The Black Hood Wants You: To Tune Out...

While never achieving animated fame, at least one member of the Mighty Crusaders did reach a modest level of priminence in another medium. Which seemed to be a harbinger of a revival two decades later in the form of "Radio Comics", predecessor to Mighty/Red Circle Comics.

Kip Burland aka the Black Hood was featured in a radio drama that aired from July 7, 1943 until January 1944, consisting of 120 episodes of fifteen minute episodes each. Starring the voices of Scott Douglas as the signature character and Marjorie Cramer as his girlfriend Babs, the series was noted as mostly pedestrian since stringent broadcast standards prohibited the more violent elements featured in the comics of that decade.

An excellent resource for this obscure series can be found at the Mighty Crusaders website as well as other items of interest on the Archie heroes.



Archie Animated: The End of a Cult Classic

The Archies had all the makings of a perpetual plethera of plentiful plots from the published pandering to the prepubescent crowd. And then... something happened to cause the dominant freight train of Saturday mornings to come to a screeching halt! And now part two from http://www.memorabletv.com/tvsgreatesthits/archies.htm

But the series took an unexpected plunge in popularity with The U.S. of Archie made in 1974. Designed as a mingling of history with entertainment, it found the gang going back in time in such plots as working with Harriet Tubman on the Underground Railroad for slaves during the 1800s. Such serious concerns were off-kilter for the normally light series, and it disappeared from Saturday mornings in 1975. Its last season on CBS consisted of U. S. of Archie repeats. NBC tried repeats of earlier shows in 1977 under the ride The Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show, but it flopped too.

Nearly a decade later, NBC gave the property another try under the title The New Archies. The characters became prepubescent in this instalment, with a few modifications made for the properties to accommodate the 1980s. Some were substantial (Eugene the egghead and Amani the nice girl finally integrated previously lily white Riverside), others were subtle (Pop's Chok'lit Shoppe was now Pop's Video Cafe). Even Hot Dog became an English terrier. The emphasis remained on jokes and hijinks, but without the music and peppy atmosphere, this edition looked decidedly inferior to the earlier cartoon. There were two stories used in each show, and the 1988?89 season consisted of repeats.

Besides the comic book and cartoons, there was a radio sitcom titled Archie Andrews on Mutual from 1943-44 and NBC from 1946-53. Additionally, ABC commissioned unsold sitcom pilots for the show in 1962 and 1976, and there was a lousy live-action NBC TV movie in 1990 titled Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again, starring Christopher Rich as Archie, in which the characters appeared in middle age.

Archie Animated: The Man Behind the Music

Continuing in our last installment of the animated Archies series, which began in the late 60's, we present the man behind the redhead that became a cult classic... Ron Dante. This from the Classic Bands website:

The Archies were a bubblegum pop group that had a #1 hit, appeared frequently on Saturday morning television, and put out three hit albums. However, despite this success they never did any live performances or touring. Why? Because they were cartoon characters.

The Archies began their animated lives when The Archie Show debuted on Saturday morning in September of 1968. Each episode featured a song and dance segment performed by the characters. The show’s music was supervised by Don Kirshner, the man who put together the music for The Monkees. Kirshner tapped veteran pop producer Jeff Barry to put together the snappy, kid-friendly songs The Archie Show needed.

The Archies’ songs were also issued as singles. The first one, “Bang-Shang-A-Lang,” was a #22 hit on the pop charts and got the band off to a good start. But it was a song released the next year that won the animated band its biggest success. “Sugar Sugar” was an infectious tune built on rich boy-girl harmonies and a catchy instrumental hook played on the xylophone. It went to #1 in the summer of 1969, selling six million copies and knocking The Rolling Stones off the top of the charts in the process. The group also enjoyed another Top 10 hit in 1970, with "Jingle Jangle", before "bubble-gum" music gave way to disco.

The group is also notable for the singers who provided the voices of The Archies, all of whom went on to successful careers. Ron Dante, who sang all the lead vocals, went on to sing other bubblegum hits like “Tracy” and produced most of Barry Manilow’s chart successes in the seventies. Ellie Greenwich and Toni Wine, the female vocalists, enjoyed lengthy careers as a songwriter and session vocalist, respectively. Another backup singer, Andy Kim, had a #1 hit in 1974 with a solo song, “Rock Me Gently.”

Archie Animated: The Start of a 60's Cult Classic!

Following on last weeks (admittedly) extensive review of the limited amount of animated appearances by characters formerly of Charlton Comics, we now turn our attention to Mighty MLJ's cartoon output...

