At the Ballet

The NBC cartoon Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends teamed-up the wall-crawler with Iceman and Firestar (sometimes hyphenated as Fire-Star). The crimefighting trio also appeared in a handful of comic books based on the animated series. Although Iceman (Bobby Drake) had blond hair on the cartoon, comic books based on the show consistently colored his hair brown, the same color his hair typically appeared in Marvel Comics.

One of those comic books starring the Spider-Friends was an advertising supplement to the Dallas Times Herald. In that issue, the heroes had tickets to see the Nutcracker featuring the Dallas Ballet. The performance was almost ruined by the villain Daddy Longlegs (Ramsey Kole), an aspiring ballet dancer once ridiculed for being too short. Out of desperation, he broke into into the laboratory of Giant-Man (Bill Foster) and drank a secret formula to increase his height. The serum tragically enlarged him to 15 feet tall, with disproportionately long limbs. After stopping the towering criminal, the three heroes enjoyed the Christmas-themed ballet.

Spider-Man, Fire-Star and Iceman at The Dallas Ballet Nutcracker. 1983. Jim Salicrup (writer), Jim Mooney (pencils), John Tartag (inks), L.P. Gregory (letters), Stan Goldberg (colors), John Romita (art director), Sol Brodsky (production supervisor). Daddy Longlegs was a relatively new villain at the time, having first appeared in Spider-Woman #47 (Dec. 1982).

Grown Names

Some time ago, I posted about episodes of Justice League Unlimited that depicted Hawkgirl and several other DC characters as indirect counterparts to the Defenders. I found the animated version of Hawkgirl surprising, however, since the comic book character had changed her name to Hawkwoman by this point. In World's Finest #272 (Oct. 1981), she told Hawkman that she didn't like the connotation of the term girl and started correcting those who called her that by mistake. I prefer the way Hawkwoman sounds and wish her name had stayed that way.

Comic books have plenty of other examples of heroic peers with codenames that suggest different levels of maturity. The original X-Men notably included Marvel Girl and Iceman (the youngest member of the group). The Legion of Super-Heroes sidestepped the man/girl imbalance as both male and female heroes of the 30th century had youthful codenames. Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #235 (Jan. 1978) revealed that people of the future used the terms boy and kid well into their twenties because scientific breakthroughs had vastly extended their life spans.

Banner Vision

Cover blurbs on Defenders #72 and #77 promoted The Incredible Hulk TV series, which aired on CBS from 1977 to 1982. At this time, Bruce Banner no longer wore glasses in comic books. Likewise, actor Bill Bixby did not wear glasses as Dr. Banner on the show. Subsequent posts will discuss the history of Banner wearing—or not wearing—glasses up to this point.

This image of Bill Bixby comes from the opening credits of The Incredible Hulk. On the show, Dr. Banner's first name was David instead of Bruce.

Heart Shaped Wreckage

I was a fan of the show Smash, which aired on NBC more than a decade ago. For some time now I've thought about posting how a song from the show titled Heart Shaped Wreckage reminds me of the relationship between Daimon Hellstrom and Patsy Walker during their time as Defenders. I'll skip a lengthy explanation, as the lyrics from the first two verses of the duet speak for themselves.

I'm not scared to tell the truth
I've been to hell and back and I went with you
Remind me what we were before
When we said, "You are mine and I am yours"

I don't know much but I know myself
And I don't want to love anybody else
So let's break the spell and lift the curse
Remember where we fell for each other, head first

The Pink Riddler

For my birthday this week, I received an action figure of the Riddler that I had been eyeing for some time. I have relatively few collectibles, but this particular figure is notable for depicting the Riddler in the pink costume that he wore during the opening sequence of The New Adventures of Batman, an animated TV series from 1977 that I watched as a kid. Outside of the opening, the villain didn't appear within any episodes of the cartoon.

Since the Riddler traditionally wears green, I don’t know how much demand there is for this obscure rendition of the character. And yet, it was that very novelty that sparked my interest in the figure, which made for a memorable birthday gift.

