May 11th 2006

THE UNEXPECTED RETURN OF WENDY AND MARVIN:

REDISCOVERING THE ORIGINS OF THE OBSCURE TEENAGED SIDEKICKS OF THE SUPER FRIENDS

Last week, as part of DC comics' "One Year Later" event, comic book writer Geoff Johns dropped an unexpected surprise in Teen Titans #34. He introduced, or reintroduced (depending on how you look at it) two new, or old (depending how you look at that as well) characters to a sea of mixed reactions. Some fans were amused and overjoyed. Others were horrified and questioned Johns' sanity. The characters? The Super Friends' original sidekicks. No, not Zan and Jayne. They were reintroduced years ago in the short lived Justice League spin-off titled "Extreme Justice". No, Geoff Johns reintroduced the world to the original Super Friends kids, Wendy and Marvin! Now many people probably don't remember Wendy and Marvin, or their canine companion Wonderdog, very well. They weren't on the Super Friends very long, being replaced very quickly in both the television show, as well as the comic book, by the more popular Wonder Twins. However, Wendy and Marvin have far more history, and far more interesting origins than most comic fans probably realize.

When Hanna Barbara first grabbed the rights to DC Comics' characters from Filmation Studios in the early 1970s they decided to keep the original Justice League concept but threw away the name and created what would be known as "Super Friends". They created a team out of the most popular choices - Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman, and added Aquaman, who had been a popular for Filmation in the previous decade. However, Hanna Barbara decided that it was necessary to give the kids watching the show some characters that they could identify with, as well as add a bit of comic relief to the show. Instead of going with already established teen and Justice League mascot Snapper Carr, Hanna Barbara created what was to be the first of many new characters for their DC cartoons. Wendy, Marvin and Wonderdog became the Super Friends' companions and mascots and bumbled through the team's adventures. In many ways the trio were cookie cutter copies of already established Hanna Barbara stereotypes. Marvin was very much like the bumbling scaredy cat Shaggy from Scooby Doo or Alex Cabot III from Josie and the Pussycats. Wendy, on the other hand, was easily a Velma type character who had good detection skills and was much more useful then Marvin. Wonderdog, on the other hand, simply followed Hanna Barbara's love for dogs with his forefathers being Astro, Scooby Doo, Dyna-Mutt and the Ghost Chaser's dog Goober. However, what Hanna Barbara didn't feel was necessary to do was to explain to the viewers just who these characters were and how they came to be working with the Super Friends.

When DC comic writer E. Nelson Bridwell was put in charge of writing the Super Friends comic book in 1976 the question of who exactly Wendy and Marvin were bothered him greatly. Like all good comic book writers Bridwell knew that everything had to go together and he decided that it was up to him to make sense of who and what the origins of Wendy and Marvin were. In the first issue of the Super Friends comic book E. Nelson Bridwell revealed for the first time the deep rooted origins that Wendy and Marvin had in the DC Universe.

Considering that there were no actual explanations of exactly what Wendy and Marvin's relationship was Bridwell decided that they would be simply friends that were training with the Justice League in some sort of hands on crime prevention program. Although it says little, it at least explains why two normal teenagers were hanging out with the Justice League. But why Wendy and Marvin? What were their connections with the superheroes? Why were they picked?

According to Bridwell, when Hanna Barbara first sent the character sketches to DC comics that Wendy was supposed to be Batman's niece. Now anybody who knows anything about comic books knows that this can't be possible because Batman was an only child when his parents were gunned down in Crime Alley by Joe Chill. However, hardcore Batman fanatics can tell you that pre-Crisis Bruce Wayne DID have an older brother. However, due to extensive brain damaged the elder Wayne brother had been institutionalized since birth. Thus, even with that bit of trivia thrown in it is impossible that Batman would be able to have a niece. It shows you just how little the folks at Hanna Barbara knew their superhero lore.

