Super-Vixens: Lilith

When the Teen Titans began in 1966, it was a comic geared towards kids with a supposed “hip” slant to it, but with scripts that seemed decidedly UN-Hip (Mad Mod, anyone?) and it wasn’t until Dick Giordano came aboard and re-tooled it with the likes of Neal Adams and Marv Wolfman did it actually come across as a cool, timely strip.

 Stories were introduced that more accurately reflected the times of the late-sixties with Race Riots, Love and Peace, and College Protest Marches, and along with these tales we were introduced new characters that reflected the times as well…

Among these new characters was the gorgeous if not slightly aloof red-haired temptress named Lilith- though she was Clairvoyant Telepath, she was less like a super-heroine than that Annie Golden character in HAIR, and when she wasn’t helping out the Teen Titans with their various dilemmas, she was rocking out in the Go-Go dancing cage and/or rocking out the coolest and sexiest dresses and outfits!

 And by outfits, I mean CLOTHES outfits…A funny thing about Lilith is that she (along with fellow new character Mal Duncan) never ever did get a costume proper and spent the entire series in civilian clothing. Each episode I would wonder just when the heck she was going to get a costume, but before I realized it, I was used to and quite happy to see her in her swinging’ sixties dresses, and didn’t WANT her to wear a costume!

When Marv Wolfman and George Perez revamped the Titans in the 1984 series “The NEW Teen Titans”, I was disappointed to not see Lilith among the ranks (but satisfied myself with the knowledge that at LEAST Donna Troy would be there, and even MORE comforting was the exclusion of those characters from the mid- seventies East/West Teen Titans whom I’ve NEVER liked). And though I’ve read that they DID eventually bring Lilith back in some capacity, by that point I’d stopped collecting the New Titans, and missed out on it completely. Ah well, chances are I woulda been disappointed anyway- nothing can compare to the vibrant sixties era Lilith, a true product of her times!

Super-Vixens: Phantom Girl

Up next is cute-as-a-button Tinya Wazzo, the Bgztlian native better known to the DC Universe as the Legion of Super-Heroes very own PHANTOM GIRL!

With the ability to phase through solid objects, Tinya was inducted into the Legion’s fold early on, but it wasn’t until years later when Dave Cockrum updated her character with that swinging’ futuristic bell-bottom jumpsuit that she became the spunky pony-tailed girl that we came to know and love!

While girls like Saturn Girl, Shrinking Violet and Dream Girl were heating up the Legion Outposts, Tinya always came across as the warm and bubbly “best friend” to everyone, she was the “sweet” girl! In fact, I always used to read the old 25¢ Superboy comics thinking that she looked an awful lot like Dawn Wells a.k.a. Many Ann Summers of Gilligan’s Island!

Most of these scans come courtesy of my beloved beat-up copy of Superboy starring the Legion Of Super-Heroes #203, an issue which Mike Grell seemed particularly inspired with his depictions of Tinya. She looked so adorable in every panel! The illustration of Tinya on the cover is a fave, too, drawn by the master himself, NICK CARDY. ..Can this man EVER draw a bad picture of a girl?

Phantom Girl:

First Appearance: Action Comics #276 by Jerry Seigel and Jim Mooney

Favorite Artists: Dave Cockrum and Mike Grell ( the Legion Immortals! )