The Mix : What are people talking about today?

Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

Danger and Other Unknown Risks by Ryan North and Erica Henderson

I have no idea why this very specific and distinctive book has such a generic-sounding title. I could make up stories of epic battles behind the scenes, with different factions jockeying for utterly different titles (How Daisy Saved the World! My Y2K Story – Really! The Second-Worst Journey in the World! What I Did on My Summer Vacation World-Saving Trip! My Story, by Marguerite de Pruitt!), and only able to agree, after months of internecine warfare, on this one. But that would be entirely fictional, if amusing.

What we have is Danger and Other Unknown Risks , a title which could apply to practically any adventure story ever told. This one is written by Ryan North and drawn by Erica Henderson, the team that did the Squirrel Girl  comic for several years to vast acclaim and strong sales and the adoration of a huge number of fans, more of them small and/or female than was typical for a Marvel comic.

The cynical side of me assumes that they did Danger so they could have something similar that they would own; the sunnier side of me assumes that they liked working together so much that they just had to do it again. Either way, this is very much the same kind of story: spunky, young, optimistic heroine in quirky adventures across a world that needs to be saved. Marguerite, though, does not have the plot armor Doreen Green did, does not have any superpowers – she has one spell, which has different effects in every realm and borderline useless everywhere – and, even though she is a well-trained Chosen One, her failure is very much possible.

Our world has been transformed. Y2K happened – several hundred years ago, we think, while being a bit vague on how many hundreds – but was instead a magical transformation. The world is now radically balkanized, with obvious borders between different magical zones where physical laws can work entirely differently. (Our heroine, Marguerite, tosses a toad across borders as a testing mechanism, which implies some places don’t support biological life at all…but we don’t see any of those potentially fatal realms in this book.)

Marguerite has been sent by her uncle Bernard – this is the kind of “uncle” like Donald and Mickey and Scrooge, where the actual parents, if there ever were any, are never even mentioned – on this world-saving mission, along with her companion, the talking dog Daisy. The two need to find three specific artifacts and bring them back to Bernard, who will use them in a massive spell that will Save the World. The world needs saving, Bernard says, because the magical realms are diverging more and more every day, and that will eventually Destroy the World if it is not Saved.

Readers of books for younger people may guess that Not All Is As It Seems. Marguerite and Daisy discover Shocking Revelations and The Real Truth and have to Change Their Mission. But they’re always going to Save the World. Along the way, they steal those three artifacts of the Before Times, run away from and/or confront various nasty or otherwise opposed forces, meet some friends and helpers, and, as always with North/Henderson stories, model positive friendship at all times.

Reader, they do Save The World. How could they do otherwise? And if you’ve been looking for something to scratch that phantom Squirrel Girl itch, this is exactly the thing for it.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

REVIEW: Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham

REVIEW: Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham

The latest Warner Animated DC feature film adapts the 2000-2001 Elseworlds miniseries Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham. The fun of the Elseworlds comics, and soon the live-action versions under the new artistic regime, is taking the familiar and imagining them in other times and other places. Here, we do back to the early 20th century and overlay it with a dose of Loftcraftian horror.

Cowritten by Mike Mignola and Richard Pace, two men better known for their artistic skills, this story was designed for visual impact, something Troy Nixey did well in print, and the animators from Jase Ricci’s script and co-directed by Sam Liu and Christopher Berkeley, replicate nicely.

Basically, an arctic expedition headed by Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli), sent to check on a previous team led by Professor Oswald Cobblepot (William Salyers) reveals horrors and a missing professor. The only surviving is Grendon (David Dastmalchian), but there’s something definitely off about him, so of course, they bring him back to Gotham City.

There’s a mystery to be solved, so the millionaire adventurer dons his cape and cowl and, accompanied by Kai Li Cain (Tati Gabrielle), Dick Grayson (Jason Marsden), Sanjay Tawde (Karan Brar), and Alfred Pennyworth (Brian George), he goes on the hunt.

The great Gotham City triumvirate of Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli), Oliver Queen (Christopher Gorham) and Harvey Dent (Patrick Fabian) come together at a dinner hosted by the famed archer as the action begins to heat up .