...if you are listening to crickets churp, its because none of the superheroes in the Mighty MLJ stable ever made the jump to the big screen, in that format. Or much of any aside from marketing purposes for the ill-fated Mighty Crusader action figure line. However, that publisher's bread and butter, the Archie franchise, made a serious impact. So without further adieu, we consider the impetus of a nationwide sensation beginning in 1968. From Memorable TV Dot Com:

The number one cartoon of 1968?69 by a huge margin, The Archies had success beyond its ratings: it revived interest in the Archie character, which had been seen in comic books since 1941; it showed the appeal of silly jokes, teenagers, and music to the Saturday morning audience, a mix which would be much copied in the 1970s; and it even generated an international hit single.

The shows format changed considerably over the years, but most incarnations featured amiable Archie Andrews as nominal leader of a clique in fictional Riverdale High, where Mr. Weatherbee was the principal. His cohorts were vain, rich Veronica, who had an exaggerated Southern drawl in the cartoon; egocentric Reggie, who often fought Archie for the attention of Veronica; down-to-earth blonde Betty, whom Archie should have been pursuing; Jughead, the skinny yet always hungry sidekick of Archies; and Hot Dog, the group mutt. They rode around in Archies jalopy and hung out at Pops Chok'lit Shoppe. 

In the first two seasons (titled officially The Archie Show in 1968-69 and then The Archie Comedy Hour m 1969-70), interspersed between brief sketches involving the gang were musical numbers with flashy color backgrounds having the characters show off the "Dance of the Week" and sing new songs. (A character introduced here got her own show in 1970; see Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.) More significantly, for the first time, there was a concerted effort to make some of the shows tunes hits on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart.

DCAU: Animated Question

courtesy of http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Question

The Question was a superhero and a member of the Justice League after the Thanagarian invasion. He was known for his "crackpot"^[2] conspiracy theories and brilliant deductive skills. He used a special flesh-colored mask that covered his face, along with a special yellow gas^[3][4] could change the colors of his hair and clothing. The Question was possibly the most unconventional superhero ever to join the organization. He was a paranoid investigator who, by his own admission, shamelessly went through everyone's trash,^[3] drove a car with no license plates,^[1][5] and believed there was an ominous conspiracy inherent to everything.

Contents [show] 1 History 1.1 Assignments 1.2 Flourishing Romance 1.3 Cadmus 1.4 Abilities and Equipment 2 Appearances and References 2.1 Justice League Unlimited 3 Footnotes 4 External links

History

Assignments

The Question assisted Supergirl and Green Arrow in uncovering the truth behind Supergirl's eerie dreams, leading him to Galatea, her evil clone. Although his teammates regard him as a nut for his over the top theories, such as the connections between boy bands and global warming, and the Girl Scouts and the crop circle phenomenon, the fact is that the Question delivers results. Therefore, Batman appointed him to find a link between Cadmus and Lex Luthor.^[3]

Flourishing Romance

While the Question was investigating, the Huntress approached him offering information on Cadmus, if he would help her track down Steven Mandragora, the man who killed her parents. Even though the Question knew she had nothing on the mysterious organization, he played along, simply because he was fond of the Huntress. The Question is incredibly perceptive, and he most likely investigated the background of every Leaguer, seeing as he knew everything about the Huntress before they met. After the Question dissuaded her from murdering Mandragora in front of his son, the Huntress took a liking to him, and they started dating.^[1]

Cadmus

With the help of the Huntress, the Question stole high-security files from a Cadmus terminal, in hopes of finding their link to Luthor. After cracking the files, he gained access to several classified information, namely Amanda Waller's simulations and everything about the Justice Lords. When the Question saw the security tape of Superman killing President Lex Luthor in the parallel universe,^[6] he became convinced that those events were predestined to happen in his own reality, considering the events that led up to that fateful moment, were also already unfolding. The Question saw how Waller's simulations predicted that a war between the Justice League and the government would result in Armageddon. So, he confronted Superman, who, in spite of assuring they would never fight the government, didn't reassure a much disturbed Question. So, he headed off to LexCorp, where he was determined to kill Luthor in order to prevent Superman from doing so. Seeing as he was a "well-known crackpot", the Question believed that his actions wouldn't affect the League's reputation, and was willing to commit that sacrifice to guarantee Superman's untainted legacy. However, he was thwarted by Luthor, who mysteriously exhibited superhuman strength and easily knocked him around. The Question was then taken under Cadmus custody, where Dr. Moon tortured him for the location of the stolen files.^[2]
He was finally rescued by Superman and the Huntress, who carried him out of the facilityafter a fight with Captain Atom. He was teleported to the Watchtower, where he recuperated with the Huntress on his side.^[4] Shortly after, when the Ultimen invaded the Watchtower, the Question mustered enough strength to knock out one Juice clone with a bedpan, promptly saving his love, the Huntress.^[7]
After full recovery, the Question kept going out with the Huntress and resumed his pursuit to uncover conspiracies. His latest discovery was that Baskin-Robbins has, not 31, but 32 flavors,^[8] contrary to general beliefs. Then Question answered the world-wide call to the entire Justice League when Darkseid invaded Earth, and managed to run over a few Parademons with his car.^[5]

