Super Friends #44
Super Friends #44 is part of the pivotal final arc of DC's five-year Super Friends series (1976–1981), during which writer E. Nelson Bridwell deliberately built up Beatriz da Costa — Green Fury — as a recurring supporting hero across the book's closing issues, setting the stage for her full origin story in the series finale, #47. The issue is historically significant as a showcase for Green Fury in her early appearances, part of the broader creative project that would feed the character into mainstream DC continuity, where she eventually became a founding member of the Justice League International. Beatriz da Costa has since been recognized as the first Latin American female superhero in mainstream American comics, making every early appearance of the character a meaningful marker in the medium's diversification.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Super Friends ongoing series was written throughout its run by E. Nelson Bridwell, DC's encyclopedic continuity expert, who had also served as the publisher's story advisor to Hanna-Barbera for the animated series. Issue #44, cover-dated May 1981, was scripted by Bridwell with pencils by Ramona Fradon — the series' primary artist — and inks by Romeo Tanghal, the creative team responsible for the Green Fury sub-arc across the book's final issues. The series was edited by Julius Schwartz and published under the informal 'DC TV' imprint, concluding with issue #47 in August 1981.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated May 1981; part of DC's Super Friends ongoing series (Vol. 1, 1976–1981), which ran for 47 issues.
- Story title: 'Peril of the Forgotten Identities' — a villain from the Wonder Twins' homeworld Exxor steals the Super Friends' memories of their secret identities, with Zan, Jayna, and Green Fury working to save the team.
- Creative team: written by E. Nelson Bridwell, pencilled by Ramona Fradon, inked by Romeo Tanghal.
- Green Fury (Beatriz da Costa) appears as a supporting character — her third appearance in the series, following her debut in Super Friends #25 (Oct. 1979) and her second appearance in Super Friends #42 (March 1981).
- Beatriz da Costa / Green Fury was created by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon, and is recognized as the first Latin American female superhero in mainstream American comics.
- Issue #44 is among the final issues of the Super Friends series; the book concluded three issues later with #47 (Aug. 1981), which gave Green Fury a full 25-page origin story titled 'The Demons from Green Hell.'
- The Super Friends comic series is noted as the creative birthplace of the Global Guardians — the international hero team that Green Fury would officially join in mainstream DC continuity.
- The series, though considered non-canonical (set on a separate Earth later designated Earth-1956), directly fed into Post-Crisis mainstream DC continuity: Green Fury crossed into the main DC universe in DC Comics Presents #46 (1982), and later joined the Justice League International.