Complicating matters, she tends to, is Talia al-Ghul (Emily O’Brien), seeking a way to resurrect her deadly father, who was responsible for Thomas and Martha Wayne’s death two decades earlier. Toss in Oliver Queen (Christopher Gorham), James Gordon (John DiMaggio), Lucius Fox (Tim Russ), Harvey Dent (Patrick Fabian), Barbara Gordon (Gideon Adlon), stir in a dash of demon, place on a low heat and let things simmer.

If anything, the leisurely pacing of the story hurts it as does a less than clear narrative, so you’re not as fully engaged in the goings-on as one should be. It’s pleasant enough, but the makings of a much stronger, scarier story are not used to their best potential.’

The film is available in the now-standard 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, Digital HD code combo pack. The 4K 2160p transfer is strong, nicely capturing the animated look and color palette. Given the appropriately unique look to this horror take on the DCU, they do a creditable job. The same can be said of the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track.

As for the Special Features, you get a fine Audio Commentary with Liu, Ricci, DC creative director Mike Carlin, and producer Jim Krieg. Additionally, there is Batman: Shadows of Gotham (13:12) and From the DC Vault – Batman: The Animated Series: “The Demon’s Quest” Part One (22:18) and Part Two (22:14) [Only on the Blu-ray].

Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley

Kid Gloves by Lucy Knisley

I have children, but I didn’t carry them: I’m the other parent. I have children, but their birth was a long time ago: my younger son was born in 2000.

Which is to say I inevitably read a book like Kid Gloves , Lucy Knisley’s comics-format memoir of her pregnancy and the things that came before it, with interest and some knowledge but a definite detachment.

Another way to put it, inspired by a restaurant my family likes in a nearby town: when you have bacon and eggs, you know the chicken was involved, but the pig was committed.

Lucy Knisley, like my wife, was committed. All pregnant people are, and this is a book slightly more for them than it is for their non-pregnant partners (and for adoptive parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and so on). If I wander into criticism anywhere below, remember it’s likely that Knisley, having lived it, is right and I am mistaken.

Knisley, up to this 2019 book, had a comics-making career entirely focused on memoir, in ways that may have made a lot of people jealous. My life is absolutely nothing like Knisley’s, starting from the basic not-able-to-get-pregnant thing, and she made me jealous a few times – she told the stories she had to tell with grace and insight, making them deeply moving and resonant. There were two books of extended European travel, French Milk and An Age of License . A book about family and learning to cook, Relish . A book about traveling with older relatives, Displacement . And, immediately before Kid Gloves and most relevant to it, the memoir of her wedding and all of the planning and events before that, Something New .

Now that I’ve scared away the people upset by pregnancy cooties – which more men than you’d expect, and not a few women, have serious cases of – I can get into the Trigger Warning. Knisley had two miscarriages before her healthy baby, and there were some medical complications when she did give birth. For some people, that will mean you want to steer clear of this book, and maybe even have already stopped reading.

But miscarriages are vastly more common than many people (me, certainly) realize: one in four pregnancies ends in a miscarriage. Knisley explains what that means while also telling her own story: the strengths of Kid Gloves, like all her previous work, is that combination of personal perspective with deeply researched expertise.

Kid Gloves semi-alternates between chapters about Knisley’s own pregnancy journey, starting with her troubles with birth control in earlier years, and with somewhat humorously-titled sections on “pregnancy research,” which dive into history, demography, social expectations, sexism, and a lot of biology to give a more factual look at what pregnancy is like or can be like. That makes it deeper and more useful than a “here’s some stories about when I was pregnant,” and I think of that as characteristic of Knisley’s work: she’s dependably focused on telling the truth, as deeply and thoughtfully as she can, and not just on telling her own stories.

She’s also not shy about talking about the physical side of pregnancy, which may also scare off some of those without uteruses. There’s a lot of vomit, a fair bit of breastfeeding, and the whole panoply of other body changes that come when several pounds of growing, moving new person start shoving one’s abdomen off in all directions.

Let me expand that: Lucy Knisley is not shy in her work. Her greatest strength is that desire to see clearly, to explain precisely, to guide carefully, to narrate fully – all the things she experienced, all the things she learned, all the things she wants to make sure the world knows. Her art is precise, just a bit cartoony, with soft colors and thin lines, and she’s really good at the page that diagrams a pregnant body, or explodes into multiple text boxes to cover multiple aspects of a single thing, or just shows how she felt when something happened. 

