We've previously toured red kryptonite from its first appearance in 1949 through its initial surge as a popular plot device in the 1960s.
Nowadays, Zatanna is considered one of the premiere mystical characters in the DC pantheon. She's been a member of numerous versions of the Justice League and she's appeared in live action (Smallville) and in numerous animated TV series (Justice League Unlimited, Young Justice, and others). But, her popularity and importance in the DC universe was a slow journey. In this tour we will look at her debut, and her rise to finally becoming a heavy hitter!
In the latter half of the 20th century, Saturday morning television was aimed solely at children. They didn't have to go to school or church, and had a few hours of television produced just for them! In the fall of 1973, kids who read DC Comic books waited anxiously for Saturday, September 8th, 9:00am to finally arrive! These kids (myself included) had been teased for weeks about a new cartoon that would debut that day. It was a cartoon that would team Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman!! The producers may not have called this cartoon "Justice League", but for many of us kids, that's still what it represented!
This new cartoon was called Super Friends, and it became a huge success. So much so that over the next 12 years it would become a franchise with 7 different versions produced and aired on the ABC network.
I think it's time to take a deep dive into all the various iterations of Super Friends. If this sounds like something that might interest you too, strap in and join along in this tour!
Archie Andrews is one of the most well known comic book teenagers of the 20th century. His popularity soared in the 1950s and 1960s thanks not only to the numerous comic books in which he appeared but also to the numerous radio serials and animated television series that grew from the comics.
In 2017 the CW Network began airing a television series entitled Riverdale, featuring the Archie cast. It proved to be a ratings success. For many, this was believed to be the first live-action portrayal of Archie Andrews. But that belief couldn't be less true!
He didn't have any major success before Riverdale, but Archie did indeed have several other live-action attempts through the years. Let's jump on board the tour wagon and check them out!
Red Kryptonite! A variation of the green kryptonite that typically fell to Earth... remnants of Superman's home planet of Krypton. Red kryptonite's origins and effects have changed dramatically since its introduction in 1949!
Because red kryptonite became rather prolific as a plot device in the 1950s and 1960s, this tour will be broken down into several smaller trips, each covering a specific length of time.
On our first tour, we'll examine red kryptonite from its first appearance through the end of the 1950s.
This tour, in its entirety, will only cover stories where red kryptonite plays some factor in the overall storyline. Instances when Red K is seen in a display case, or simply talked about but irrelevant to a storyline, will not be included.
Do you think you know all about red kryptonite? Let's see! Strap in and get ready to tour red kryptonite's initial 13 appearances!
Batman & Robin. These characters are bound together in the public conscience just the same as Tom & Jerry, Laurel & Hardy, or Starsky & Hutch. They just go together.
Most casual comic book readers or television watchers are aware of Dick (Robin) Grayson. But how many would know there have actually been over a dozen characters who have assumed the Robin mantle? On this tour, we'll take a look at the many Robins to appear in the pages of DC Comics since Dick Grayson's debut in 1940.
Robin was the very first superhero sidekick, debuting in 1940. Robin was created with the notion that a juvenile sidekick might give the youngsters reading comic books a character they could more closely relate to. Another benefit to having a sidekick is that it allows writers to present more dialogue and less narration-boxes.
When I began my comic book journey at the ripe age of 9 (in 1973), I gravitated much more to group-themed titles. The Legion of Super-Heroes was my first exposure to the medium, and from there, I quickly branched out to the Justice League of America, the Fantastic Four, and one of my all-time favorite groups... the Teen Titans.
When this group's adventures first started being chronicled the characters were very early teens. But, by the time I was first exposed to the Teen Titans, they were hip and community-minded older teens, some in college, teaming to battle social injustice in addition to villainy. Their group had several members who had no actual superpowers and their rank also included the first African-American character I saw represented in comic books. As a child growing up in a very non-diverse small community in Maine, I found them all thrilling. I wanted to be one of them when I grew up!
I n 1964, DC introduced its readers to a new heroine called Zatanna. Zatanna Zatara, to be exact. She was the daughter of another hero, Zat...
