THE STF 5000th ISSUE CELEBRATION!

Welcome to the 5000th issue of STF: The Lost issues!  Many of the covers presented here have not only crossed over characters from different companies, but from different timelines as well.  There has been speculation that these encounters were the result of an ongoing war between a pair of time tyrants.  As you can see above, the rumors are true!

When you count the B&B and MTIO covers that preceded STF, I have posted 5510 covers so far.  Needless to say, I have never used AI to create them and never and I never will - all I need is Photoshop and the inspiration and encouragement from visitors to this blog!

Time for some Special Features!  First up, let's take a look at larger versions of the stories presented here:

An All-New Saturday Morning Line-Up!  I'd definitely get up early to catch these STF-Inspired shows:

Now for some STF-Related merchandise.  There have been some cool playsets for comic book fans, but what would have been great was one that combined the two greatest superhero teams:

Or How about a Playset featuring one of STF's oldest teams - Robo-Force?

STF: The Lost Issues generally features pre-existing characters, but I have created a few for the blog.  Here are Action Figures for a couple of them.  First up, from a trio of Dick Tracy/Rocketeer team ups, is that unfortunate informant that everyone in the underworld wants to off - Rats McTattler!

And what young fan of STF: The Lost Issues wouldn't want an action figure of its greatest recurring villain - Mr. Universe!

Time to kick back with a classic board game - How about one featuring the two most popular characters from DC and Marvel?

And for younger kids, here's a Colorforms Set that combines heroes from DC and Marvel:

And with that, we close out another Mega-Anniversary Issue.  Thank you to all of the visitors over the years, especially the Patrons, who have help keep this blog running for over 15years of daily covers! If you would like to support the blog you can join them here.  Make sure you come back tomorrow and every day, there are lots more covers coming - featuring surprising new team ups, new and returning teams, characters making their STF Debuts, and more!   

The Silent Partners in: "Breaking the Silence!"

 

We've now seen The Darkhold on Wanda/Vision after a version of the book was used on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so it appears that Kevin Feige is ready to use concepts and characters from the Marvel TV shows.  That's good to hear, because I think the MCU will do a much better job of presenting heroes like Black Bolt and The Inhumans and villains like Absorbing Man and Graviton than we got in their first live action incarnations.

This is the fifth adventure of The Silent Partners - they last appeared battling Soundwave in STF #2810... the recruited Man-Thing in STF #2250, they were targeted in STF #1650, and made their debut in STF #764...

The Silent Partners in: "Shouted Down by Soundwave!"

I was a little to old to get into Transformers toys when they hit the scene, but Soundwave looked like one of the cooler ones.  I like that he transformed from a cassette tape player that also worked in his robot form.  I can imagine that made for lots of fun by swapping the recordings out..

This is the fourth adventure of The Silent Partners - they last appeared recruiting Man-Thing in STF #2250, they were targeted in STF #1650, and made their debut in STF #764...

The Silent Partners in: "Monster in the Mix!"

I thought it was time to increase the ranks of the stealthiest team in the STF Universe - and without much discussion, Man-Thing has joined in! I mentioned in the comments to their last appearance that they would be adding a member next time out - did any of you guess correctly?

This is the third adventure of The Silent Partners - they last appeared in STF #1650, and made their debut in STF #764...

The Silent Partners in: "Killing the Quiet!"

This is one of the teams that I have been meaning to bring back..  I like the shared silent motif and they kind of look like they go together, too. Upon completing this cover, I thought of a good fifth member that I will try to include should they reappear on the blog.

The Silent Partners first appeared in STF #764...

The Silent Partners

The fact that all of these heroes are usually presented with little to no dialogue has lent them an air of mystery and unpredictability that make them appealing to me.  A team made up of these guys may be tough on a writer, but I think could make for some unique stories.

Batman and The Silent Knight

I didn't think that this project would be complete unless I included at least one of the original stars of The Brave and the Bold, from the early issues before the team-ups began. When I was a kid, I would gloss over the reprints of the Silent Knight, Viking Prince, etc. that were included in the 100-Page issues, because I favored the superhero tales. So it was a few years before I came to truly appreciate them, first for the gorgeous artwork that the stories contained and then for the swashbuckling stories. I am glad that DC is making an effort to collect these early stories for current audiences - they certainly deserve to be read anew and not lost to time.