Hanna-Barbera Super TV Heroes #1

History

The series was published by Gold Key Comics, the imprint arm of Western Publishing Company, which had built its reputation on licensed TV and film properties throughout the 1960s. Writer Don R. Christensen and artist Dan Spiegle — a veteran Gold Key illustrator whose long association with Western Publishing stretched back to the early 1950s via the Hopalong Cassidy newspaper strip — were the primary creative forces on the title, with cover art attributed to Mike Arens alongside Spiegle's interior work. Gold Key notably never carried the Comics Code Authority seal, relying instead on its established family-friendly reputation, and the Hanna-Barbera superhero line fit neatly into that positioning.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published April 10, 1968 by Gold Key Comics (Western Publishing); 36 pages.
• First comic book appearances of The Herculoids, Birdman, Mighty Mightor, and Young Samson and Goliath (per Key Collector Comics).
• Contains five original stories — not TV-episode adaptations — including 'Invasion of the Martian Ants' (Herculoids), 'The Magnetic Menace' (Young Samson and Goliath), 'Duel at Dawn' (Birdman), 'Battles the Vampire King' (Mighty Mightor), and 'Danger in the Deep' (Moby Dick).
• Interior art primarily by Dan Spiegle; cover art credited to Mike Arens and Dan Spiegle (per GoCollect/GCD).
• The issue also features a pin-up page spotlighting Birdman, The Herculoids, Mighty Mightor, Moby Dick, and Young Samson and Goliath.
• The Galaxy Trio (Vapor Man, Meteor Man, and Gravity Girl) appear in the issue's Galaxy Trio segment aboard their ship the Condor 1.
• Space Ghost does NOT debut in this issue — his first comic appearance was the earlier Gold Key one-shot Space Ghost #1 (March 1967); he joined the Super TV Heroes anthology with a later issue.
• The series ran for seven issues total, from April 1968 through October 1969, with nearly all stories across the run being original material rather than episode adaptations — with only one story across the entire series based on a broadcast episode ('The Idol of Turaba,' from Shazzan).

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