So with much imagination, not to mention reaching into his extensive knowledge of obscure comic book history, Bridwell devised that Wendy was the niece of Batman's detective mentor Harvey Harris. Classic Batman fans can tell you that as a teenager, young Bruce Wayne put together a costume similar to Robin's and trained in the art of detection and crime-fighting under Harris, a Gotham City police detective. Years later, after the death of his mentor, Bruce Wayne received a letter from Harvey Harris stating he actually had figured out that he and Batman was one and the same, but kept it a secret all these years. Bridwell decided that Wendy was Harris' niece and Batman brought her into the group to teach her just as her uncle had taught him. As a result, it's no surprise that Wendy was the natural detective compared to Marvin.

Marvin's connection to the Super Friends is, in many ways, almost more obscure than Wendy's. Bridwell really had to stretch with this explanation, but it showed just how imaginative he was. Bridwell explained that Marvin was the son of the former Diana Prince. No, not Wonder Woman. See, when Wonder Woman first came to the United States from Paradise Island she was simply Princess Diana. She had to come up with a secret life but considering that she had no home or identity she was in a bit of spot. That is when she met a young WAC named Diana Prince whose fiancé, Dan White, was being shipped to South America. Diana Prince was distraught that she did not have the money to join him. Princess Diana solved the poor woman's problems by buying not only her identity but all her credentials as well and took her place in the US as the new Diana Prince while the old one joined her fiancé in South America and never revealed what she had done. Thus, Bridwell imagined that Diana and Dan White married and had a son named Marvin. In tribute to Wonder Woman, Marvin named his dog after her. Yeah. The dog. Great tribute there Marvin... you idiot.

So Wendy and Marvin enjoyed two years in both the Super Friends television program and comic. However after two seasons the Super Friends were put on hiatus. When it returned in the fall of 1976 Wendy and Marvin were gone, but in their place were the odd shape changing alien twins, Zan and Jayna - the Wonder Twins. Of course, the cartoon didn't feel the necessity to explain the disappearance of Wendy and Marvin but, Bridwell, who had only just worked out the origins of the duo earlier that year, wasn't about to allow his comic book readers to be left in the dark. Bridwell explained that Wendy and Marvin had simply "graduated" from their program. It was also explained that Marvin was attending Ivy College where the Ray "The Atom" Palmer was a science professor (where Wendy ended up was not explained). Bridwell wrote one final Wendy and Marvin story later on actually teaming them up with Zan and Jayna, showing that their were no hard feelings between the two sets of Super Friends' sidekicks. Thus ended the adventures of Wendy and Marvin for the next three decades.

However, while Wendy and Marvin's appearance in the latest issue of the Teen Titans was a surprise to most readers, perhaps it shouldn't have been because it's not Marvin's first appearance in a DC comic book in the last decade. Geoff Johns isn't the first writer to bring Marvin back to the fold. Marvin made his first reappearance in the second issue of Mark Waid and Alex Ross' now classic "Kingdom Come". It was only in a single panel but Marvin was seen chugging a beer in a crowded meta-human club and flipping off an aged Superman only to be forcefully silenced by Atom Smasher. Wendy and Marvin seem to be personal favourites of famed artist Ross who featured them instead of the Wonder Twins in his painting of the Super Friends, as well he hid a picture of Marvin in "Planet Krypton" restaurant in the first issue of Kingdom Come.

So who are the new "Post Crisis" Wendy and Marvin? As a result of the Crisis in Infinite Earths both Harvey Harris and Diana Prince no longer exist, thus making E. Nelson Bridwell's well thought out origins null and void. According to their debut by Geoff Johns the new Wendy and Marvin are actually twins (Marvin is older by five minutes). The duo are scientific geniuses, graduating at age sixteen from M.I.T. When Teen Titan leader Cyborg was damaged during what has been called the "Infinite Crisis" Wendy and Marvin's "father" (whose identity, interestingly enough, has not yet been revealed) sent the pair over to Titans Tower to aid in rebuilding the part man/part machine hero. From then on they have stayed on at Titans Tower as caretakers. Thus starts a new chapter in the story of Wendy and Marvin, the forgotten sidekicks of the Super Friends. Love them or hate them Geoff Johns has already stated that they are not going anywhere and are here to stay. Personally, this Pop Culture Addict welcomes the pair back to the fold and loves to see this nod to long forgotten odd characters from DC comics' long and colourful history. 

All content copyright Sam Tweedle 2006.