Super Friends Swim Set

Behold, a piece of vintage Aqua-merch I didn't know existed!

I've seen other pieces of kids' swim equipment with an Aquaman-centric Super Friends slapped on them, but this three-piece set is a new on me. Would it have killed the manufacturer to re-cast the pieces in orange or green? I guess the answer is yes. Still, I enjoy seeing Aquaman so prominent on a piece of SF merch, since he was so often unceremoniously dumped.

(h/t: F.O.A.M.er David Norek)

Super Friends Retro Aquaman Doll

Coming in March from Figures Toy Co. is this Mego-riffic Aquaman doll, part of the deluxe Super Friends line! The Sea King here is pretty close to the one seen in the cartoon, complete with tousled blonde hair. I hope he comes with a JLA Communicator that you can bury in the sand for a million years, as well.

(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Chris Franklin)

Super Friends Coloring Book Original Art by Alex Toth

Check this out! Later this month there's an auction of original preliminary drawings the master, Alex Toth, did for a 1975 Super Friends coloring book! I'm amazed stuff like this is still around, considering material like this was usually used in-house and then discarded. But of course, this is Alex Toth we're talking about here--even his napkin scribbles were worth preserving.

(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Ilke Hincer)

Missed Opportunity: Super Friends Pencil Cup

What do Brazilian merchandisers have against Aquaman? They actually had to go out of their way to remove Aquaman from this Super Friends logo before slapping it on this metal pencil cup. I mean, the standard SF logo comes with all five characters, why does a four-character version even exist?!?

One (small) bonus: Superman has yellow piping on his boots, a detail most colorists didn't bother with but I always enjoyed. Doesn't make up for the anti-Aquaman bias, however. Que diabos!


(h/t: Wonder Woman Collectors)

Challenge of the Super Friends Storyboards by Alex Toth

Check out these super-cool storyboards for episode 9 of Challenge of the Super Friends, "Revenge on Gorilla City" by the master, Alex Toth. Toth's little thumbnails were so beautiful, so full of life, that sometimes I think you could just print them all and release them as comic books, full stop.

I love how much energy and character Toth managed to put into the faces of Giganta and Grodd, and how simply rendered Black Manta's chrome dome is. They are a pure pleasure to look at.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #12 - Nov. 2014

Comics Weekend "A (Super) Friend In Need Part 2" by Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, and Franco Riesco.

At the end of last issue, a band of ghosts were revealed to be The Legion of Doom. Worse yet, all the Super Friends were zapped into some nether-dimension, leaving just the Scooby Gang to deal with them!

The Gang takes off in all directions, with Velma, Shaggy and Scooby actually outsmarting Bizarro by appealing to his opposite nature: since his fellow villains are his friends, that means he should attack them! Of course!

During the commotion, they head to the kitchen, where the Super Friends have been miniaturized:

Even at their reduced size, the Super Friends manage to bring the pain to the Legion of Doom. Superman and Wonder Woman play some chin music for Solomon Grundy, Batman and Robin trip Scarecrow, and Aquaman leads Gorilla Grodd into the pool room, seemingly playing chicken. But of course:

Sinestro, looking for an easy win, prepares to blast Shaggy and Scooby. But his power ring, attracted to fear, makes a beeline for the biggest source of it in the room: the quivering forms of Shaggy and Scooby! They are turned into Yellow Lanterns, and Shag uses the ring to restore the Super Friends back to regular size. 

That makes the battle even easier, leaving only Luthor who is wielding yet another ultimate weapon. Just at that moment, Supergirl escapes the trap she was in and grabs it, smashing it to bits. The Super Friends then pay compliments to their young friends, and they make a trade:

Re rend!


Oh, why couldn't have Hanna Barbera done this as real episode?!? Writer Sholly Fisch perfectly captures the tones of both shows, keeping the story perfect for wee kids but dropping in bits of DC minutiae that made me smile. Now all we need for this series is a solo team-up between the Scooby Gang and Aquaman!

(Note: The Shrine reviewed the digital edition)

Aquaman Loves To Point!

(Photo collage courtesy F.O.A.M.er Chuck D.C. Dill)

Scooby-Doo! Team-Up #11 - Oct. 2014

Comics Weekend "A (Super) Friend In Need" by Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, and Franco Riesco.

Ruh-roh! Rit's rhe Ruper Riends!

At the Hall of Justice, the Super Friends come to a startling conclusion:

Fred can't understand why the World's Greatest Superheroes need the help of the Scooby Gang, but Batman shows them why: on the HOJ's closed-circuit TV, everyone sees that one of the Rainbow Ghosts took on Superman...and made him disappear!