Kid Gloves is not for everyone – there’s more body stuff in here than will be comfortable for a lot of people – but it’s a strong book and one that I hope will find a lot of people who might become pregnant in the future and give them a lot to think about and plan for their own lives. And, along the way, tell them the story of this woman and her family and eventual healthy, happy baby – and that’s why people will want to read it.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

REVIEW: Plane

REVIEW: Plane

Gerard Butler was destined for stardom around the time he was the lead in 300 but the fates have not been kind, so he continues to get work, reminding us of his skills. Unfortunately, the quality of the vehicles he appears in varies wildly and thankfully the most recent, Plane, is better than most.

A large part of the credit goes to the always-likable Mike Colter, regardless of the part he plays. Here, he’s a fugitive from justice, being extradited by Butler when their airplane crashes. In a hostile Pacific environment, they are on the run, chased by Datu Junmar (Evan Dane Taylor), and the rescue team led by Scarsdale (Tony Goldwyn), former Special Ops, who knows a thing or two.

Were it just the two of them, the black and white men on the run and opposite sides of the law would loudly echo The Defiant Ones, but with other passengers in the mix, it’s down to a dull roar in the background. Some of the character arcs are interesting, and none of the characters are particularly memorable. There’s even a C-plot with Butler and his scene daughter Haleigh Hekking.

The movie, out on disc now from Lionsgate, was written by Charles Cumming and J. P. Davis, and they do a fine job keeping the suspense going. With direction by Jean-François Richet, this is an enjoyable B film that doesn’t demand much from the audience.

The movie is out in the usual 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and Digital HD code combo pack. The 2160p and 1080p transfers are both top notch, easily capturing the color saturation the tropical clime demands. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is almost as satisfying.

There is not much of the way in Special Features but you do get This Is Your Captain (14:18), spotlighting Butler; Plane Clothes (6:51), Brace for Turbulence (19:14), and the Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:29).

Snug Harbor Stories by Will Henry

Snug Harbor Stories by Will Henry

I used to read a lot of strip-comics collections: I assembled a full set of Doonesbury back in the day, kept up with Dilbert until the writing on the wall was too obvious to ignore [1], and had multiple books from probably a dozen other currently-running strips over the years. But, somehow, the past decade or so has made that seem old-fashioned. Maybe because of so many re-runs (Get Fuzzy, for example, which I still read in the paper but can never tell if it’s actually new, because it generally isn’t) and legacy strips (too many to mention, not that I ever cared for most of them in even their earlier forms), maybe because of just the weight of time.

Will Henry’s Wallace the Brave is probably the first newspaper strip where I’ve read two collections in…ten years? More or less? So I may end up grumping about some aspects of the strip, because what I apparently do best is grump, but let me underline that first: I like this a lot more than just about anything else I’ve seen in a newspaper for a bunch of years.

Snug Harbor Stories  is the second collection of the strip, after the self-titled first book . It was published in 2019, soon after the strip started running in newspapers. (If I’m reading the Wikipedia entry correctly, it had an extended try-out on GoComics starting in 2015, the first book hit in 2017, and it was actively syndicated into papers starting in 2018.)

And this is a strip comic, so this book is the same kind of thing as the first book, only more of it. I feel like the strip these days is really focused on the kids and from their point of view – so, for example, the teacher and parents are seen from a metaphorical kid-height rather than being viewpoints – but some of these earlier strips are more obviously coming from an adult perspective. I enjoyed that difference, but great strips develop focus and stick to it, so the overall change is both expected and admirable.

I also thought there were even more inventive layouts in this book than the first one, which could be Henry getting comfortable with what’s possible within the physical constraints of the strip. My mostly-uninformed idea would be that inventiveness is easier digitally – as when the strip was only on GoComics in the early days – than in print, but maybe newspapers are not quite as hidebound and backwards-thinking as I assume.

I still like Spud as a character a lot better than Wallace, though I don’t think I’m supposed to. Wallace can just be too much of a muchness, constructed to be the eternally wide-eyed optimist dreamer, like a Tom Sawyer with all cynicism and sneakiness surgically extracted. Spud is quirky and weird and particular, like normal people. But one of the things that makes a great comics strip is characters you argue about, even in your own head – strips are formed over time, through lots of moments and jokes and recurring ideas. So even my saying, “I like Wallace the Brave the strip better than I like Wallace the character” is a good sign for the strip as a whole.

