Powers activating in San Antonio

The week of September 16, I spoke at schools and a conference in San Antonio. 

In my school presentation, I typically show a Super Friends drawing I made at age 8. On 9/19/19, at San Antonio Academy, an 8-year-old asked who the two in purple are. 

As I began to explain the Wonder Twins, a teacher spontaneously came up to help demonstrate...

Which, as will be no surprise, was a first for me. And hopefully not a last.

Adding to the memorable visit, the boys showed their empathy by giving the presentation a standing ovation. 

Though it was probably all because of the Wonder Twins reenactment...

Allusions to one of my books in another

At times, I nod at one of my books in another of my books.

Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman features a silent cameo by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman. 

They're standing behind the seated man, Jerry Robinson.

Brave Like My Brother (is fiction but) mentions Jerry and Joe several times as the story's stateside scenes take place in Cleveland.

Brave Like My Brother also winks at Bill the Boy Wonder's Bill Finger in that the diner where one of the main characters works is called Milton's (Bill's given name).

The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra pays small tribute to Fairy Spell (which isn't even out yet!)...but not by me. 

In fact, I did not even know about it till the day the Fairy Spell cover was revealed online (8/7/17), when Chupacabra illustrator Ana Aranda shared with me a fun revelation of her own: among the adorable spot drawings on the Chupacabra endpapers, you can see the chupacabra playing with dolls of various myths—including a fairy. Thanks again, Ana!

The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra also contains a cheeky if unofficial appearance by another superhero (and without Jerry and Joe, we might not have any). The lead goat is named Jayna…as was one of the Wonder Twins on the 1970s cartoon Super Friends. Her power? To transform into any animal...

Surely more to come…

"Chupacabra" tweets (plus a pop culture reference)

The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra released on 3/7/17 with the goal of making people laugh, and I'm happy to report that several have. Here is proof:

Though I like Star Wars, I am also not a MEGA fan, and as such, this allusion...

...was unintentional.

However, there IS a pop culture reference in the book…in fact from the same decade…but it goes beyond a one-off phrase.

A hint: "activate."

An easier hint.

Wonder Twins movie hoax revelation: media response

Yesterday I debunked a mystery that was never fully bunked to begin with.

In November, several comic shops nationwide received a poster allegedly announcing a Warner Bros. movie about the Wonder Twins.

Many people did not believe it. 

But they did not know what it did mean.

I interviewed the guy who does.

And here is how the media responded:

 

Hollywood Reporter

Newsarama

Huffington Post

IGN

 

Comic Book Resources (Robot 6)

Comics Alliance

Bleeding Cool

 
Also /Film (SlashFilm), ScreenCrush, ComicBook.com, Comic Book Movie, MStars News (where I am referred to by a title I did not know I had, “hoax exposer”).

Thank you to Pat Evans for giving us something fun to speculate about and thank you to the outlets above for activating the coverage.

Wonder Twins poster mystery: shape of an explanation!

One of the entertainment highlights of my youth was watching Super Friends.

One of the entertainment highlights of my career was interviewing Super Friends—in other words, the voice actors I grew up with.

One of the highlights of that project was finding and being the first to reunite the Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, portrayed by Michael Bell and Louise Rodricks.

One of the highlights of a recent Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman interview I gave to BatPodcast was discovering that the podcast host, Pat Evans, had a connection to a mysterious superhero-related movie poster that had made the rounds in the real world and online in November 2013.

Pat kindly agreed to reveal the story behind the mystery poster here, so the interviewee became the interviewer.

What inspired the idea to design a poster for a Wonder Twins movie—and send it anonymously to comic shops including Midtown Comics in New York?

I honestly don’t remember the exact moment of conception. I was standing on my toilet trying to hang a clock, the porcelain was wet, the next thing I know: blammo!

Seriously, though…with the spate of superhero movies being released, I think it was just me thinking it would be fun to do a spoof version of one. I thought, “What would be the most preposterous superhero movie you could make?” Naturally, the Wonder Twins sprang to mind.

They were perfect, because it was just unbelievable enough a concept that it could be true, if that makes sense. “So crazy it might work” kind of logic. And Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher were kind of the clincher because they are in the media a lot now as a real-life couple. So it added that extra layer of “huh?”

When did you get this idea and when did you send it out? Was there a reason you sent it out when you did?

