This week: the Wonder Twins!
Super Friends holds a very interesting place in DC Comics fandom. On one hand, it represents almost every comic book stereotype that the industry has fought for decades to avoid - simple, disconnected, sometimes preachy, and often nonsensical stories, told with flat characters and bad art, made only for children. The show is near-singlehandedly responsible for Aquaman's poor reputation, which he has only started to shake in the past few years (thanks, Jason Momoa!) On the other hand, it's also an iconic piece of fiction that nearly everybody watched growing up - for many, being the introduction to this world and these characters - so it's a touchstone that everyone can understand, and creators seemingly can't resist making reference to it when they get the chance.
I think this dilemma goes a long way to explain the odd contortions so many Super Friends characters go through when they finally make it onto the page. Sometimes they'll come in unscathed, like El Dorado, but more often than not, you'll get things like Wonder Dog, the man-eating demon, or Manitou Raven, what Apache Chief would be if he dressed like a voodoo priest. The Wonder Twins are somewhere in the middle.
The Wonder Twins first appeared in the first episode of The All-New Super Friends Hour (segment: "Joy Ride" (1977)). They were a replacement for Wendy and Marvin, and an improvement; although they still provided the young characters for kids to relate to, they were also superheroes in their own right and could join in on the action.
As an aside, I want to talk about their powers for a second. They are often given as examples of characters with lame powers, but let's examine that. Zan can turn into any form of water. That's usually depicted - especially in parodies - as "a bucket of water" or "an ice slick", but that's also things like any form (and any amount!) of precipitation and ice in any shape. He could also theoretically turn into multiple forms of water at once, meaning he could scald you and freeze you at the same time. Here's Zan as an ice unicycle - if he can turn into complex machinery, he can turn into anything. It's loophole abuse of the highest caliber, but it still counts.
Jayna's EVEN MORE powerful. She can turn into any animal. Any. Animal. Real or mythological, native to Earth or alien, she can do it all. She can turn into a Kryptonian and suddenly have Superman's powers. That's canon. (Pictured is a Kryptonian animal, but considering she turns into a human in her secret identity, nothing's stopping her from also turning into a Kryptonian person. Regardless, Kryptonian animals have Superman's powers too.)
I'll get off my soapbox now. Anyway, while appearing on the show, they also made appearances in the Super Friends tie-in comic book series, beginning in issue 7 (August 1977). There's some debate over whether Super Friends is part of continuity or not; usually tie-in comics are not, and it's published specifically as a "DC TV Comic". On the other hand, comics of the time were generally written so that they and Super Friends did not contradict each other. If that's the case, this article can pretty much end here.
If it's not the case, though, then they first turned up in comics for real in Extreme Justice #9 (August 1995). To support my earlier point, in this issue the Wonder Twins were the antagonists and the team had to stop them from destroying a town. It was probably a misunderstanding related to them being runaway slaves owned by an alien overlord. The team later emancipates them and they join in issue 16 (March 1996), although they also made a few appearances in between. In addition to their more serious backstory, they're also given more serious outfits - at least from a 1990s point of view.
They faded into obscurity after that series was cancelled, but later appeared in Young Justice #49-52 (September - December 2002) as part of a storyline that included nearly every teenage superhero active at the time. I note this because it gives them new costumes that appear closer to their animated versions, and confirms they are from Exor, just like in the cartoon.
They continued to show up here and there, including on Smallville, of all places...
...but the next important thing to note is their post-Rebirth SERIES that debuts next month (February 2019)! In the closest they've been to their original versions, the series will follow them as they navigate school and Earth life under the tutelage of Superman, while also working at the Hall of Justice.
Finally, I forgot to mention the brief detour they took on Justice League Unlimited as Downpour and Shifter, but you can read more about that here.
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