Posted By Dan Greenfield on Sep 4, 2026 | 2 comments

FRANCO’s FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS: A SUPER FRIENDS Anniversary Special…

By FRANCO

It’s Super Friends’ anniversary next Tuesday!

It premiered on Sept. 8, 1973, so it’s a 53rd anniversary, but still: I loved that show when I was a kid!

I would get up early on Saturday mornings, plop myself down in front of the TV, and watch for hours! Not just Super Friends, obviously. You name it, I watched it. Sometimes it was a tough decision if there were two shows I liked on two different networks. I had to study that TV Guide a whole week in advance!

One of these early mornings I happened to see the credits and I saw that you could write your own script and send it in. I missed whether it was a contest or what, and it flashed by so quickly that I missed the address (Ugh. No emails back then. I’m old). The very next weekend I got up super early, ready with pen and paper to get that address, but I never did see it again. People have even mentioned that I probably imagined the whole thing. But I know I saw what I saw. If anyone has any confirmation of this, please forward (in the comments or, yes, with an email).

Anyway, I think that was the beginning of my career as a writer, because I did write a script but now had no address to send it to.

That script is lost to the ages and will never surface, I’m afraid, but I do remember the gist of it: Zan and Jayna.

I was already a comic-book reader back then and knew nothing of these two alien creatures. (They’re first appearance was in 1977.) Where did they come from? How did they get here? I’m not sure if it was ever explained on the show. (I may have missed that episode — sometimes my Mom made us go out and do things, like shopping for school clothes or food or whatever). Imagine my surprise when, later in life, I learned these guys weren’t even originally in the comics! Hanna-Barbera made them up!!! Were you even allowed to do that?

Anyway, it struck me that we never found out where they were from. How did they get these powers? How did they become Super Friends? All the others — Superman, et al — were all explained; I had read them in the comics, for crying out loud.

So I wrote an origin. How could they not have one and still be Super Friends?

What I didn’t know was the Wonder Twins’ background was revealed in their first comics appearance — Super Friends #7 — which actually came out before they were on TV because of the differences in publication and air times.

If memory serves, in my story, there was a rocket ship — called Voyager, I think — that crash-landed on their planet. It had images of water and animals and even humans. And these two found it and started to take on those powers and attributes, and then found their way to Earth. I remember them needing a villain: The only other creature was Gleek, but they defeated him and now they were friends and decided to all go to Earth together. Bam! The end! Super Friends!

What? 8 years old? 10 at most? I thought it was a good story!

I can always update and rewrite… DC let me know!

In the meantime, here’s my new/today version of these guys in art form:

Anyway, if you want a great modern take on these guys, check out Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne’s miniseries from a few years ago.

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Want more FRANCO’S FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAYS? Come back next week!

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MORE

— 13 TITLES for READ COMICS IN PUBLIC DAY. Click here.

— Why We Fell in Love With the FANTASTIC FOUR. Click here.

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Franco and his forehead have traveled the world and he writes and draws stuff. Franco is the creator, artist and writer of Patrick the Wolf Boy and Aw Yeah Comics! Franco has worked on books/comics, including Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures. Franco was also a high-school teacher and is one of the principal owners of Aw Yeah Comics retail stores. Dan made Franco add that he has won three Eisners.

His new books, Action Cat & Adventure Bug: Let’s Do This!, with Art Baltazar, and Ninja Kaiju: Unleashed, with Scoot McMahon, both from Papercutz, are out now.