About ten months ago. I’m pretty busy, so sometimes my side projects take a while to complete. I had actually wanted to have them ready for Comic-Con but wasn’t able to. The next big local event was Comikaze, so I thought I’d take some there to leave on the poster table and them stand back and surreptitiously watch people’s reactions.

Unfortunately, this year they didn’t have a poster table so I had to sort of leave them lying in conspicuous places and wait for people to notice them. So it was a little anti-climactic although I did get to see a few interesting reactions. But my friends and fellow geeks I showed loved them. Many were not sure if they were real or not.

Also unfortunately, I didn’t think to change the release date from when I originally conceived the idea. I should have changed it to 2015— maybe that would have made it more believable as an actual film. Of course, with IMDB and everything now, it takes people about five seconds to figure out the truth anyway.

But what was weird is because people assumed that it was officially from Warner Brothers, it must be part of some sort of marketing gimmick for the Entourage movie because of their fake Aquaman movie and since it is due out in 2014. One person put forth that assumption online, and a lot of people ran with it. Repeat it enough times and it’s true!

So to finish answering your last question: I sent it to Midtown and the other more well-known comic shops in New York, L.A., and Chicago because I wasn’t able to pull off any great reactions at Comikaze and I had about half of the posters still left. So I said what the hell, I’ll send it to some comic shops and see what happens. I wanted to do something with them after all the trouble of having them made.

When I made the mailing labels, I figured I should put the WB logo on them—make them look like they actually came from Warner Bros. Otherwise the gag is blown. Same with the logos on the poster. They had to be there or people instantly dismiss it.

[Still,] I figured they’d pretty quickly know it was fake but maybe think it was funny and put it in their windows as a joke. I forgot about the magic of Twitter.

What was your goal with this experiment?

Basically to make people think—if only for a few moments—that a Wonder Twins movie might actually be made. Sort of the equivalent of making someone believe in Santa Claus. A dangerous, drooling, and demented Santa Claus to be sure—but miraculous and magical nonetheless.

What reaction did you expect?

“What the ****?” And that’s pretty much what I got. So, mission accomplished, I guess.

What was your reaction to the comics media picking up the story?

I was pretty blindsided. Very surprising. It was pretty big: Cinema Blend, Huffington Post, Superhero Hype, Slashfilm, etc., plus it was the subject of several YouTube videos like AMC Movie Talk—where John Schnepp actually busts it as a fake. I gave him a poster at Comikaze. You were supposed to keep it a secret, damn you, John! Of course people already knew it was fake, they just didn’t know what to make of it.

And actually, the Wonder Twins is not my first viral fake movie poster.

A few years ago Cracked.com did a Photoshop contest for “The Most Ill-Conceived Movie Monsters.” I submitted two—one for Coultergeist (self explanatory) and one with Javier Bardem as Count Chocula. Coultergeist won the top spot and Count Chocula took 3rd place, if I recall. But Count Chocula was the one that everyone really seemed to like and it went fairly viral. Defamer did an article, a few other people put it on their blogs, and the poster appeared in the print edition of the Washington Post.

Defamer put forth the notion that there should be a trilogy of Monster Cereal movies and suggested Philip Seymour Hoffman as Frankenberry, Jake Gyllenhaal as BooBerry. So I obliged them and sent them versions of those posters as well, which also appeared on their site.

You can see them as well as my series of fake Steven Seagal movie posters on my website. And that’s actually where I got my website name, Rogue Photoshop. The author of the Defamer article identified me as a “Rogue Photoshopper.” Sounded good to me!

What has been your favorite response/comment?

I watched someone angrily crumple one up at Comikaze. I couldn’t make out what they were saying but I’m quite sure it wasn’t complimentary.

I’m pretty pleased that my artwork stood up to the scrutiny—people thought it was official in some capacity. No one really said it looked like a fake. That is very rewarding.

And the fact that you wanted to interview me about it is pretty great.

Are you a Wonder Twins fan? If not, what made you choose the Wonder Twins for this experiment?

Who doesn’t love the Wonder Twins? Seriously. Just ask my kids, Zan and Jayna. [MTN: I had to clarify: yes, this is a joke.]

What do you do for a living?

Well, my mail-order sandwich business just went belly up, so I’m currently “pursuing other opportunities” (isn’t that what people say when they royally screw up their lives?). I’m joking, of course—my mail-order sandwich business is quite lucrative.

