ORIGINS OF A COMIC BOOK JUNKIE: A SUPERHERO CHALLENGE & ROAST?
BY JENNIFER M. CONTINO
There are a lot of things from my childhood where I'm not sure if it really happened or I just imagined it to be so many times that it feels "real" now. For instance, I'm pretty sure when I was four I wasn't on an episode of Wonder Woman as Wonder Woman's baby sister, Wonder Tot. I'm also pretty sure when I was five I never went on a ride in the Batmobile with Batman and Robin. And I'm also fairly certain that Captain Marvel didn't give me a portion of his powers and a magic word that would change me into a superhero, even if Jen-Zam! does sound really, really cool. But something I was pretty sure was all imagination for a long, long time was The Legend of the Superheroes: The Challenge and The Legend of the Superheroes: The Roast. After all, I was just four or five when they aired, and I don't believer either special was ever re-run, so how was I to know it wasn't all just some dream like the others?

I always thought it might have been some kind of dream, because I didn't remember too many details about the specials, other than the Batman and Robin from the Batman TV series were the same. But I didn't remember much more. Like a lot of you, I had dreams of superheroes when I was younger. I had dreams of my fighting crime with superheroes. I had dreams of superheroes saving me. I had them so often, that when I got to be a teen I really didn't know sometimes if some of my memories were real, or just the result of dreaming the same thing too many times.

But I remembered a few things about both specials. Like the fact that Shazam was there, but it wasn't either of the Shazams I knew from the TV series. And where was Isis? Or Batgirl? What about Wonder Woman and Superman? And who were these two new "girl" heroes that my pre-school self wasn't familiar with -- Black Canary and the Huntress? How'd each of them rate to be here? I knew most of the villains from the SuperFriends TV series. But, other than a few bits and pieces, I remembered so little of this that I was sure it had to be a dream.

However, when I grew up and met other comic book fans, I learned that these two special Legend of the Superheroes were real, even if there didn't seem to be any "evidence" of either's existence. After all, this was before the Internet, where you can type in just about anything and find it within minutes. Back in the "olden" days, we just had the word of other people to go by if there wasn't an easily documented source to check.

But, although some of my new "friends" remembered the special, many of them couldn't remember too many other specifics either. So the shows still seemed like some kind of crazy, psychedelic type haze. All of us together couldn't put every part of it in place. But it was fun to have those crazy talks like, "Was Flash really in it?" "I thought Atom was there!" "Which came first Huntress in this special or Huntress in All Star Comics?" There were a lot of things we'd talk about. (I'm still not sure about that Huntress answer! Some sources say these specials were on the air in 1977 some say 1979. If it was 1977, they aired half a year before Huntress appeared. If it was 1979, they aired two years after she was created ....

Anyway, that's neither here nor there. I was thinking about these specials the other day when I was remembering some of the crazy superhero shows from the '70s like ElektraWoman and DynaGirl, the live action Spider-Man, the live action Captain America and a few others. I would guess the rights to all those characters being held by so many different companies would be one of the reasons that we haven't seen many of these specials ever appear on DVD or VHS.

But, it would be fun to see these again as an adult, in mint condition, without all the flaws that the Legend of the Superheroes YouTube incarnations seem to have.

There is so much great superhero cartoons, live actions, serials, and other specials out there that we fans don't have on DVD, that it's a shame. I've always said if I ever get filthy rich, I'd love to start a Superhero channel and be able to show all those things in one place.

What about you? Were there any movies or superhero cartoons/specials you saw once as a child and didn't really know if they were "real"? Which of these not on DVD/VHS type series or specials would you love to see released now?

Those specials really were like a bad dream. I was so excited to see them, made a big deal about begging my parents to let me watch them, and then I could not comprehend what I had seen after they were over.

I vaguely remember a scene where some old lady gunslinger frightens all the superheroes by shooting into the air, so that the richocheting bullet shatters the glass she's holding in her other hand! And all the big tough superheroes cower in fear, since she's such a good shot! Did that really happen? Or did I dream it, as you say, Jen?

Something I've seen (but am not sure was ever on TV) was a live action JLA 'pilot'. The one thing that stands out for me was that Martian Manhunter/Jonn Jonz was played by David Ogden Stiers (Maj. Charles Winchester from MASH)

Peter I remember that one too, if you want to see it again it's on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4DUQgzTz1c&feature=PlayList&p=50235800214408CB&index=0

So, in the Justice League pilot snipped that's on YouTube, who is the actress who's playing Ice, Tori Olafsdottir? She looks very familiar, but I can't place the name. I tried looking her up in the Internet Movie Database and at AllMovies.com, but she's not listed, and I even did a Google search and got not one hit on that name.

So, did she never do anything else and never acted again? Or is she still working but under a different name, which is why she looks familiar but her name isn't?

Thanks.

Jeff Lindholm

OK. I am really stupid. That's Ice's secret identity name. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Not the actress' real life name. Fictional name. I just got jazzed for a minute that they had someone from Iceland playing a character from Iceland. Thought it was a good idea. I'm a stooge. A knucklehead. Forget the last post. Yeeeessssshhh.....

Jeff "The Dope" Lindholm

Yeah that happened.

Then she turned into a beautiful woman ....

Jen

Kim Oja (Son Of The Beach) played Ice.

Aunt Minerva (Ruth Buzzi) does the shooting, has Captain Marvel kiss her, says SHAZAM!, and turns into a beautiful woman.

Who played the beautiful woman?

YouTube: Where Jen's dreams can become a reality.

Just type, "legend of the superheroes" into the search box, and you will be rewarded with dozens of clips from the 1979 specials.

Now let the discussion begin about how great were the 70s!