Happy Halloween!
Ramona Fradon and
Robert Allen Smith gave us the cover of
Super Friends #28 (January, 1980) which teased a confrontation among DC's top heroes and most villainous monsters (but they were only magically transformed guests).
Here, a look at when these monsters first appeared, and when they met who they faced!
Bizarro
The first adult
Bizarro version of Superman appeared in
Action Comics #254 (July, 1959) by
Otto Binder and
Al Plastino as an imperfect duplicate of Superman created by Luthor, but, Superboy had faced an earlier Bizarro back in
Superboy #68 (October, 1958), though that version was destroyed.
Swamp Thing
The Alec Holland version of Swamp Thing first appeared in
Swamp Thing #1 (October-November, 1972) by
Len Wein and
Bernie Wrightson, a scientist burned in an accident and healed by the swamp. He first met Batman in
Swamp Thing #7 (November-December, 1973).
Demon
Etrigan the Demon first appeared in
The Demon #1 (August-September, 1972) by
Jack Kirby and
Mike Royer, as an agent of Merlin, bonded to human Jason Blood during the fall of
Camelot to fight evil. He first met Wonder Woman in
Wonder Woman #280 (June, 1981).
Man-Bat
Kirk Langstrom created a formula that turned him into a half-man, half-bat creature, called
Man-Bat in
Detective Comics #400 (June, 1970) by
Frank Robbins,
Neal Adams and
Dick Giordano. While Batman and Man-Bat faced off in that issue, Robin didn't meet Man-Bat until
Power Records 30 in 1976 in the aptly titled "Robin Meets Man-Bat".
Solomon Grundy
Now,
Solomon Grundy first appeared in
All-American Comics #61 (October, 1944) by
Alfred Bester and
Paul Reinman fighting the Golden Age Green Lantern as the animated corpse of Cyrus Gold, but, even with multiple encounters with the JLA...never really ran into Aquaman before the
Crisis On Infinite Earths.
Though, well after, Aquaman and Solomon Grundy were in
JLA: Year One #2 (February, 1998) in a retroactive retelling of the JLA's first year (which, itself, was a story of how five heroes became...super friends!).
How's that for a tricky treat?
Quite a treat indeed! Thanks for the great posts!
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