Other than that, I produce my wife Jamie’s music. We just released her second CD and it is amazing. It’s going to be big; she’s an incredible singer. She’s already had a lot of songs in movies and TV shows; she did the theme song for Heather Langenkamp’s documentary about playing “Nancy” in the Nightmare on Elm Street films (“I Am Nancy”). This new CD is her best stuff yet.

And from time to time I do graphic design projects—mainly for my own amusement like the fake posters—but I have done a few CD covers for people including my wife’s new CD and comedian Sean Kent who is a buddy of mine from back when I worked in the showroom at the Hollywood Improv.

I also am a huge lifelong Batman fan and have just started my new podcast, The BatPodcast.

I interview all sorts of awesome folks from the Batman Universe—actors, writers, artists, stuntmen, vehicle designers—trying to uncover interesting tidbits and stories you may not have heard before. I’ve got some fantastic interviews already; I’m very excited.

It’s the first step in my goal to make my life revolve completely around Batman…as much as it can anyway. My ultimate goal is to open a Batman Museum on Hollywood Boulevard.

How many posters did you produce?

Just 50. It was always meant to be a small-scale prank.

I’ve seen comments from fans who want one; Warner Bros., I say you commission Pat for both poster design and social media marketing!

I won’t disagree with you there. In fact, I’ll take it a step further: President of Warner Brothers. Then you’ll have nothing but Wonder Twins movies. It will be the next big tentpole franchise…I stake my life on it!

But seriously, since there’s already been a buzz about this being part of the Entourage movie, I think they should just weave it into the film. Get Kevin Smith to play himself as the director of a Wonder Twins movie but it’s running into all sorts of production problems. There could be a situation where the studio wants to replace Ashton Kutcher with Vince. Maybe there ends up being a love triangle between them and Mila.

Or hey, why not just go ahead and make an actual Wonder Twins movie? The great thing about it is you could do it however you wanted…because who really cares? No one would be expecting anything from it so you could afford to do something creative. Just because they were cheesy on the Super Friends doesn’t mean you couldn’t come up with a really interesting version of them.

You might as well. You’ve already got the poster!

1/16/14 addendum: Form of a media storm!

Super ‘70s and ‘80s: Thank you to all who participated

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Between 12/09 and 7/11, I compiled this series; what started as a few unconnected interviews ended up being an expansive, cohesive feature that, when pasted into Word, fills more pages than I would be sane to reveal.

Along the way, I was fortunate to meet seven of the people I interviewed, most of whom I’d been curious about since childhood. As it happens, those seven people represented five of the ten subseries in this series without repeats.

Thank you again to you seven...

with Jody Spence and Reyna Blasko, Sea World skiers
April 2010, Las Vegas

with Bo Rucker, the pimp from Superman: The Movie
May 2010, New York

with Liberty Williams and Michael Bell, the Wonder Twins from Super Friends
July 2011, Los Angeles

with Garrett Craig, Captain Marvel from Legends of the Superheroes
July 2011, Los Angeles

with Mick Smiley, "Magic" singer/songwriter
July 2011, Los Angeles

...and, of course, the other 93.

Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—Liberty Williams (Wonder Twin Jayna)

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries "Super Friends" (including a list of interviewees).

Notes I took during my initial phone call with Liberty Williams, now Louise Rodricks:

• Ultra-sweet and polite: “May I call you Marc?”
• I explained how she was one of the harder ones to find and she was not surprised by that.
• Her name “Liberty” came not from the bicentennial as I’d guessed but from a ham sandwich served at a club she performed at in Hawaii. (That was going to be my second guess.) Full story below.
• She and Mike Bell (Zan) are really funny together.
• I asked if she’d rather do interview by e-mail or phone and she said phone because it might trigger her memory more.

How did you get the job on Super Friends?

I auditioned for Hanna-Barbera and it was the first time I had gone up for any kind of voice-over. But I had been doing a lot of on-camera sitcoms. I got a call back and got it. It was kind of beginner’s luck in that arena.

Liberty Williams in Tabatha pilot (1977)

Do you remember what they told you about Jayna?

She was the youngest member of the Super Friends and she had a twin. Her power was she could turn into any kind of animal. The twin could turn into any kind of water. They worked for this group of super-beings.

Were you familiar with the other characters before you got the job?

I grew up knowing about Superman and Wonder Woman from comic books.

You wouldn’t describe yourself as a fan, though, right?

