What Made Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman so Popular?

[Jim Kelly]

Green Arrow continued to appear in WORLD'S FINEST COMICS in the early 1960s--he was squeezed out of ADVENTURE COMICS at the end of the 1950s. In 1963, Aquaman and Green Arrow started to alternate for the back-up spot in WORLD'S FINEST. But Batman's "New Look" saw the departure of Jack Schiff. When Mort Weisinger took over WORLD'S FINEST COMICS--issue 141 (May 1964)--Green Arrow was given his marching orders, with mostly just reprints used for the back-up feature. This is ironic, because Weisinger co-created Green Arrow.

Weisinger did occasionally feature Green Arrow and Aquaman as guest stars in Superman family stories, so maybe he felt some creative ownership. And I wonder if it wasn't Mort who suggested Aquaman for the spot on THE SUPERMAN/AQUAMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE. That decision probably changed Arthur Curry's life. Having once been animated, he just naturally would get more cartoon gigs.

In THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, Green Arrow teamed with Martian Manhunter in issue 50 (October-November 1963), then with Batman in issue 71 (April-May 1967). And, of course 85 (August-September 1969). Other appearances across different titles were mainly cameo appearances in the 1960s.

Once Batman was the permanent star of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, Green Arrow (Batman with a bow) became one of the recurring guest stars (seems like Boltinoff, Haney and Aparo had certain characters they liked to re-use for the team-ups).

[Primal Slayer]

DC not flat out owning Wonder Woman certainly helped with her popularity. If they werent forced to publish her consistently or lose the rights for majority of her run, they likely would've side tracked her like they did in every other media.

[Sutekh]

Weisinger did occasionally feature Green Arrow and Aquaman as guest stars in Superman family stories, so maybe he felt some creative ownership. And I wonder if it wasn't Mort who suggested Aquaman for the spot on THE SUPERMAN/AQUAMAN HOUR OF ADVENTURE. That decision probably changed Arthur Curry's life. Having once been animated, he just naturally would get more cartoon gigs.

Aquaman is pretty unique in that his powers aren't as readily replicated by Superman, as would be a regular Superman/Flash team-up, or a Superman/Wonder Woman book or show. One of the few things Superman doesn't do is aquatic powers, which means that Aquaman has a smidge of 'niche protection' and won't basically get to be the weak sibling of the team-up. (Green Lantern would be another one from the classic lineup with a schtick that is completely outside of Clark's spacious and roomy wheelhouse, although I don't recall any regular team-up between the two of them. Green Lantern seemed to be more regularly partnered with Green Arrow, the 'Batman' to his 'Superman.')

While the term 'niche protection' may not been in use yet, it's possible the writers of the day didn't particularly want Superman's teammate to be someone who just had a smaller subset of his own powers and came across as superfluous to the story.