Abilities and Equipment

Despite possessing no special powers or gadgets, the Question was a skilled martial artist,^[1][3] endowed with brilliant deductive skills and a genius intellect. He was also very skilled in the intimidation and interrogation of criminals, on par with Batman. His intimidation skills were derived from, at least in part, his featureless mask, which could be quite scary to an average person.^[3]
He always saw the clue everyone overlooked, and solved the conundrums he set himself out to investigate. The Question was always very suspicious of everything, and his inquisitive mind earned him a reputation of being paranoid and eccentric. Aside from his distinctive "faceless" mask and classic GTO, the Question used no notable equipment.

DCAU: Animated Captain Atom

Courtesy of the DC Animated Wikia:

Captain Atom, real name Captain Nathaniel Adams, was a superhero and a member of the Justice League.
Appearances

When the Justice League extended invitations to the heroes of Earth following the Thanagarian Invasion, Captain Nathaniel Adams answered the call as Captain Atom, nuclear-powered soldier of justice. The Captain was one of the first new League members to be given an important assignment: investigating a radioactive accident in Chong-Mai, alongside Supergirl and John Stewart. Captain Atom's conduct as a US military officer was too uptight for the lighthearted heroes like Kara and Green Arrow, which at first caused some animosity between them.
In loco, they found that the origin of the distress was a walking nuclear superweapon that had gone haywire. Captain Atom attempted to drain its energies but it was overwhelming, and he was knocked out. He then blamed John Stewart's injury on Green Arrow's refusal to work as a team, which escalated the tension between the trio. Afterwards, Captain Atom offered himself to personally shove carbon rod dampers into the flaming giant's reactor, fully aware that if could endanger his own life.

The Atomic hero explodes.

This act of bravery gained the respect and admiration of both Green Arrow and Supergirl.

When Captain Atom was near the reactor, the creature shot him down, breaching his containment suit and causing him to blow up. Captain Atom was seemingly destroyed, much to the distress of fellow recruit Supergirl. However, following the deactivation of the machine by Green Arrow, Captain Atom's sentient energy was re-collected into his containment suit.^[1] The hero would quickly return to active duty. Captain Atom took part in several of the League's missions, namely the first line of defense against Amazo,^[2] the fight against Mordru,^[3] and the alien nanotechnologic invasion.^[4] His power was also essential to contain the radiation leak caused by Task Force X when they infiltrated the Watchtower.^[5]

Conflicting Allegiance

Captain Atom soon proved to be more than capable as a Justice Leaguer, and he quickly gained the respect and admiration of his colleagues, notably Superman, who selected the Captain as his partner while defending Metropolis from Mantis, a second-rate, would-be despot from Apokolips. However, immediately following this adventure Captain Nathanial Adams had his Air Force commission unexpectedly reactivated by General Wade Eiling at the behest of Amanda Waller of Cadmus and Lex Luthor.

The relentless hero with a profound sense of duty and patriotism.

Nathanial Adams was torn between his dual commitments, but his first oath of service had been to the United States military. Captain Atom stepped down from his Justice League duties and was soon ordered to stop Superman and the Huntress from taking the captive Question out of a Cadmus facility.^[6] He was compelled to fight Superman hand-to-hand, and by controlling red-sun radiation, Captain Atom managed to amplify the impact of his blows against the Kryptonian. However, though acknowledging Captain Atom's valiant effort, Superman merely made sure that Huntress and Question had time to escape before he was forced to incapacitate Captain Atom. Cadmus security arrived on the scene to assist the Captain, but Superman sternly warned them not to touch his fallen comrade: "He's Justice League." Superman then collected Captain Atom and took him to the Watchtower, where the Captain could recover under the watchful eye of the League's medical and science staff.^[7]

Captain Atom rejoined the League during the invasion of the Watchtower by Galatea and the Ultimen clones. He was able muster enough strength to blast a few clones while Supergirl fought Galatea.^[8] Thanks to the revelation that Lex Luthor and Brainiac had been manipulating both Cadmus and the Justice League, it seems apparent that Captain Atom was discharged from military service and allowed to rejoin the Justice League following Amanda Waller's involvement in the conflict between the League and the Luthor/Brainiac hybrid.^[9]

Captain Atom was last seen fighting against the forces of Darkseid during the intergalactic despot's massive invasion of Earth. The Captain survived the conflict, so it is logical to infer that Captain Atom remained with the organization following Darkseid's disappearance.^[10]

Powers & Abilities

Captain Atom was composed of living nuclear energy and had to be confined to his containment suit to interact with others.

The Captain possessed the abilities of flight up to speeds approaching mach 2,^[11] super strength, energy absorption and energy projection on a level sufficient to put up a decent fight against Superman himself, but was ultimately beaten into unconsciousness.^[7] He was highly resistant to injury, though he did seem to have physical limits. There was also a limit to the amount of energy he was able to absorb. It was occasionally difficult for Captain Atom to absorb large amounts of energy,^[1][6] and if he was unable to safely regulate his energy form or discharge the absorbed energies, he risked rupturing his containment suit (simply put: he would explode).^[1] A serious rupture could cause fatalities and property damage within a fairly large radius if Captain Atom did not move to a safe distance.

Captain Atom seems to be able to feel some level of pain and fatigue despite his apparent lack of a human body (Superman was able to defeat him using pure physical force, in spite of the fact that Captain Atom was using his ability to control red sun radiation as a weapon against Superman.)^[7]

Justice League Unlimited

• "Initiation"
• "The Return" ^(Cameo)
• "The Greatest Story Never Told"
• "Dark Heart" ^(Cameo)
• "The Doomsday Sanction" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Task Force X"
• "Clash" ^(Cameo)
• "Question Authority"
• "Flashpoint"
• "Panic in the Sky"
• "Divided We Fall" ^(Cameo)
• "The Great Brain Robbery" ^(Cameo)
• "Alive!" ^(Cameo)
• "Destroyer" ^(Cameo) 

Footnotes

• 1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Justice League Unlimited, "Initiation"
  2. ↑ Idem, "The Return"
  3. ↑ Idem, "The Greatest Story Never Told"
  4. ↑ Idem, "Dark Heart"
  5. ↑ Idem, "Task Force X"
  6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Idem, "Question Authority"
  7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} Idem, "Flashpoint"
  8. ↑ Idem, "Panic in the Sky"
  9. ↑ Idem, "Divided We Fall"
  10. ↑ Idem, "Destroyer"
  11. ↑ Idem, "The Doomsday Sanction"

 

DCAU: Animated Blue Beetle

A series highly acclaimed in the transition of comics to other media is undoubtedly the Justice League Unlimited franchise. While the series never found room to spotlight Ted Cord aka the Blue Beetle, the cartoon-to-comic transition did afford an appearance by this classic character alongside his latter-day partner, Booster Gold.

Truly, Beetle was the most successful of all the assimilated properties from Charlton, until DC tragically used him as fodder for a mega-event a few years ago. Here's hoping that the revolving door of "comic book deaths" applies with this classic character. To bad the Mighty MLJ creations haven't had a spin in this wonderful televised tapestry.

Another Rendition Falls by the Wayside

Over the past year and a half, DC Comics has attempted to revitalize the concept of Archie's superhero properties by modernizing them. In essence, they did the same thing in 1985 when the then-defunct Charlton Comics sold their small stable of superheroes to DC, inserting them fictionally into their one world before folding them into a central Earth following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

As a result, such heroes as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, and the Question... and to a lesser extent others such as Sarge, Nightshade and Thunderbolt... received a renaissance in their characterization and status. That said, most of them fell by the wayside over the years, to be dusted off then trotted out to become the fodder for the next major crossover. See, they were not the core creations of DC, so this made them valuable not for their legendary status... which was minimal at best... but for their value as expendable items for a publisher daring to push the envelope ever further. And so, aside from momentary animated spotlights such as Captain Atom in Justice League Unlimited and the Blue Beetles in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, these distinctly different dudes debuting from Derby never truly reached the pulp culture consciousness of the public at large.