I don’t think I thought about it one way or the other. I thought of them as positive characters. But I was never like “Oh my god, if I get this part I’ll be one of the superheroes.” (laughs)

Did you audition with Michael Bell [who played Jayna’s twin brother, Zan]?

We saw each other the first time for the first read. You got the script when you went in. You were standing in a row. Everyone had a music stand and a mike. I stood next to Mike. We had this gesture “Wonder Twin powers, activate!”

Did you do the gesture in person?

You mean as we were recording it?

Yes.

Yes [we did it while recording].

Every time?

I think pretty much every time. I don’t remember exactly. It got your energy up.

Michael Bell and Louise Rodricks, 2011

Jayna was smaller and shapely. I don’t know if they had me before her or her before me. (laughs) Not that we looked identical but there was a certain look about her [that I shared]. I worked with Shannon Farnon. She wouldn’t have been Jayna and I wouldn’t have been Wonder Woman, if they were casting it for live-action TV.

You didn’t get the script till you went in?

That’s what I remember. Because you were reading, you didn’t have to memorize it. Or they may have given them to us the night before.

The Wonder Twins gesture became quite famous. Did the other voice actors get a kick out of it?

I just remember our arms would go up. Everyone was concentrating on their next part so it wasn’t like “Oh my god, those crazy twins are doing it again!”

Did you know Michael Bell beforehand?

Yes. His wife Victoria (Vicki Carroll) and I were two of the original Groundlings in Los Angeles. A lot of famous people have come out of [that group].

But did you know that he was up for the part of your twin?

No. I had no idea. And even when I got cast and went in, I didn’t realize until later that Mike and Casey Kasem [were part of it]—these were pretty well known guys in this part of the profession. At first I didn’t realize I was working with celebrities in their field.

What do you know about the development of the Wonder Twins? (Unlike many of the other characters, they were not in the comics.)

They were like the scouts. All the other heroes were mature. All of them in terms of other cartoons and comics and films and stories had been around for a really long time. Jayna and Zan were developed just for Super Friends. They were brought in to attract the kids.

Do you know anything about how they determined what they’d look like or what their powers were?

I think we were the only ones of the heroes who could transform. I thought Zan’s water power was odd.

Did you contribute any ideas to their characterization and/or suggest animals for Jayna?

No. They had writers for that. It wasn’t the kind of creative process where we would go in and talk up a story. Some things are like that but we weren’t participating in that way. And you were sometimes doing more than one episode at a time.

What challenges were involved in recording SF?

Because it was my first voice-over job, I remember really watching the pros to see how far they stood from the mike, how much they projected, how far they went with their characters. But it wasn’t Shakespeare.

Mike Bell said you guys had a good laugh sometimes.

Yeah. Sometimes choices the voice actors would make with their voices on secondary characters made us laugh. I think it would be fun to get the twins together (at a convention). If we were together then it would be fun.

Do you see Mike Bell socially?

Vicki and I are old friends. I saw Vicki at a Groundlings reunion. We run into each other at Whole Foods but we don’t get together for dinner or movies. My family was in New York for seventeen years [and came back to Los Angeles in 2000]. At our age you’ve gotten into your own routine with your children and so on. We’re happy to see each other—we always exchange numbers and say we’ll get together…but never do. (laughs)

Did you spend time with the other voice actors when you weren’t working?

No. We were all in different circles, except for Michael Bell’s wife. I knew Michael more than I knew the others.

Which voice actors were you most friendly with on the job?

I would say Michael. And everyone was very cordial. It was different with a sitcom where you’re together much more.

Have you bumped into any of them since then and recognized them?

Michael’s the main one, and Casey.

Do you remember a favorite episode?

All the episodes seem the same. Do you have a favorite?

[I answered]

Do you remember any episodes?

I have a vague feeling of [my character] always being naïve. Between Gleek and Zan and myself, we were always tripping into trouble.

Did you know that the names Zan and Jayna came from Tarzan and Jane?

No. (laughs) But it’s sort of obvious because Tarzan had a monkey and we had Gleek.

(laughing) Did you get fan letters?

I may have but I don’t remember. I could be getting it confused with other shows. I never kept any fan letters, which is unfortunate now. We didn’t know [to save them]! Before the Groundlings I was with a comedy group called the Good Humor Company. We opened for Bobby Darin in Vegas. Some of the cast members of that saved some of the reviews.

