It’s a little known fact that for a brief time in 1972, Bob Ross enjoyed a post within the prestigious Justice League. Before Ross’s Joy of Painting launched him into superstardom, he courageously fought the forces of evil alongside the now famous Super Friends. After a time, the others felt threatened by this incredibly talented, poetic artist and managed to convince JLA Inc. to find creative ways to abbreviate his tenure. Enforcing a ‘happy little technicality’, JLA stated that membership in the Justice League required superhuman ability. Apparently moving mountains and bending rivers with killer artistic skill wasn’t a superpower.
The hole left by Ross deeply affected Martian Manhunter, who left the group within weeks of Ross’s departure. Even the Justice League’s name was downplayed in favor of the more generic ‘Super Friends’ due to the irony of the rather unjust removal of Ross. In a desperate attempt to recapture some of that groovy glory, JLA Inc. drafted the three Junior Super Friends — Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog — to far less appeal. While the Super Friends fizzled in just under a decade, Bob Ross went on to enjoy eleven years of wet-on-wet oil-painted landscape mastery and a lifetime of syndication on Public Television.