Review: ‘Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1942’
From 1941 through 1942, Max and Dave Fleischer rewrote the rules for animation and people have been trying to match those results ever since. When no one had previously tried adventure in animated form, the Fleischers took their lessons from [[[Popeye]]] and applied them to [[[Superman]]] with astounding results.
The seventeen shorts, released by Paramount Pictures, were the closet anyone would come to bringing Superman to a live action feature film until Richard Donner achieved that goal in 1977 (and people have been trying to match that goal ever since).
Warner Home Video has previously included the cartoons as part of their mammoth tin can set of Superman features but now there’s a two-disc set, Max Fleischer’s Superman: 1941-1942
The fluid action and rousing Sammy Timberg music remain indelibly etched in my mind from first experiencing these in the 1970s. The plots are very simple, given the standards of the day, so there’s a threat, Lois gets in trouble, and Clark becomes Superman to save the day. Repeat seventeen times. Given their short running time, there was no attempt at anything more than the most surface of characterization and the comics offered little in the way of recurring villains at the time (yes, including Lex Luthor). What they could have borrowed from the radio series, along with voice actor Bud Collyer, was kryptonite but chose not to do so.
Interestingly, there’s a warning on the box reading that the DVD set “is intended for the Adult Collector and Is Not Suitable for Children”. Hogwash. This is over-reacting to the mindset that children are fragile and the sight of Superman battling a dinosaur or a gang of robots would ruin their psyche. If anything, this is a perfect vehicle for introducing smart heroic adventures to children as they seek outlets for such fare.
The extras are culled from elsewhere but are worth watching if they’re new to you. First, there’s The Man, The Myth, Superman which does a nice job surveying heroes prior to the Man of Steel’s arrival in [[[Action Comics #1]]]. Second is First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series which clearly establishes how the brothers went from Koko the Clown to Superman and easily surpassed other animation studios. Trailers for other animated offerings and the [[[Green Lantern]]] featurette round out the set.
Bottom line: if you do not own these in any other manner, buy this set. If you already have all seventeen episodes, there’s little reason to buy them again.
One of the key differences between watching [[[Watchmen]]] and reading the complete book is the rich variety of extras in print. In addition to the story, there was the secondary story, [[[Tales of the Black Freighter]]], in addition to newspaper clippings and excerpts from Hollis Mason’s [[[Under the Hood]]]. Initially, these extras were never considered but were instead added after DC’s management wisely decided the maxiseries should appear without advertising. Freed, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons filled the pages with rich context, inviting readers further into their imagined universe and making for a more fulfilling reading experience.
, available to buy or download on Tuesday, you feel like you’re getting supplemental material divorced from the main story as opposed to being fully integrated with the Zack Snyder-directed feature film. One supposes we must all wait for the director’s cut where at least the Pirate tale will be once more edited in with the main story.
The DC Universe series of animated features got off to a rocky start with the [[[Superman vs. Doomsday]]] offering but has gotten steadily better. [[[New Frontier]]] was pretty amazing and now they offer up [[[Wonder Woman]]], which may be the closest we get to a feature about the Amazon Princess for quite some time.
Timed to make a splash at Oakland’s WonderCon, Warner Home Video announced that Green Lantern will receive his own direct-to-DVD exploit this summer. The long-anticipated project will have a sneak peek during the con but consumers will also be treated to a 10 minute featurette on the Wonder Woman DVD being released on Tuesday.
The collection of non-NYCC posts that have come in over the last few days while we’ve been on the floor at Javits.
On Sunday, we wrote how inker 
At this time, I was also working on my other regular show, Mad Men, and brought this up to Jon Hamm, telling him I thought he’d be good as DC’s Hal Jordan/Green Lantern which was about to happen from Warner Bros.. When I brought Jon the preliminary pic (which is mostly the one here) he let me know he had run with it and actually had an appointment with the writer-director of Green Lantern [
In the meantime, back on Grey’s, Kevin McKidd was introduced, and I had been a regular on his previous show Journeyman as well (though never playing the same thing twice) so we already knew each other. And it turned out 
Crossovers are nothing new to comics. Who could forget when the [[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]] found their way into a [[[GrimJack]]] book, or when the Punisher visited the Archie Universe? Well, apparently, they can cross into game universes too. As if to answer the challenge put up by [[[Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter]]] over almost 11 years ago, Midway has released [[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]] for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Building on the series’ newer 3D fighting mechanics, the new title boasts a refined move set, two separate storylines, three new kombat modes, and, of course, a new roster featuring DC’s mightiest heroes and villains. So how does the game fare? Read on…
