The New Teen Titans and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

 

I remember seeing character designs for a never produced New Teen Titans cartoon back in the 80's and wondering what could have been. How cool would a crossover with Peter, Angelica and Bobby have been?

Spidey previously met The New Teen Titans in STF#3810 and STF #767 and the original Teen Titans in STF #619...

The New Warriors and Swamp Thing

 

There have been rumors of a James Mangold directed Swamp Thing movie for a while now.  Apparently, while it has been put on the back burner for the time being, it is still in development.  Previous live action attempts with the character have not been able to strike a chord with audiences, but I still feel that there is a lot of potential with the right script and director. Here's hoping Mangold's vision finally gets realized and hits the big screen.

Robin and The New Warriors

 

This is another cover which required a lot of de-cluttering and extension before I could add in any new elements.  Here is a look at the behind the scenes process: 

Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and Static

 

I remember seeing that cool giant fire monster during the opening credits sequence of Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends.  Alas, he only appeared for a few moments in one episode, taken out easily by Firestar and guest star Sunfire - and he was certainly nowhere near as large as he was depicted during that credits cameo.  

The Legion of Super-Heroes and The New Warriors

 

Well, this certainly looks like it will be a crowded issue.  Let's hope that the LSH and their time traveling visitors can stop tripping over each other long enough to face of against whatever threat has brought them together!

The New Warriors Vs. Darkseid

 

Marvel seems intent on bringing the Young Avengers to the MCU.  That's all good and well, but these guys are the teen Marvel team that I'd really like to see join the fun.  I think their series sold a lot better than any of the Young Avengers titles, after all.

Firestar and Killer Frost

 

Like many (I assume), I was a little confused when I first saw Firestar on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.  The fire powered superheroine was named Anjelica Jones, but visually she looked just like Mary Jane Watson.  Peter Parker even had a big crush on her just as he did with MJ in the comics.  It looked like maybe she was designed to be MJ and then later given a name change, but I'm not sure what the real story is there.

Static Joins The New Warriors

 

With the introductions of America Chavez and Kamala Khan to the MCU, there's been a lot of discussion about Marvel setting up a team of Young Avengers.  That's sounds good, but what about the teen team that predated them?  New Warriors always had an interesting cast of characters, and it would be cool to see them in live action some day.

Amazing Man and Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends

 

Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was a favorite show of mine, but I have to admit it was kind of frustrating.  After an initial run of episodes, it went into repeats for a good long time.  New episodes after that seemed to be quite few and far between.  It seemed every time the show came on it was that same "Swarm" episode!  I'm glad that these days I can just go on Disney+ and just pick out which episode I want to watch.

The New Warriors and The Justice Society of America

 

Judging by the characters recently and about to be introduced, it looks like the MCU is just going to skip right by The New Warriors and go straight to The Young Avengers.  I suppose that is understandable, as Avengers is the marquee name, but I still hope Marvels' 90's teen team eventually get their chance at live action. You just know that Speedball would look cool displaying his abilities.

The Avengers and Death

 

Has anyone had a chance to listen to the recently produced Sandman Audio Drama?  I've heard some other DC Comics audio dramas before like Kingdom Come and Death and Return of Superman, and I was impressed with how well they were done.  This one seems to have an impressive cast, including Kat Dennings as Death, James MacAvoy as Dream, Taron Edgerton as Constantine, Andy Serkis as Mattherw and Neil Gaiman himself as the narrator.  I'm going to have to get a copy to listen to at night.

All-Star Squadron, Firestar and The Inhumans

Concluding our 4-Part Epic, we see everyone has gathered together for the big finale!  Rumor has it that Marvel will be ignoring the ill-fated Inhumans series and begin re-introducing the characters in the Disney+ Ms. Marvel show.  I'm glad that they will be getting a second chance to shine, and hopefully this time around they will realize their full potential.

Firestar and Firebrand

Presenting Part Three of a Four-Part Epic!  Where are the first two parts of this story, you might ask?  Well, this picks off of events that began in STF #1603, and then continued in STF #1604.  It was another storyline that I thought had some more potential.  Now that you are all caught up, make sure you come back tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!

The Jonses

I've featured the relationships between J'onn and Angelica as well as Jessica and Casey on the blog before, and I thought that it was time to put them together as a whole family.  OK, I am bracing myself for the comments - Where's Indiana?  Wheres Rick, Where's Osmosis? Where's Bridget? Where's Barnaby? Where's Fred?  Where's Cleopatra? Where's Jimbo?  Where's Samantha?  Where's Velvet? Well, there's no rule that says all Jonses are related, but maybe in a sequel one or two of them could show up.

Justice League of America and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (And More!)

Wow, already up to STF #2300!  To think my original goal was to get to 500 covers.  I have been glad to see some comics titles that have been stopped and re-started with new first issues have gone back to their original numbering.  There's something very cool about seeing solicits for Action Comics with issue numbers in the 1000's.  Plus, as a collector, all that re-numbering made keeping them in order a pain!

Martian Manhunter and Firestar

It's been a nice treat to see Carl Lumbly as the father of J'onn J'onzz on Supergirl.  His voicing of the Martian Manhunter on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited was great and it's cool to see him working with the character again.  Plus, I have been a fan of his since his own 90's superhero show, M.A.N.T.I.S.

Halo and Firestar

I never quite figured out why Firestar was Anjelica Jones on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends when I was a kid.  From what I saw, she looked identical to John Romita Sr's Mary Jane Watson.  Was there a last-minute change or was the similarity in appearance just a coincidence?  At any rate, I am glad they chose not to give the comic book version of MJ any super powers (although they have come close a few times).

Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends and The Super Friends

For a long time growing up, these two cartoons were all there was as far as animated superheroes on TV went.  I will always have a soft spot for The Super Friends, especially the "Challenge" years, but I preferred Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends because they had better action.  My only complaint was there were not enough episodes - I felt like I watched each one 20 times over!

Firestar and Miss Martian

I have to admit that when Miss Martian was introduced in the comics, I rolled my eyes a bit.  I know there is a strong thread of legacy heroes running through the DCU, but did the Martian Manhunter really need a junior sidekick?  Geoff Johns' writing helped me eventually warm up to the character, but it wasn't until the animated Young Justice series that I truly began to enjoy the Teen Titan.  I found that I enjoyed her on that show much more than in the comics, which doesn't happen often.

Starfire and Firestar

Is Firestar the first character that started on a cartoon and then was integrated into the comics?  Jimmy Olsen came from the radio serials, but I think that Angelica Jones might have been the first cartoon star to make the transition (at least for Marvel and DC).  At any rate, I have a huge fondness for Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, as it was the best superhero cartoon I had ever seen at that point - I loved how many guest stars and villains showed up.  So, even though she began as a replacement for The Human Torch, I am glad that Firestar found a continuing life in the comics after her cartoon series ended.  Come to think of it, didn't the same thing happen with H.E.R.B.I.E.?