Anyway, this is about a bunch of six-year-olds, and, like all comics, they’re smarter and more articulate and have more physical freedom of action than any six-year-olds have ever had in the real world. Calvin and Hobbes is the most obvious predecessor: the two strips have a similar sense of infinite possibility and joy in the outdoors and exploration. But Wallace is more about community and friendship – Wallace himself is central, but he’s not the whole strip. He’s the catalyst or the glue, but the strip is as much about his friends and family as about him specifically.

And Henry is an inventive, somewhat loose artist with great sound-effects, a willingness to draw weird stuff (people, places, layouts – all of it) and a complete and total lack of fussiness at all times. It’s a lovely, always organic-looking strip full of energy and life

I still think the best way to discover a strip is day-by-day rather than in clumps; the good ones stick in your mind even in small doses like that. But, when you’re ready for a larger dose, Snug Harbor Stories (and the book before and, so far, two books after) are there.

[1] From the evidence of my bookshelves, I think this was 15-20 years ago, which is even longer than I thought. I also should note that I wrote this post in early January, before the recent unpleasantness. But Dilbert‘s creator has been a wealth of unpleasantness for quite some time now.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Sunburn by Andi Watson and Simon Gane

Sunburn by Andi Watson and Simon Gane

Andi Watson is a criminally underrated maker of comics. He’s done great work for almost three decades now, but I never see him included on the list of greats. Maybe it’s because he never dabbled in the core Wednesday Crowd (is it still Wednesdays? I lose track, and the big day was Friday way back when I cared) comics – the closest he’s ever come is Love Fights , a relationship story set in a superhero universe.

I don’t know Simon Gane’s work as well, but what I’ve seen has been impressive – lush, illustrative pages with style and energy and a clear viewpoint. His Paris , with Watson, is particularly impressive.

So I don’t know how many people were eagerly awaiting their second collaboration, Sunburn , but I was definitely one of them. And the book does not disappoint.

It’s another historical, like Paris. To my eye, it’s set at the beginning of the ’60s, but it could be slightly earlier – there are mostly ’50s cars on the streets, but two-piece bathing suits are generally accepted. (The very first panel is a view of the main character’s room, with a lot of little signifiers – James Dean, some group with guitars I’m not 100% sure of, a record player – to help immerse the reader. Watson and Gane work a lot like that: unobtrusively but clearly showing rather than telling.)

Rachel is sixteen, the only child of a suburban British couple. Her parents seem to be perfectly nice people, a little staid but loving and happy. She unexpectedly gets an invitation, from a business acquaintance of her father’s, to spend the summer in Greece – and that’s the story here, so she accepts.

Close readers will wonder at this to begin with: the connection is very thin, and the invitation is out of the blue: who is this couple, and why are they inviting a sixteen-year-old girl they really don’t know along on vacation with them? Sunburn will explain this all, eventually.

But Rachel does not question her good fortune. She arrives quickly in sunny Greece – exact island and location left unspecified; this is a story about people and maybe the contrast between England and Greece, not about a specific place or historical time – and settles in with Diane and Peter, who are more stylish and young-appearing and sophisticated than she expected. They are friendly, they treat her like their daughter – or maybe a younger sister – and they introduce her to the life of this island, giving her fancy clothes to wear to the regular cocktail parties of their (seemingly quite affluent) set.

Among those introductions – well, central to those introductions – is a young man named Benjamin, whom Diane not-all-that-subtly puts together with Rachel. Again, a perceptive reader will start to think something is going on, and will learn more later.

Sunburn is the story of that place, that summer, and those four characters: Rachel at the center, her relationships with especially Diane and Ben, and Peter in a more distant orbit. I won’t tell you what happens, or why Rachel was invited, but I will say this is a subtle story rather than a brash one, a story about people and relationships.

