Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett looks at DC’s ‘Super Sons,’ another teen superteam.

Last week while writing about DC’s reams of super-teen teams (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy - Super Teen Team Explosion"), I neglected to mention one, a particularly small team, in fact, a duo: the Super Sons. Their current out-of-continuity series Adventures of the Super Sons will most likely be the last pairing of a pre-Teen Titans Damian Wayne/Robin and a pre-whatever Brian Bendis is doing to Jon Kent/ Superboy in Superman #7.  Which is a shame; while it admittedly took a while, I reluctantly found myself a fan of their odd, awkward friendship.  It also seems short-sighted, The Super Sons have the kind of intrinsic kid appeal that could give DC yet another successful brand; Adventures of the Super Sons: The Animated Series seems like a natural.

Adventures of the Super Sons #6, released last week, was of particular interest because, as the piece on CBR put it, Adventures of the Super-Sons Brings A Classic DC Character To The DC Rebirth Era.  The headline is referring to Huka, an alien pet from Atari Force, the 80s comic by Gerry Conway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Eduardo Barreto. The piece reminded me of something I had completely forgotten, that Huka “was brought into the mainstream DC Universe (sort of) as a recurring character in Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming's Ambush Bug miniseries where he would torment the titular hero.”

Now as I've previously confessed I’m a long-time fan of Atari Force (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Well, Most People Seemed To Like It"), so naturally I'm pleased to have the little guy back.  But the CBR piece also reminded me of a couple of other things I had forgotten.  In spite of the fact that I’m a fan, I usually think of Atari Force as being just another marginal licensed title, but it actually sold enough copies to put it on "DC's Top Ten on a regular basis" 

Back in 2015 in the ICv2 piece Warren Ellis Penning 'James Bond' Comic, it was announced "Dynamite has signed a comprehensive licensing agreement with Atari” and the deal “includes rights to create original comics and graphic novels, and reprints of existing comic material including the 1982-1986 Atari Force comics.”  Since then Dynamite has published comics based on Swordquest and Centipede as well as a book, Art of Atari, but so far, no Atari Force.  Maybe 2019 will be the year it finally happens, but I really kind of doubt it.

So while I harbor no hate for Huka, he can hardly be considered a “classic” character; he barely even qualifies as a character.  But this issue does bring back a genuine classic DC character; Tommy Tomorrow.  A long-running backup feature in Action Comics, Tommy was a valiant young officer in The Planeteers, an organization that patrolled space in the far future, dealing with criminals, aliens, and criminal aliens. Most often written by Otto Binder and beautifully drawn by Jim Mooney, Tommy’s adventures were clever if formulaic, science fiction puzzles set in an optimistic Utopia.  Trite and dated as they might now seem, they have an appealingly non-threatening, mildly reassuring quality that I find comforting in a present where hope is in short supply.

Sadly, this Tommy Tomorrow appears nowhere in Adventures of the Super Sons #6.  Instead, we get a contemporary space mercenary with the same name, a scared, stubbly, grimdark gritty type who wears a torn scrap of a Superman cape as a kicky neckerchief.  Which is the sort of thing you would think Jon Kent would object to, or at least comment on, but apparently not.  Maybe next issue.

Which you would think would be enough super-teens and teams of super-teens for DC, but Brian Bendis is now teasing us with hints that a new Legion of Super-Heroes comic will be coming to his Wonder Comics imprint.  Which would be great, actually.  As a long-time Legion fan, it’s clear no matter the creative team or the approach, no one has yet been able to create a version of the Legion for modern readers capable of sustaining an ongoing series.  And while I absolutely have no idea what Bendis’ approach to the Legion will be, if there’s anyone currently working for DC capable of making the Legion work, it’s Bendis.

But last week I asked the question, do all DC teen comics have to be about super teens?  I asked because while it’s now all but forgotten, teen comics didn’t always automatically = Archie Comics. From the 50s to the early 70s, DC had their own stable of teen titles: Binky, Buzzy, Debbie, Scooter, and Scribbly. As I wrote back in 2017 (see “Confessions of a Comic Book Guy - Time For Teens”), I find it passing strange that now that Archie Comics has gone from moribund to a multi-media phenomenon, DC has shown zero interest in doing anything with their own teen characters.

Of course, there are titles in Wonder Comics that feature non-super-powered teen characters; I’ll write about them next week.

Two weeks ago (see “Confessions of a Comic Book Guy - He-Man: Missing In Action”) I wrote that there had never been American She-Ra comic books.  Someone was good enough to point out that like He-Man, She-Ra action figures came with mini-comics.{Managing Editor’s note: Yeah, that was me, Nicole. I had quite the She-Ra collection growing up.}  I, of course, had meant proper for-profit full-size type comics, but comics is comics so I’ll happily take the hit. That's right, I was wrong, again; it happens so often it doesn't even sting anymore.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.