I heard about a party or two at Danny Dark’s at which you guys did sketches poking fun at Super Friends. If you were there, what do you remember about that?

I don’t know if I got invited to any of those.

Do you have any other SF memorabilia from the era (i.e. birthday cards signed by cast members, etc.)? Anything with Jayna on it?

No. I just want the costume, okay? I think we should get the costumes. (laughs)

Where did the name “Liberty” come from?

I was working with this comedy group, the Good Humor Company. (I went to NYU School of the Arts and went West in the early ‘70s.) We got invited to Honolulu to work at the Forbidden City Theater. The owner paid for us to come over and rented house for us to live in for a few months. But he didn’t do any promotion to change the image of this theater which was formally a strip club. This was a three-girls, three-guys musical comedy variety show, so we would get ten non-English speaking drunk sailors a night. They were there for one kind of show and we gave them another.

There was a deli [nearby] that had a Liberty Sandwich. We’d smoke weed to get through a show. And one of my group (Joe Denoba, the leader of the Good Humor Company) once got stoned and as a joke introduced me as Liberty Williams because Liberty sounds like a stripper. It turned out that there was a person there to review the show that night, so he wrote my name as Liberty in a good review and it was picked up by the people at Thunderbird Hotel in Vegas, where we went after. [I didn’t plan to keep the name but] they asked if I could go by Liberty because they had already done all their ads with Liberty, and I said why not. (laughs)

Do people still call you that?

Some do. Michael Bell sometimes does. I used it professionally for just a few years. But when I got on to a sitcom called Busting Loose, Adam Arkin (Alan’s son) said if you ever want to go back to your real name you should do it now when you have a show on for more than an episode.

When was the last time you saw a Super Friends episode on TV?

I don’t remember seeing the episodes on TV and my son wasn’t born yet. Are they on DVD? I’d like my son to see them. When I moved to New York [and stopped being Jayna], he was two-and-a-half. They tried to find me for some other event, a finale, but they couldn’t find me.

They should’ve called me!

(laughs)

When was that?

Mike Bell would know.

Was this for the Cartoon Network promos of the 1990s?

That might have been it.

What are you doing these days?

I’ve gotten new head shots. I’m with an agency called Commercial Talent for commercials and voice-overs for commercials (but not cartoons). I’ve gone up for [parts in] video games. I just started this in the last 4-5 months. I’ve started to get callbacks but I haven’t gotten hired yet. When I was younger I would be going out [on] a lot [of auditions] and odds were you’d get one out of 10. Now I’m going out less—maybe 6 times a month.

[Also, in 2011, Liberty launched Green Spoon Chef.]

How much of what you could book now would depend on what you’ve done before?

You can see people’s credits online now. I think it helps to have been in the business before. The agency has to figure out what slot can she fill?

Have any of the casting directors commented on the fact that you were Jayna?

[I didn’t transcribe her answer as she spoke, but she said something to the effect of no, she doesn’t have Super Friends in her credits. I said not only was it a steady gig of eight years, but it’s part of pop culture history and lots of people of a certain age would respond fondly to hearing she was Jayna. She said maybe she will put it back on her résumé.]

You’re sort of a superhero type yourself.

How do you figure?

You sound like a really good dad. You sound wholesome. A noble man.

Thank you. It can be a hard name to live up to! If you have children/grandchildren, how old?

My son John [was born in 1981]. He was diagnosed with ADD. He had difficulty when he was younger [but he’s gotten past that]. He’s a superhero in my eyes. He’s real handsome and has a pretty girlfriend. He’s on his way.

What is he in school for?

He felt like he had lost most of his twenties. He decided to go to the Vidal Sassoon Hair Academy in Santa Monica, but he’s straight. (laughs) He gets a lot of positive attention there [from both beautiful women and gay men]. It turned out to be a brilliant thought. He could be a colorist in a high-end salon and do well [fairly quickly]. He’s got a really good eye for color. They learn the bones and the structure of the face. He’s very coordinated.

What does John think of your time as a superhero?

I’ve done [familiar shows like] Three’s Company and they’ve been rerun a lot. And when his friends find out, they’re like, “Kudos to John.” He just rolls his eyes about his mom. I’m just as nutty now as I was then.

He’s an only child?

