Oh, you know who I’m talking about…

Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai, and El Dorado. The 70’s answer to diversity.

As you probably can tell Black Vulcan looks an awful lot like Black Lightning and that is who he is modeled after. According to legend, the name, costume, and some of the specific powers were changed from B.L to B.V. in order to hold down royalty payments for B.L.’s creators. Not sure if that’s true or not, but it’s been around the comicverse enough to mention it.

Apache Chief has appeared in a “new” version called Manitou Raven that does not appear until 2002. Whiel Apache Chief was pretty clear with his power to enlarge himself with his magic word “Inik Chuk”, Manitou Raven appears as an ancient shaman/medicine man character steeped in the magicks of his people.

Samurai has appeared in comics briefly off an on, but mostly Samurai here serves as a substitute for Red Tornado since his mode of transport is to convert or enshroud his lower body with a tornado like form in order to travel. Uttering his mantra Samurai could also turn invisible on occasion, and one assumes that he conducted himself by the code of Bushido and had martial arts training, but you would rarely see this on a kid’s tv show in the 70s.

El Dorado is the correction.. “oops, we forgot the Latin character” damn. And THIS is what we got? Some sort of Aztec vegas show boy outfit for a hero who could teleport, create illusions, and basically had whatever strength was convenient for the cartoon he was in.

It really torqued me that all of the new Super-Friends were all male, but there was a little seen additional female Super Friend, who wasn’t Hawkgirl, though she occasionally appeared..

Rima, the Jungle Girl, is a South American tarzana if you will, and is typically in SuperFriend adventures with Wonder Woman or Batman and Robin. Using her jungle wits and a vine lasso for transportation, Rima protects the Rain Forest and it’s denizens from poachers.

Now all of these heroes were nice to be included in the very Anglo-Saxon Super Friends, but really? Was racial and society advanced a bit by what now look like horribly dated stereotypes?

Well hold onto your hat folks, because here comes THE GLOBAL GUARDIANS!!!!

Banded together from all those countries around the world that no super-heroes would ever need to go to or the Justice League needs to recruit from, the members of The Global Guardians are united to defend all the other countries on the Earth.

As much as the JLA would love to say they are all about the Earth as a whole, lets face it, for the most part, they aren’t for just Earth.. they are for Earth, but for America first. So what happens when Ireland, Brazil, or South Africa need super powered assistance?

Lets start with these characters, shall we?

Seraph, Chaim Lavon of Israel, possessor of the Staff of Moses, the Mantle of Elijah, and the Ring of Solomon, Chaim is Israel’s guardian against the forces of evil.

Green Fury, Beatriz da Costa of Brazil, a super spy/super model who inhaled a toxic fume and gained the ability to breathe green fire. She can change her clothes by swirling the fire around her and she can fly by breathing fire out of her nose propelling her forward.

Rising Sun, Isuma Yasunari of Japan, able to fly, absorb and project solar energy.

Olympian, Aristides Demetrios of Greece, wears the Golden Fleece which gives him the abilities of all those famed warriors who sailed on the Argo.

Little Mermaid, Ulla Paske of Denmark, is a mermaid that can walk on land on two legs and then can form a fish tail in water and survive under water for at least a day. And no, she’s not related to Ariel, stop asking!

Jack O’Lantern, Daniel Cormac of Ireland, is a man who was given a mystic lantern by the faerie folk, the lantern allows Jack to fly, project flame, illusions, teleport, and other assorted tricks.

Next Up: MORE Global Guardians of course! You didn’t think you had seen the last of them?