POP-A-LOOZA: THE EVERLASTING FIRST! Teen Titans, The Mighty Thor, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and THE TWILIGHT ZONE

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is another exciting edition of The Everlasting First!, looking back at my introductions to Teen Titans, the mighty Thor, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and The Twilight Zone.

No offense to the other irresistible properties listed above, but my reminiscence of discovering the adventures of DC Comics' young superhero group the Teen Titans is clearly the main thing in this piece. As a tangent to that, here's a little something that turned up in one of my weekly 10 Songs columns, revealing how the Titans also served as my peripheral introduction to the rock group the Doors:

"...my introduction to the Doors was no less (potentially) prosaic as my introduction to the Monkees via a weekly TV show: I first recall learning of the Doors in the pages of a superhero comic book.

In 1972, the 38th issue of the DC Comics title Teen Titans opened with a scene of clairvoyant Titan Lilith dancing to the Doors' "When The Music's Over." Since twelve-year-old me already had a little bit of a crush on our Lilith, her recommendation of what rock group I oughtta be listening to could not be taken lightly. The men didn't know. This little boy understood. Sort of.

Lilith's first appearance, Teen Titans # 25, drawn by Nick Cardy

I was old enough that I must have heard the Doors music before that, but it hadn't registered with me. I later discovered that my sister had the Doors' 'Hello, I Love You'/'Love Street' 45, so I did hear the Doors in short order. I hope Lilith will forgive me for never becoming quite the Doors fan she was.

(And later, when I became a fan of the Kinks during my senior year in high school, I realized that 'Hello, I Love You' was very heavily influenced by the Kinks' 'All Day And All Of The Night.' Lilith may have known. I'm sure she understood.)"

As a member of the mighty Avengers, Thor was pretty important to me, too. He's part of my story of buying comic books since 1966, my discovery of Marvel Comics, my history as a fan of the Avengers (and a tangent to my history with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch), my eulogy of Stan Lee, and my 1960s pop culture autobiography Singers, Superheroes, And Songs On The Radio. Perhaps my all-time favorite Thor appearance was the sight of him throwing down with Superman in the pages of the epic DC and Marvel collaboration JLA/Avengers.

I like T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and The Twilight Zone, but have never had much to say about either. What I did say about them, along with my fond recollections of the Teen Titans and Thor, serve as the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl