THIS SERIES CAME during the second year of the 2nd Invasion of the entertainment world of the 1960's. The first was, of course, the Great British Invasion of the Pop Music scene of 1964-???? It was spearheaded by that "Fab 4" from Liverpool. Once the Beatles appeared on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, the place was insured for Dave Clark 5, The Rolling Stones, The Zombies, Freddy & the Dreamers, en ad infinium.
THIS SECOND WAVE invasion had little too with the first; but, in its own way, was just about as influential in the future of kiddie kartoon time on the networks; as well as the perception of just what constituted the makes of a good action series*. This was the era of the Comic Book Super Hero; who had come of age.
ALTHOUGH THE GROUND had been broken the year before with THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (Filmation, 1966), this series superseded it and in the process doubled the air time for DC Comics' Super Hero stable. The SUPERMAN episodes remained the same along with those portraying SUPERBOY "the Adventures of SUPERMAN when he was a boy!"
IT IS OBVIOUS from the title that the series brought AQUAMAN to the small screen; but this may well have been a surprise to any astute followers of the comic book stories. Aquaman had bee a sort of second string hero during most of his long career. His feature was slated as a back-up in MORE FIUN COMICS and ADVENTURE COMICS; that is for about by the first 20 years of his run.
THEN SELECTIVE SERVICE System intervened. He was "drafted" to serve as one of the original "charter" members of the JUSTICE LEAGUE OF America".** It seems that there was a rather light roster of "Long Underwear" characters available; which even compelled an editorial adjustment in choosing J'ONN J'ONZZ-MANHUNTER FROM MARS to the League's ranks.***
PEHAPS THE GREATEST achievement of this series was to bring film/video counterparts of the comics' pages of THE FLASH, HAWKMAN, THE ATOM and GREEN LANTERN.
IT ALSO BFROUGHT the first moving images to the screen of THE JUSTICE LEAGUE; albeit in a sort of contracted version; being that there was no inclusion of GREEN ARROW, MARTIAN MANHUNTER, BATMAN or WONDER WOMAN. All of these characters were "members in good standing" and active at this time. We theorize that BATMAN and WONDER WOMAN were then under exclusive film rights to William Dozier's Production Company and to 20th Century-Fox Television. (Schultz says he agrees!)
AS FURTHER PROOF to our theory, the series underwent another name change following the ending of the BATMAN TV Series. It became known then as THE BATMAN/SUPERMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE.
WELL WE KNOW that all of this doesn't add up to very much; but it is a part of the history of comic characters as well as that of television. itself.
NOTE * We've long held that series such as THE A TEAM were basically comic book fare that was transferred to the medium of the screen. The A TEAM could have very well been a creation of the team of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby and there is a definite influence there.
NOTE ** The depleted ranks of the superhero features, which had largely fallen from grace, forced the editorial board of National Comics/DC to sort of promote AQUAMAN. After the JLA bowed for the first time on December 29, 1959, in the "try-out" comic, THE BRAVE & THE BOLD (#'s 28, 29 & 30) it was decided to give him his own publication; which he did get following his "try-out" in the pages of SHOWCASE (DC's other introductory magazine).
NOTE *** Prior to this time, the presence of Martian J'ONN J'ONZZ was unknown to anyone on Earth; even though he had a secret identity and fought crime as a Police Detective. That all changed prior to the publication of JLA; allowing THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER to enlist as a charter member.