The others don't want the word to get out that Superman is nowhere to be seen:

The Scooby Gang dress up as Wendy, Marvin, Wonder Dog, and The Wonder Twins, and a replacement for Superman is brought in...The Maid of Might, Supergirl! Right then, the Troubalert goes off, having noticed the arrival of two more of the Rainbow Ghosts...right there in the Hall of Justice!

Aquaman and Wonder Woman go after the Purple Ghost, to no effect. What's going on here?

Another ghost then zaps Batman and Robin, and then another paralyzes Supergirl. They surround the Scooby Gang, revealing their true identities. Fred unmasks one of the ghosts, revealing it to be...The Scarecrow? Then that probably means the other ghosts are:

Ruh-roh! Ro re ronrinued!


Aquaman is all over this week's DC comics, so I decided to pick something fun, and boy was this comic that! Sholly Fisch, who wrote DC Super Friends, completely nails the classic H-B storytelling style, and this team-up makes me long for an episode of Scooby-Doo that featured the Super Friends and the Legion of Doom. That would have been better than a giant sandwich!

There's a really cute moment where all the Scooby Gang geek out over the fact that they're hanging with the Super Friends, with Daphne clearly taking a shine to Aquaman. The Sea King does really, really well with red-heads.

(Note: We Are reviewing the digital edition, the print edition was released this week)

Behind the Scenes with the Super Friends

Back when DC steroided-up a lot of their regular series into monthly 100-page giants, they slotted in lots of fun little bonus material to fill up the books (in this case, World's Finest Comics #224). Case in point, this keen "Behind the Scenes with the Super Friends" three-page feature giving all us kids a glimpse into how the show is made.

While Aquaman is not seen or mentioned in this piece (other than in the classic SF stock art by Alex Toth), I still love it: I think it was via the Super Friends show that I first ever saw Aquaman, and it was articles like these that helped plant the seeds for my future career in illustration. Plus, I could look at those Toth storyboards all day!

The Super Friends in Austin, Texas!

This super fun, super friendly (see what I did there?) cover to the 1/4/13 edition of The Austin Chronicle is by artist Jason Stout, featuring our heroes participating in presumably Austin-like activities (I say "presumably" because I don't live there, though at times I wish I did).

I'm not sure Aquaman would ever cook one of his lobster pals, and do so gleefully, but I don't think we can take any of this too seriously. Rather, let's just be impressed by Stout's spot-on parody of the original, classic Alex Toth illustration, and the fact that the paper published it in the first place! Having toiled in this field for over a decade, I can tell you how rare it is that this parody was executed so faithfully, from the DC Bullet to the Comics Code. Nicely done all around!


This piece was unashamedly stolen from F.O.A.M.er (and my pal) Max Romero's blog Great Ceasar's Post. Thanks Max!

Super Friends in The Monster Times

This gem of an article about the nascent Super Friends TV show comes from a 1973 edition of The Monster Times. Apparently the writer was none-too-pleased with the show, as the write-up shows. Click the image to embiggen and see other snarky comments about the show!

I found this on the blog of Big Time Comics Pro Al Bigley, who is always managing to undercover cool stuff and posts it for all of us to enjoy. Thanks Al!

"Aquaman looks like a foppish Robert Redford"?

Super Friends Rubber Swim Mask

F.O.A.M.er Ray DeForest sent in this shot of a Super Friends-brand Rubber Swim Mask, which featured customized packaging that, for once, highlighted Aquaman!

Which only makes sense of course--if you've got a gross of kids' swim gear and you've just purchased the Super Friends license, you're going to spotlight Aquaman, even if he was unceremoniously dumped from the stock art logo:

What's interesting is that I have my own Super Friends/Aquaman brand rubber swim mask, which we covered on the Shrine last year. But that version comes in some slightly different packaging:

The one Ray bought on eBay, pictured above, comes attached to a card, as opposed to mine, which was sold in a plastic bag. Great Neptune, we've got a variant here!

Thanks Ray!

Super Friends Toy Car by AHI

The Super Friends go vroom, vroom!

While I've generally given up trying to collect every piece of Aquaman merchandise that's out there, this extremely HTF Super Friends Car remains one of my Holy Grails. Before this, I had only seen small pictures of it, like in catalogs. But thank to F.O.A.M.er Brian Heiler and his blog Plaid Stallions, we can now enjoy these awesome close-up shots:

This is such a weird toy for a number of reasons--why are the Super Friends even driving a car? Why are Superman and Batman standing in the back of it like they're in a parade? And where's Wonder Woman? Not that I'm complaining, but 9 times out of 10 she would be used on stuff like this in favor of Aquaman.