Watson and Gane tell that story quietly, through gesture and glances as much as anything else. The style is somewhat cinematic; Sunburn is the kind of graphic novel that could be adapted into film without too many changes. And they tell a deep, resonant, grounded story: I didn’t see this until the new year, but it was clearly one of the best books of ’22.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Phillip Kennedy Johnson & Nic Klein Take on the Hulk

Phillip Kennedy Johnson & Nic Klein Take on the Hulk

New York, NY— March 8, 2023 — The AGE OF MONSTERS has begun, and the only being who can stop a legion of the world’s most depraved creatures from overtaking the Marvel Universe is the INCREDIBLE HULK! Enter this horror-fueled new era of the strongest there is when writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Nic Klein relaunch INCREDIBLE HULK this June!

Known for his acclaimed horror storytelling in titles like Alien and Marvel Zombies: Resurrection, Johnson will take Bruce Banner to sinister new depths when a war of monsters erupts with Hulk at its center. And following his explosive run on Thor with Donny Cates, Nic Klein’s skill at capturing the Hulk’s fearsome rage and his panache for body horror will make this the most terrifying book on stands! The pair will also explore Bruce Banner’s psychological state, left in shambles at the end of his latest run with Bruce and the Hulk’s relationship more fractured than ever. Fans will experience a vicious hunt as Hulk is made prey by brand-new monster characters as well as classic favorites, all united in a fiendish new scheme… 

As an enraged Hulk tries to take control of Bruce Banner’s body permanently, a mysterious immortal turns every monster in the Marvel Universe against Banner in an attempt to free their creator, the primordial Mother of Horrors. With the help of an unlikely new friend, Banner and Hulk must try to stop the world from getting plunged into darkness!

“The significance that we’re finally bringing back the classic titleINCREDIBLE HULK is not lost on me. It’s a tremendous honor, and Nic and I have the clearest possible vision for what we want to do with this story,” Johnson explained. “Nic Klein is a genius, and working with him is pushing me to write a story worthy of his very best.”

“Phillip and I put a big serving of monsters, a bit of eldritch gods, a good dash of suspense, and some cool new characters into the cauldron,” Klein added. “We’re trying to serve up a Hulk the readers haven’t seen before. And if they like it half as much as I’m enjoying drawing it, they’re gonna love it.”

“The work that Al, Joe and the rest did with Immortal Hulk was so impactful and spoke so clearly to me personally, it was impossible to come up with an idea that wasn’t inspired by it,” Johnson continued. “We’re getting back to Stan Lee’s Frankenstein/Jekyll & Hyde inspirations for the character, and giving readers a proper monster book in the best, truest Hulk tradition. If you loved Immortal Hulk, if you love ghost stories, if you love Marvel monsters, if you loved old school ‘adventure of the month’ stories from books like Marvel Team-Up, and if you want the best, most timeless Hulk art you’ve ever seen, you DO NOT want to miss this return of INCREDIBLE HULK.” 

World Record Holders by Guy Delisle

World Record Holders by Guy Delisle

This is a flashback: you need to know that first.

Guy Delisle’s comics career has been mostly circling the lands of memoir – a series of longer, more serious books about his travels, created when he was a working animator and/or lived in interesting places of the world (Shenzhen , Pyongyang , Burma Chronicles, Jerusalem ), and a series of shorter, funnier books about his “bad dad” parenting style (User’s Guide , Even More , Owner’s Manual , Handbook ). His most recent major book, Factory Summers , was also in that mode: a look back at the job he went back to, several years in a row, while he was in school.

The outlier is his book Hostage , which is non-fiction and the story of one person’s time in a particular place, but was about someone else, not Delisle himself.

But Delisle’s first couple of books [1]  were stranger, quirkier things: two collections of short wordless comics, full of transformations and uneasy connections, Aline and the Others and Albert and the Others. They were originally published in 1999 and 2001, with North American editions in 2006-7. Like a lot of creators, Delisle started with shorter comics and then turned to book-length stories.

And he was making comics before the Aline and Albert stories – there’s a French book, Réflexion, back in 1996, which I suspect was short comics. If I were a betting man – and I am very much not – I would say some of those stories are probably in this book.

Which finally brings me to World Record Holders , a collection of Delisle’s short, mostly earlier comics. It was translated by Helge Dascher and Rob Aspinall and published in 2022. It collects twenty-two stories, originally appearing in various places – mostly magazines and anthologies, I think, with a whole lot in Lapin, a couple from Deslie’s 2002 French collection Comment ne rien faire, a handful in Spoutnik, and a few other scattered publications – between 1995 and 2014. But the 2014 story is an outlier; other than that, the newest piece is from 2007, and about three-quarters were published by 2002.