And so, we reconsider what lasting impact the newest incarnation of the Mighty Crusaders will have, aside from the meager readership that picked up their solo and team titles. Zilch, nada, none whatsoever. Because they were licensed and not outright purchased from Archie, such characters as the Shield, Web, Inferno, Fly Girl and so forth were only hinted at as existing in the DC Universe proper. Think about it, having these characters featured prominently in other mainstream titles would then cause the publisher a dilemma if those same titles were then reprinted later on, since the license would by then probably lapse and DC would have to pay a considerable fee to the rights for these characters. Hence, they were setup to fail, and will default back to their originator where they will languish aside from an annual appearance of a few of their number in an Archie title, where America's Turbulent Teens meet the Crusaders once more.

Which fate is worse? To have your characters sacrificial lambs for mega-events, or to have them in comic book limbo where their existence is marginalized at best?

Such is the dilemma for these characters loved by you and I...

Crossover Month: Heroic Hotheads

If you were to do an inventory on all the secret (and not-so-secret) origins of heroes with fire-based powers, you'd see a common denominator. Most of them were the result of an accident, allowing the hero (or heroine) to not only project intense heat and gained immunity from their own flames.

Fireball was among the first of such characters, proceeded a couple years early by Timely Comic's Human Torch. While Torch was an android, allowing the reader to more easily accept his ability to cope with such temperatures, Fireball was fire fighter Ted Tyler bathed in an experimental chemical that mutated him into a heat-emitting hero. Decades later, the two-in-one hero Firestorm was composed of teen Ronnie Raymond and scientist Martin Stein, merged together by a nuclear plant accident. While his fire was more radioactive than other flame-based characters, Firestorm visually and conceptually is somewhat similar to Fireball. In a fair fight the younger hero easily out-classes his elder in both power and knowledge.

Crossover Month: Beetle Bash

Abner Jenkins had much in common with Ted Kord, at least at the beginning. Both men were experts in machinery and each mechanized devices in the forms of beetles, allowing them to defy gravity and weaponry that stung their opponents. For Ted, this was incorporated into his flying vessel known as the Bug, while Abner created an armor instead.

However, their motives diverged from there, as Ted was avenging the death of a superhero while Abner wished to make himself a profitable supervillain. As a result, while Ted's Blue Beetle was a success, Abner's Beetle continued to fail.

Nevertheless, the Beetle under a new alias as Mach-IV joined several reformed villains to create a heroic team known as the Thunderbolts. Both on the same side of the law now, a teamup between these two would be interesting to say the least.

Crossover Month: Boy Buddies

There are literally dozens of sidekicks just in the golden age of comics, alone, yet very few back then actually met other mighty mites. A rare exception was the Boy Buddies, aka Dusty the Boy Detective and Roy the Super-Boy! Even though their padres never much hung out with one another, this pair had a budding relationship.

Poor Pinky the Whiz-Kid. Why? Well his name was...Pinky...the Whiz-Kid! Apparently, all the cool aliases had already been handed out (course he could've swiped one, like a certain Kryptonian brat of one of the buddies). And also, he seemed to be alone in the world of sidekicks on his world...unless you count young Mary and Cap Junior but they pretty much were standalone characters. It would've been neat had he have met a pair... like these two today!

Crossover Month: The Men of the Atom

When little Al Pratt first appeared in 1940, the Atom was the tiniest known particle in nature that had near limitless potential. Al was merely a college student trying to protect himself and his girlfriend from bullies. After training, he became a human dynamo at the pinnacle of physical protection. When as the hero named the Atom he encountered the villain Cyclotron, Pratt's body became a sponge for the tholium energy his foe emitted. As a result, he was modeled after the atom bombs on 1945, gaining tremendous superstrength and an "atomic punch".

Before he would return for a new generation, another atom appeared on the scene in the form of Captain Atom, a soldier turned superhero thanks to an atomic accident. He too had atomic powered strength as well as flight and energy blasts that Cyclotron never passed on to Pratt. Were these two to have met in battle, the Captain may've won by shear power alone. But for heart and true grit, the original Atom would've taken him hands down.

Crossover Month: Heroic Hares

Inspired by the golden age funny animal stelwart Marvel Bunny, the 1980's spawned DC Comics' Captain Carrot and the soon-to-be Archie Comics' Thunder Bunny. One an anthromorphic bunny on a parallel world occupied by talking animals, the other a human merging with the body of an anthromorpic alien world. While Rodney Roger Rabbit was dependent on ingesting super-charged carrots to regain his powers, Bobby Caswell found his super-hare body hard to get rid of when trying to regain his human form. The teen had to visualize his human form to regain it, Rodney's reverted to normal much to his dismay.

