The series will play throughout the summer. We do hope you’ll catch a few. They really are fun (as you can see above).

CDs & MP3 Downloads

You will be able to buy the series one day. But for now, it’s free.

Today's Best Picture Ever: Herbie Hancock!

Pop Culture Roundup: Jack Kirby play! Dick Tracy finds Annie! Simonson returns to Thor! Andy Warhol album covers!

The New York Times has a thumbs-up review for a new off-Broadway show about comics artists Jack Kirby.

In closest focus are Kirby’s knotty dealings at Marvel in the 1960s and ‘70s with Lee, who was then Kirby’s boss. (Nat Cassidy, in a sly impersonation, presents a tireless news media self-promoter.) With Lee, Kirby created a revolution in the field; Kirby visualized numerous characters now ubiquitous in movies, television and licensing. In the play, Lee — nephew of Marvel’s publisher, Martin Goodman (Mr. Reynolds again, embodying icy, ruthless capitalism) — parrots the company line, denying Kirby’s request for royalties, rights to characters, and even the vast majority of his penciled originals. Lee is a celebrity, while the humble Kirby, Marvel’s golden goose, is paid merely by the drawn page. “Why does everyone worship the bosses?” Kirby cries, defeated.

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Little Orphan Annie went missing from the comics pages back in 2010. Now Dick Tracy is looking for her.

The case for the detective, also part of Tribune, began on June 1 and will last through the end of September. The long story line is worthy of the two characters and their historic meeting, said the writer Mike Curtis, who works on the strip with the illustrator Joe Staton. “This kind of thing never happened back in the day,” he said, despite the fact that the characters’ creators, Harold Gray (Annie, in 1924) and Chester Gould (Dick Tracy, in 1931), were friends and enjoyed each other’s work. Dick and Annie will meet very soon, Mr. Curtis said, and he promises more surprises ahead, including a change in art style once Annie arrives.

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Cartoonist Walt Simonson is returning to Thor, but not the Marvel Comics version.

In "Ragnarök," the award-winning writer/artist tells his own version of the Norse apocalypse, one where Thor sits out the final battle with the Midgard Serpent, allowing the dark gods to destroy Asgard and take over the nine worlds -- until the God of Thunder returns.

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There's more to Andy Warhol album cover art than bananas and the Velvet Underground. The Vinyl Factor counts down the artist's Top 25 LP covers here.