Redartz: You remember the Super Friends. You remember Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (lots of friendly heroes in the Bronze age, eh?). You may remember the Justice League on tv during the late 60's on Saturday mornings. Ah, but some of the greatest heroic teams of the Saturday morning era never graced a Marvel or DC comic. From the studios of Hanna Barbera, Ralph Bakshi and others arose completely original teams. Odd powers, strange names, unusual appearances- they offered it all. Let's look at a few...
The Mighty Heroes
An early effort by animator Ralph Bakshi and studio Terrytoons (who gave us Mighty Mouse), The Mighty Heroes ran from 1966 to 67 on CBS, then went into syndication for years. I discovered them on a local Indianapolis after-school cartoon program during the early 70's. It was a quirky, cool show, with a quirky, cool group of characters: Strong Man, Cuckoo Man, Tornado Man, Rope Man and Diaper Man. The villains were equally esoteric: The Monsterizer, The Scarecrow, and many others. The cartoons were a bit formulaic, but very fun. And what a dynamite theme; you all know how much those tv themes count in my book...
Frankenstein, Jr. and the Impossibles
Okay, not technically a team, but they shared a show from 1966 to 68, and also lived on in syndication. A Hanna Barbera production, they joined Space Ghost and Birdman under the HB superhero umbrella. Frankenstein, Jr. (or "Frankie") was the companion of young Buzz Conroy, as together they fought evil everwhere. The Impossibles (Coil Man, Fluid Man and Multi-Man) were heroes posing as a rock band (a couple years before teen rock band heroes ran rampant on Saturday mornings). Both shows were lighthearted, entertaining and perfect for the Batman Craze era.
Super 6
The Super 6 was a somewhat less well-known show, on NBC from 1966 to 69. It was produced by DePatie/Freleng, and was also designed to capitalize on the then-unquenchable superhero phase. Their lineup included Granite Man, Magneto Man (yes, magnetic powers, but no mutants), Elevator Man, Captain Whammo, Super Scuba and Super Bwoing (who rode on his guitar; as to his name- I've no idea). Incidentally, their theme song was performed by Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
Years later, Hanna Barbera returned again to a heroically themed show, this one lasting from 1977 through 1980. The Captain was a rather oddly shaped caveman, accompanied by three teen girls (the "Teen Angels"). The show took inspiration from the popular nighttime detective show "Charlie's Angels". Captain Caveman wielded a big, heavy club, and was known for his cry of "Captain Caaaaaaaaaaaaaveman!". This show was played primarily for laughs, and it was indeed pretty amusing.
The Herculoids
The Herculoids was yet another Hanna Barbera show, originating from that same 1966 television season (man, those Saturday mornings were incredible for a kid back then). They ran for several years, and were reborn in the early 80's as part of Hanna Barbera's "Space Stars" show. The show was rather sci-fi in approach, like it's contemporary Space Ghost. But The Herculoids were a family (Zandor, the father, Tara, the mother, and Dorno, their son) each with combative talents. But the real stars were their creature companions: Igoo, the mighty 'rock ape'. Zok, a winged dragon who shot beams from his eyes (and frequently carried the family on his back). Tundro, who looked like a lumpy rhinoceras and shot fire rocks from his snout. And my distinct favorites, Gloop and Gleep- a pair of form shifting blobs with senses of humor. They made short work of many foes, humanoid and monstrous.
These were some of the shows that fired my youthful imagination, filling some of the hours when I wasn't reading comics. Sadly, many of these shows were gone from the networks by the end of the 60's, (too much violence, they said). Nevertheless, they lived on for years after school and on Sunday mornings. Thank heavens for syndication. Oh, and I was wrong; the Herculoids actually did appear in a Marvel Comic- "TV Stars" issue 3 from 1978.
How many of these do you remember? And no doubt you have some other Super Teams ready to bring up that I overlooked today. Be my guest!