I alluded to the Riddler in an early blog post about Defenders #124. I have considered devoting more attention to DC characters, at times, even though they might veer outside the scope of a Defenders blog.

Wonder Twin

It's easy to draw comparisons between Sub-Mariner and Aquaman from DC Comics. But Sub-Mariner had another counterpart among the Super Friends. With pointed ears and black hair, Zan of the Wonder Twins physically resembled the Sub-Mariner.

Zan and sister Jayna made their debut in 1977 on The All-New Super Friends Hour. The two teens from the planet Exxor joined the ranks of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman and Robin. While Jayna could take the shape of animals, Zan could become various forms of water, including steam and ice objects. The aquatic nature of his powers strengthened Zan's similarities to Sub-Mariner. In terms of personality, however, the even-keeled Zan had little in common with the boastful Prince of Atlantis.

The Defender: William Shatner

In New Defenders #128 (Feb. 1984), Beast lamented that his VHS tapes of the 79 episodes of Star Trek were ruined. I wonder if Beast was also a fan of The Defenders television series that ran 1961-1965 on CBS. Before William Shatner became Captain Kirk, the actor appeared five times on the courtroom drama. Far from being typecast, Shatner played a different role in each of those Defenders episodes:

"Killer Instinct" "The Invisible Badge" "The Cruel Hook" "The Uncivil War" "Whipping Boy"

Shatner previously starred as a young defense attorney in a television play titled The Defender, which aired in two parts on CBS in 1957.

Mission: Impossible

Whenever Dr. Strange uses Tarot cards to select a team of Defenders, I think of the television series Mission: Impossible. During early episodes, the show's formula included a scene zooming in on the dossier of each character selected for that week's mission. A comic book adaptation published by Dell closely adhered to the show's tone but often excluded that signature scene.

This panel from Mission: Impossible #4 (Oct. 1968) included the dossiers, which were a mainstay on the television show.

Featuring Jim Wilson

When the Defenders first battled the extraterrestrial Xemnu, they had a young ally in Jim Wilson, who alerted Dr. Strange to Xemnu's hypnotic power of children (Marvel Feature #3). By this time, Wilson had become a sidekick of sorts to the Incredible Hulk and his alter ego, Dr. Bruce Banner. Hulk's original teen sidekick, Rick Jones, had moved on by this point, having trained with Captain America before working in tandem with Captain Mar-vell. Wilson would continue to assist Hulk on occasion, but this was his only appearance with the Defenders.

This panel of Jim Wilson and Dr. Strange watching Xemnu on TV comes from Marvel Feature #3.

Man from Atlantis

Back when Sub-Mariner was appearing semi-regularly in Super-Villain Team-Up, a Marvel comic book featuring another water-breather made its debut. Adapted from a live-action television series with the same name, Man from Atlantis ran (or swam) for seven issues (with cover dates Feb.-Aug. 1977). Though set outside the world of superheroes, this new Man from Atlantis shared a few traits with Sub-Mariner, the Prince of Atlantis.

When introduced on TV and in the comics, the Man from Atlantis (a.k.a. Mark Harris) suffered from amnesia—reminiscent of Sub-Mariner, who had amnesia when he resurfaced in Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962). Additionally, Mark Harris was reportedly the last citizen of Atlantis, just as Sub-Mariner long considered himself the sole survivor of Atlantis. During his science-fiction adventures, Mark Harris wore only yellow swim trucks, not unlike the green trunks commonly worn by Sub-Mariner. Whereas Sub-Mariner had pointed ears and winged ankles, however, Mark Harris had webbed fingers and toes, making the characters physically distinct.

The cover of Man from Atlantis #1 (Feb. 1977) shows the character's visual similarities to Sub-Mariner, pictured here on Super-Villain Team-Up #13 (Aug. 1977).