When I met my husband, he was a singer-songwriter. He went into business contracting but it got repetitive. An elderly teacher friend told my husband “You could be a doctor” (when we were in our thirties). He decided to do post-grad premed at Columbia. We sold our house in California and I left my career. [I was 36 and] our son was two-and-a-half. We went to New York. My husband worked in a lab at Cornell, then went to New York Medical College. Medical school became our second child. It didn’t seem like there was a reasonable way to have a[n actual] second child.

We lived in a really big loft on 4th Avenue and 10th Street in Greenwich Village. We lived extended family style. We lived the three of us and four other adults. A lot of time they were students who were finishing medical school or law school. It was set up a bit like a boarding house. Everyone had to meet and approve of new people. We screened. That’s how we could afford to live there. We shared a living room and kitchen as common space, one bathroom as common space, and a laundry as common space [and we had some private space]. We had a food jar where everyone put in $10 a week back then [and we took turns] shopping for the staples. As a group we’d decide what the staples were. Everyone had at least an hour a week of cleaning in a certain area. We had a basketball hoop in the inner living room. My son learned to ride his two-wheeler inside because it was big.

Has anyone else interviewed you about SF?

No.

What did you think when you first heard why I was contacting you?

I thought it was kind of wild. I wasn’t aware that there was this interest. It made me think of that movie Galaxy Quest. It’s a really good movie.

Are you aware of the influence that Super Friends had on the current generation of comic book writers?

No. I’d be interested in knowing.

[I said that between an appearance on Smallville (she knew the show but not that Zan and Jayna had appeared) and the high-demand, limited edition figures at Comic-Con 2009, the Wonder Twins have never been cooler. There’s even talk of a movie.]

That would be so much fun. My estranged husband—we’re very close. When I told him about you, he said, “Oh my god, you never know what will lead to what.”

Next: Marlene Aragon (Cheetah).

Super ‘70s and ‘80s: “Super Friends”—Michael Bell (Wonder Twin Zan, Riddler, Gleek)

Introduction to series “Super ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Introduction to subseries "Super Friends" (including a list of interviewees). 

How did you get the job on Super Friends?

I auditioned like all the other actors. When that didn’t work, I told them I was Bill Hanna’s illegitimate son. I was hired the next day.

Michael Bell on Charlie’s Angels (1977)

How long did you have the job?

I can’t recall. I think a couple of years. I was stoned most of the time.

Please tell me you’re serious.

Well, I once recorded Smurfs hung-over as a result of eating a whole loaf of cake (unbeknownst to me) laced with marijuana the night before. Went to work to sing “La la la la la la” wearing dark glasses. Don’t know how I got through the day.

How familiar with the characters were you before you got the job?

As a kid, I was a comicaholic. I was very familiar with all the superheroes and villains except for Zan, Gleek, and Joe Barbera.

Which episodes/years were you on SF?

You probably know better then me. The only years I am familiar with are those that mark my physical emergence into manhood and the cost of Kleenex.

How long did it take you to record one episode?

It took us a few minutes to record and several hours to stop laughing.

What challenges were involved in recording SF?

Once I recall being attacked by my mike, but realized I was stepping on the base which caused it to tilt at me. I was in therapy for years as a result.

How did working on SF compare to other animated series you worked on? (Related: what has been your favorite series to be a part of?)

I was sooo busy running from one series to another, I am unable to compare. As I look back, it all seems like an amazing dream.

Of the episodes you were on, do you have a favorite?

I loved playing the Riddler. I can’t recall the episode.

Were there any you ended up being disappointed with?

How could I be disappointed? I was doing what I loved to do. However, I was disappointed in the coffee.

How much interaction did you have with the writers?

Not a great deal. Truthfully, I thought I wrote it. Writers? Huh?

How much time, if any, did you spend with the other voice actors when you weren’t working?

We all slept together. I am still going to a dermatologist because of it.

Which voice actors were you most friendly with?

Frank [Welker], Jack [Angel], Shannon [Farnon], and the late, great Danny Dark.

Any interesting stories about the voice actors?

Nothing comes to mind. They were a pretty dull lot. No personalities at all. Very depressing. Brought me down.

Were any voice actors like—or completely unlike—their characters?

Shannon would jump off a chair every now and then ask the guys if they wanted to arm wrestle and Jack would ask her what the island of Sappho was like and do they allow men?

Did you ever get letters from fans, and if so, do you still have any?

I get letters from fans now. About several thousand a day. Most of them ask for money.

Do you still have any of your original SF scripts?