Cap C was a team player with his Amazing Crew while T-Bunny had a tenative at best relationship with his world's Mighty Crusaders. Nevertheless, each took what would seem to be a ridiculous appearance and comical adventures to show that a hero is measured, not by their exterior, but by their heart.

Crossover Month: Fleet-footed Furry Friends

Now this is a race we'd like to see someday, between a neglected super-mammal and a video game legend. Everyone knows Sonic the Hedgehog, the fleet footed hero of the planet Mobius attempting to free his world from Doctor Robotnik's evil dominance. Things were a bit more easy going for Fastback and his Amazing Crew on parallel world Earth-C, perhaps so much so its easy to overlook him. Despite debuting nearly a decade before Sonic, Fastback lagged behind in notoriety.

Even more interesting then their superspeed abilities is the worlds in which these two resided, with interesting blends of animals interacting with one another in manners similar to humans yet distinctly different is substance. A crossover between these worlds would have immense story potential.

Crossover Month: Pranksters Unite!

 

From a "B" class Superman villain to a "C" class Charlton hero, the name Prankster doesn't exactly inspire mythos nor legends. Still, the premise is the same, a regular guy who through the use of gag gimmicks is able to level the playing field between himself and his opposition.

Oswald Loomis, the original Prankster, went toe-to-toe with the Man of Tomorrow several times throughout the decades... with his punchlines always ending up flat. In the late 60's, another Prankster literally was a man of tomorrow, of a future era where arts and entertainment are quashed for conformity and order... with this unnamed man tried to shake things up.

Crossover Month: Jack of Spade vs Jack of Heart

Card-themed heroes and villains are always fun, particularly when you mix and match the various suits to resonate story themes. Black Jack was an MLJ golden oldie with a simple origin: he was a cop that crooks thought they 86'd, turns out he was alive and wanted to beat the odds as the costumed Black Jack. The Jack of Hearts had a more convoluted origin at Marvel Comics, as the hybrid son of a human father and alien mother. Consumed with energy activated by a special fluid, he needed to wear a special suit to contain his power (shades of Human Bomb).

What would make this crossover terrific is by throwing in DC's Royal Flush Gang as the antagonists that are pair of Jacks have to unite to defeat! With the wildcard, Joker, pulling the strings!

Crossover Month: Men of Mystery Meet

This is tops on the list of crossovers we'd love to see! Two men of mystery, avengers of the night, part-detectives part-martial arts masters (well, some incarnations of the Hood, anyway). Batman and Black Hood have so many points of similarity if you throw out the rich playboy alias of the former and the beat cop job of the latter.

Still, speaking of Matt Burland's career choice, it perfectly meshes with Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon... hence the choice of picture today. Now given, they live on parallel Earths. However, it perfectly reasonable Black Hood could infiltrate into Gotham P.D. as Matt to ferret out information to help his buddy Batman on a personal case. Maybe their old foes the Joker and the Skull teamed up to torment both worlds. Or their young apprentices, Dick "Robin" Grayson and Kip "Black Hood II" Burland. These two would definitely attempt to protect their legacies.

Crossover Month: Protectors of the Jungle

Black Panther really has untapped potential even after some modest runs with the Avengers and a few solo series through the decades. T'challa as the prince of a high-tech African nation while also its chief protector is loaded with possibilities.

One such scenario would be if he met the Phantom, they would make quite the one-two punch versus any poucher who invaded their turf!

Crossover Month: Colorful Crooks

Of the many colorful cats we've introduced into this blog, none are more so than are Doctor Spectro of Charlton and Rainbow Raider of DC Comics. Both rogues and long-time adversaries of  Captain Atom and the Flash, respectively. Each utilized technology allowing them to maniuplate emotions through colors they project, as well as more solidified attacks from this same energy. While Spectro was a disgruntled scientist transformed into a supervillain after exposure to his equipment, Raider was a color-blind artist embittered with his lot in life and exploiting the special goggles his father bequeathed him.

While neither were prolific in their number of appearances, they each made their mark while they were being showcased as potential real threats towards their foes... and towards the fashion world as well!

Crossover Month: Jim and Lucy....er Archie and Betty...huh?

Just imagine all of those 1960's Jimmy Olsen tales where he's in hot water with main squeeze Lucy Lane, and during the same era Archie Andrew's frequent foibles with a Ms. Betty Cooper. Red and Blond is a combustible combination, for sure.