Super Friends was a Saturday morning fixture for more than a decade, with new seasons every fall from 1973 to 1985 except 1974-76 and 1982; new episodes were produced in 1983 but didn’t air till later.
I had a front-row seat almost the entire time.
A comic book based on the series was published from 1976 to 1981, 47 issues in all. I began collecting with #19 in 1979, then tracked down many of the 18 back issues, and ultimately got a subscription—the first and only time I subscribed to a comic book.
The comic was interesting to me for a number of reasons:
- it sometimes included guest heroes who never appeared on the animated series—and were not even popular characters in mainstream DC comics
- it sometimes included villains who never appeared on the animated series
- it sometimes featured villains created for the comic who never appeared on the animated series or in other DC comics, though at least one did later cross over into “regular” continuity
- it introduced the Global Guardians, who also joined continuity
Statistics (covers only)
heroes who also appeared on show:
Hawkman
heroes who did not appear on show (not counting Global Guardians except Green Fury, who later became Fire):
(tied with Black Orchid for the most obscure guest star)
The Demon
Man-Bat (though a villain at the time)
(tied with TNT and Dyna-Mite for the most obscure guest star)
(inside: Weather Wizard, enemy of the Flash)
pre-existing villains who also appeared on show:
Cheetah (enemy of Wonder Woman)
The Penguin (enemy of Batman)
Solomon Grundy (enemy of multiple heroes)
pre-existing villains who did not appear on show:
Human Flying Fish (enemy of Aquaman)
Hector Hammond (enemy of Green Lantern)
(inside: Kanjar Ro, enemy of the Justice League)
original villains (none of whom appeared on the show):
(also appeared in #45 and #46; see below)
(also appeared in #33; see above)
(introduced in mainstream continuity in
Superman [volume 3] #48, 2016)
(also appeared in #39 and #43)
(inside: Green Lantern, Mera, Aqualad, Nubia, Green Fury)
This leaves 17 covers that fell into none of these categories.
Quick lists
heroes who also appeared on show:
The Atom
Green Arrow
Hawkman
Plastic Man
heroes who did not appear on show:
Red Tornado
TNT and Dyna-Mite
Swamp Thing
The Demon
Man-Bat
Black Orchid
Supergirl
Green Fury
pre-existing villains who also appeared on show:
Toyman *
Cheetah *
The Penguin
The Riddler *
Mirror Master
Bizarro *
Solomon Grundy *
Grodd *
Scarecrow *
Sinestro *
* members of Legion of Doom
pre-existing villains who did not appear on show:
Poison Ivy
Human Flying Fish
Grax
Time Trapper
Chronos
Queen Bee
Hector Hammond
original villains:
World Beater
Skyrocket
Greenback
Menagerie Man
Kingslayer
Overlord
Warhead
Futurio (Overlord)
Green Thumb
Futurio-XX (Overlord)
The Conquerer