Weird Wonder Tales

While writing a recent blog post about the comic book series Weird Wonder Tales, I spotted something unexpected on the TV show Fame. The episode Teachers, which originally aired in Fall 1982, included a scene with high-school student Danny Amatullo (Carlo Imperato) intently reading issue #15 (April 1976). We can only wonder how many viewers identified the comic book at the time.

Weird Wonder Tales #15 reprinted science-fiction stories originally presented in Chamber of Darkness #4, Strange Tales #95, and Tales to Astonish #25.

Star Jaws

Spidey Super Stories #31 paid homage to the 1977 film Star Wars by retelling the story with an unlikely cast of characters drawn from various media.

In this version, Dr. Doom held Moon Dragon captive aboard a space station called Star Jaws. Moon Dragon's robot companion SAM (a recurring character from Sesame Street) escaped in a rocket ship to Earth, where he enlisted the help of Spider-Man and Marvel Boy (a hero originally from the 1950s).

Once rescued, Moon Dragon used her Mind Force (or Force for short) to create an illusion that tricked the Star Jaws space station to swallow one million tons of T.N.T. instead of engulfing the Earth.

Spidey Super Stories. Vol. 1. No. 31. February 1978. "Star Jaws." Kolfax Mingo (writer), Winslow Mortimer (pencils), Mike Esposito (inker), A.J. Hays / Julie Mishkin (editors), David Kraft (consulting Marvel editor), John Romita (art director).

Though a number of villains from the live-action Spider-Man segments of The Electric Company would appear in Spidey Super Stories, the comic book series did not have inherent ties to Sesame Street, making SAM an anomaly. This image of SAM (short for Super Automated Robot) comes from an early episode of Sesame Street.

Ringer

Introduced in Defenders #51, Ringer had the trappings of a one-shot foe. While stealing money from Richmond Enterprises, Ringer regarded himself as too insignificant to attract the attention of a superhero. Nevertheless, Nighthawk (a.k.a. Kyle Richmond of Richmond Enterprises) did take time to stop him.

Spidey Super Stories #51 saw more potential in Ringer. Published in conjunction with The Electric Company public television series, these stories had a different continuity from most Marvel titles, such as The Defenders and Amazing Spider-Man.

Ringer designed a costume with the power to launch solid rings as weapons. He could also use chains of rings for grappling and climbing, making him a suitable adversary against Spider-Man's webs and wall-crawling. After committing robbery in Spidey Super Stories, the inventive villain even used his rings as roller skates while making a getaway … that is until Spider-Man caught him, with the help of Mary Jane Watson (Peter Parker's girlfriend).

Just as Spider-Man could run out of web fluid, Ringer could run out of rings!

Spidey Super Stories. Vol. 1. No. 51. March 1981. "The Ringer's Big Rip-Off." Sim Salicrup/Steve Grant (writers), Winslow Mortimer (penciler), Esposito & Villamonte (inkers), Raymond Holloway (letterer), George Roussos (colorist), Caroline Barnes/Deborah Walker (editors), Jim Shooter/Jim Salicrup (Marvel consultants), Bob Budiansky (art director).

ABC's of Law

The Defenders legal drama of the 1960s inspired a short-lived comic book series by Dell Publishing based on the CBS television show. The inside front cover of #1 (September-November 1962) included these four legal definitions.

Alimony—Allowance for support, ordered by a court, which a husband pays to his wife if she is not living with him. Alimony ceases with the death of the husband.

Barratry—A wilful and unlawful act committed by the master of mariners of a ship, as a result of which the owners of the vessel sustain loss or injury.

Corpus-Delciti—Literally, "the body of the crime". While it is commonly thought to refer to a corpse, the term actually means the existence of the essential fact which proves the commission of a crime … such as finding stolen goods on the person of an alleged thief.

Deforcement—The act of withholding property to which another person holds the rights, but of which he cannot gain possession.

The above image appeared with the definition of Barratry in Defenders #1.

The Best Defense

I am happy to see that plans are underway for the formative members of the Defenders to regroup later this year. Promotional images feature Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer, and Dr. Strange.