And it's that fact that makes this piece so cherished by me (and Brian). Aquaman's inclusion is so unusual that it makes it a Must Have for an Aquaman collector. Even Arthur himself looks a bit shocked to be on this particular road trip!

Thanks for the pics Brian!

Super Friends Storyboards by Alex Toth

I found this scan of some Super Friends storyboards by The Master, Alex Toth, on a random Google search one day--Batman and Robin vs. Black Manta! (click to embiggen)

Alex Toth's storyboards were so complete, so evocative, that I'd love to see someone compile them all into one book and just release it as a sort of comic book--you pretty much can follow his boards like they're completed art, they're that good.

I honestly don't remember what episode of this is from--it would have to be Challenge of the Super Friends since that's the only SF series that Manta appeared in. Anyone have an idea of the episode?

Super Friends Promo Art - 1979

This 8x10" piece of Super Friends promo art was put up on sale on eBay, and pointed out to the Shrine by our newest F.O.A.M. member, Tom Fardy.

The seller didn't provide much info, but when I asked they said it was a promo piece sent out to the network. I dunno; this seems like an odd piece to use for such a cause (black and white? just Aquaman?). Nevertheless, I like it!

Thanks Tom, and welcome to F.O.A.M.!

Los Super Amigos Covers

So what, you may be asking, the hell is this?

Well, according to F.O.A.M.er Carlos Mucha, when the 1970s Super Friends comic was reprinted for the Argentina market, they had the covers--almost always by the incomparable Ramona Fradon--completely redrawn by another artist named Oscar Stepancich! And as we'll see from the further examples below, Mr. Stepancich took more than a few liberties with Ms. Fradon's layouts:

As you can see, a common element is the removal of Aquaman from SF group shots. Now, ready as I am (at a moment's notice!) to accuse someone of having an anti-Aquaman bias, I have to admit I bet the reason the Sea King was removed so frequently was, often as not, Aquaman tended to be in the back. So if you were just trying to get the thing done, you left off the more ancillary characters, and that usually meant Aquaman.

Why Ramona Fradon's work, which is so simple and iconic, was deemed not acceptable for Argentinian comics readers is a complete mystery. But since I love seeing foreign editions like this, in all their goofy glory, I'm kinda glad they did!

Thanks Carlos!

Super Friends Swim Goggles - 1979

This is a pair of Super Friends brand swim goggles...let's just let it sink in for minute that on a pair of swim goggles, Aquaman has been removed from the Super Friends group shot by Alex Toth.

Luckily, he is pictured on the original illustration adorning the rest of the package. I guess it was too much to ask that Aquaman be the one teaching the kid to swim, not Superman.

The exciting thing about this product is that it came with an original mini-comic, "Aquateers Meets The Super Friends." Unfortunately, I've never seen the book in person, or found any real details on it on the web (even Mike's Amazing World of DC doesn't have that much on it). I think I saw it for sale on eBay once; had I known it was so scarce I would have picked it up!

This pic was sent to me by F.O.A.M.er Kyall Coulton, who put it up on his awesome WonderWomanCollectors.com site. Thanks Kyall!

Whitman Coloring Book Display - 1980

I found this little curio for sale at a Hake's auction last week--a header card for a coloring book display made by Whitman.

This was one of those cardboard displays (or "dumps", as they are less-than-charitably known) that sat in department stores, just eye-level for kids. They worked on me, that's for sure. Even without the color yellow, Wonder Woman and Aquaman are easily recognizable, thanks to Alex Toth's genius character designs.

I think we can all agree, it was great when The Lone Ranger joined the Super Friends. Wait, what?

Super Friends Party Hat

I found these pics on eBay, I remember having these when I was a kid--it's not a party unless the Super Friends are there!

Note: the package's label tag could probably be duller, but I'm not sure how.

Super Friends 8x10

I saw this Super Friends 8x10" (that was the sum total of the description) for sale on eBay, and its sheer...off-modelness struck me. Is this from an episode? If so, I don't recognize it--it kinda looks like the Super Friends are taking on Space Ghost's old enemy Zorak!

It also looks like something hobbled together with Alex Toth model sheets--why else would Superman just be flying by and not stopping to help, or Aquaman be riding his sea horse in through the sky??

In any case, I dig it!