Used to but not any longer. I have a trillion Smurfs scripts, a couple of Jonny Quests and several Rugrats…and an original Star Trek. I think I also have a porno version of the Smurfs. Wonder where that is?

Do you have any other SF memorabilia from the era (i.e. cards signed by cast members, etc.)?

I have Shannon’s chair. I sleep with it.

Was there ever a SF cast and crew party of any kind?

Are you kidding? We had a huge going-away party. There were nut cups, some Cheez Whiz, and a package of Fizzies and Pop Rocks for everyone. We all dressed in our costumes and Jack Angel came out of a cake.

Okay, no party. Everything just ended. Doors closed and poof…all gone!

I was the last voice recorded at the studio…umpteen years later. It was for a promo for something. I was Zan. FOOOORM OF KAKA!

How aware are you of the influence that SF had on the current generation of comic book writers?

Not aware at all. I live in a cave in Griffith Park and don’t get out much except to kill.

There’s a huge heap of writers (i.e. me) and artists working today who were coming of age with the Super Friends and many cite that. Many incorporate stuff from the show into the comics. They even made Wonder Twins action figures. I assume you don’t want them.

I love Zan and Jayna. They are so metrosexual. If you have any action figures that are anatomically correct, I want them.

Do you ever get e-mails from SF fans?

Never. They know better.

When was the last time you watched one of your SF episodes?

I watch them every night…in the dark…remembering those days when I was a contender.

How do you look back on your time writing SF?

I never wrote for SF? How could you not know that? Who is this?

[NOTE: I goofed and kept in a question from someone else’s interview.]

What about Plastic Man [whom Michael voiced in his eponymous series]? How did that compare to SF?

Easy! I didn’t have to break the door down when I forgot my key—I just became my key.

Any funny stories in recording PM?

If you mean why did we have a closed set, it was because I would only work naked. I learned that at Actor’s Studio. Very helpful.

[NOTE: Plastic Man is part of this series.]

What are you doing these days?

I nap a lot. Also, when I am called by my agent (who also ushers at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre), I audition for minor roles in series and usually lose out to former celebs like Erik Estrada, Lee Majors, or Richard Simmons.

[laughed then pressed for an alternate answer]

I occasionally direct graphic motion comics. Did one called Sparks. You can find it on the web. Worked on BOOM! Studios’s Irredeemable with many wonderful actors including David Sobolov, Gregg Berger, Loren Lester, John Cygon, Susan Savage, Shane Sweet, Justin Shankerow, Lynnanne Zager, Kent McCord, Vyvan Pham, Wil Wheaton, and a host of others. I love directing. Wish I did more.

Are you still voice acting?

Whenever I get the call.

Do you have children/grandchildren?

I have a child. She is an actress. She is not only gorgeous, she is a major talent. [Ashley Bell, who got rave reviews for her performance in The Last Exorcism]

What does she think of your time as a superhero?

She knows I am not a superhero because she is the one that carries in the Christmas tree all by herself. She is stronger and faster than me. I should have had her when I was 20 instead of 47. However, I can shout louder than her, so there!

Has anyone else interviewed you about SF?

Over 400 others. No one has ever heard from them again.

[laughed then pressed for an alternate answer]

Fangoria is one. I can’t recall the Internet ones.

Have you ever participated (i.e. signed autographs) at a comic convention? If not, would you be willing to (if the convention paid your way)?

I went to one in August in New York and then another one in Birmingham, England in 2011…if my legs and spleen hold out.

Can you suggest any other people (other writers, producers, directors, cast) who were involved with SF that I could try to interview?

Just the parking lot attendant and he is in prison.

Anything else about the experience I didn’t cover that you’d like to add?

I am available for work. However, since the new Smurfs film was cast with celebs, my outlook is bleak. I am going to take a nap now. Leave me alone.

I assume you’d be game for an in-person cast reunion? I’m sure we could arrange for a cot so you wouldn’t miss any naps.

A reunion would be fun. Hope you have large supply of Depends.

NOTE: On 7/19/11 in Los Angeles, I had the honor of helping to reunite Michael and Liberty Williams (Jayna). Michael elaborated on his “last voice recorded” comment above. He told us both that the last recording done at Hanna-Barbera (before Warner Bros. absorbed it in 2001) was a Wonder Twins promo (which featured another voice actor as Jayna because they were unable to locate Liberty). 

Next: Liberty Williams (Wonder Twin Jayna).