The most recent comic book version of the Defenders ended at #10 with Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage re-establishing Heroes for Hire. This should help readers differentiate the two teams.

I recognize of course that viewers of the recent Netflix series will continue to identify the Heroes for Hire and Daredevil as the Defenders even as the comic books veer another direction.

Pawns of the Purple Man!

With a TV version of the Defenders just around the corner, I've been looking for comic books that mirror the upcoming series centering on Power Man, Iron Fist, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones.

Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 is the closest I've come. This issue featured Power Man, Iron Fist, and Daredevil, along with Spider-Man and Moon Knight. Their foe was Purple Man (later revealed as a nemesis of Jessica Jones in the comics and on her own TV show).

Marvel Team-Up Annual #4 was published in 1981.

The Defenders

About a decade before the formation of the Defenders non-team, Dell Publishing launched a comic book version of The Defenders legal drama, which aired on CBS during the early 1960s.

Along with the main story within the comic book, here are some of the notes about legal terms and legal history appeared on the inside cover and back cover of #2 (February-April 1962).

In medieval times, it was customary for animals to be tried and condemned for violations of the law. Faulty evidence brought against the defendants gave rise to a phrase which exists to this day … "insufficient to hang a dog!"

Go without Day—An expression signifying that a case has been dismissed from court.

Although The Defenders ran four seasons on TV, the comic book was cancelled after two issues.

Freudian Fun

What better place for happy-go-lucky Hellcat to face her personal demons than the pages of What The--?! Switching back and forth between the two genres of teen-humor and superhero comics, Patsy Walker saw her life as Hellcat collide with her deceptively picturesque past (#7).

Within the bending reality, teenage Patsy Walker's clothing options included an ironically out-of-place X-Men uniform. Meanwhile, boyfriend Buzz wore star-spangled shorts—with a caption crediting their design to Lynda Carter (TV's Wonder Woman). Buzz, of course, later became the villain Mad-Dog.

As Hellcat, Patsy discovered that her biggest threat wasn't a costumed super villain—it was her demanding mother! Returning from the grave in the haunting guise of Death, Mrs. Walker long considered her daughter a disappointment.

In a surrealistic move, Hellcat ripped her mother off the page and out of her life.

What The--?! Vol. 1. No. 7. April 1990. "Patsy Walker." Richard Howell (script, art, letters & colors), Terry Kavanaugh (editor), Tom DeFalco (editor-in-chief).

On the Edge of Forever

When Dr. Strange cast a cloaking spell to disguise both himself and Sub-Mariner as ordinary people in Defenders #4 (Volume 3), he took wardrobe advice from Star Trek. The spell logically dressed Sub-Mariner in a stocking cap to cover his pointed ears, much like the hat Mr. Spock wore in The City of the Edge of Forever to cover his similarly pointed ears. Dr. Strange, meanwhile, wore a red, flannel shirt reminiscent of the shirt Capt. Kirk wore that same episode.

Note the reverse symmetry regarding the other color choices: While Kirk's jacket was brown and Spock's hat was blue, Sub-Mariner wore a brown hat and Dr Strange had a blue jacket.

Late Night

To boost his exposure as an actor, Wonder Man used his status as a reserve member of the Avengers to get booked on Late Night with David Letterman. The only catch was that he needed to bring other Avengers on the show with him.

All active members of the Avengers were unavailable at the time, so four other reserve Avengers agreed to fill in: Hawkeye, Black Widow, Black Panther, and Beast.

The TV appearance posed a conflict of interests for Beast, who used the opportunity to plug his newfound place in the Defenders and announce he would be stepping down as a reserve Avenger. Near the end of the issue, Beast turned in his Avengers I.D.

Avengers. Vol. 1. No. 239. January 1984. "Late Night of the Super-Stars!" Roger Stern (writer), Allen Milgrom & Joe Sinnott (artists), J. Novak (letterer), C. Scheele (colorist), Michael Carlin (editor), Larry "Bud" Melman (inspiration).

Also published that month (more specifically, Assistant Editor's Month) was New Defenders #127.