These are very much stories by a young creator trying new and different things; the art is mostly similar to Delisle’s mature style, but “similar” covers a lot of ground, and the level of finish varies a lot here, along with other details of line width and shading and use of blacks. That’s a lot of fun to see, and the styles generally work well for the individual stories.

It opens and closes with two short autobio stories, from 2001 and ’02, of Delisle – in very much his modern style – confronting the blank page early in his cartooning career. They make strong bookends, and also help bring the reader into the odder, quirkier material in the middle: most of these comics are not about Delisle at all…in fact, I’d be hard-pressed to make any overall statements about this collection, to say what it’s “about” in any comprehensive way. 

There are stories that may have been experiments, or try-outs, or explorations. Shaggy dog stories, artistic exercises, a few pieces of short autobio. A whole lot of a variety, in art and tone and matter and style – but all Delisle, all pretty successful, all enjoyable to read. And, yes, there is a title story – it’s buried, almost exactly in the middle, so you’ll have to find it to learn what records Delisle is talking about.

[1] In English translation, at least – assuming that means something for wordless comics. I see from Wikipedia that Delisle did a number of books in French that have never been translated, and I’m particularly intrigued by the “Inspecteur Moroni” series.

Reposted from The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

CLassic Fleischer Superman Cartoons Remastered for Blu-Ray

CLassic Fleischer Superman Cartoons Remastered for Blu-Ray

BURBANK, CA (March 8, 2023) – Warner Bros. Discovery has meticulously remastered Max Fleischer’s treasured set of 17 animated Superman shorts from the original 35mm source elements. Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 will be available to purchase Digitally on HD and on Blu-ray May 16, 2023.

Superman made his comic book debut in 1938, appearing in Action Comics #1 (dated June 1938, but officially published on April 18, 1938), and the Man of Steel’s popularity grew with his subsequent radio program. Max Fleischer gave the world’s first Super Hero his initial animated spotlight, producing 17 theatrical animated shorts from September 1941 to July 1943 that further elevated the character’s profile, and added many significant aspects to his canon – including coining many of Superman’s patented catchphrases and attributes.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s advanced remastering process began with a 4K, 16-bit scan of Fleischer’s original 35mm successive exposure negative. Staying true to the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37-to-1, the highest quality raw image was then scanned and then entered into the recombine process – utilizing special proprietary software to merge the successive exposure Technicolor negatives into a single RGB color image. The end result are pristine animated shorts that have been restored to the animators’ originally intended production quality.

Well known radio actors Clayton “Bud” Collyer and Joan Alexander reprised their famed The Adventures of Superman radio show roles for the Fleischer/Famous Studios animated shorts as Superman/ Clark Kent and Lois Lane, respectively. Jackson Beck provided the voice of Perry White and the show’s primary narrator. Additional voices, many of whom had participated in the Superman radio program, were provided by Jack Mercer, Grant Richards, Julian Noa, Lee Royce, Max Smith, Sam Parker and Carl Meyer.

Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 will be available on May 16, 2023 to purchase Digitally in HD from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more, and on Blu-ray at major retailers both online and in-store.

EPISODES (AND PREMIERE DATE):

  • Superman (Mad Scientist) – 9/26/1941
  • The Mechanical Monsters – 11/28/1941
  • Billion Dollar Limited – 1/9/1942
  • Arctic Giant – 2/27/1942
  • The Bulleteers – 3/27/1942
  • The Magnetic Telescope – 4/24/1942
  • Electric Earthquake – 5/15/1942
  • Volcano – 7/10/1942
  • Terror on the Midway – 8/28/1942
  • The Japoteurs – 9/18/1942
  • Showdown – 10/16/1942
  • The Eleventh Hour – 11/20/1942
  • Destruction, Inc. – 12/25/1942
  • The Mummy Strikes – 2/19/1943
  • Jungle Drums – 3/26/1943
  • Underground World – 6/18/1943
  • Secret Agent – 7/30/1943

SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

New Featurette – Superman: Speeding Toward Tomorrow – Superman’s exploits in the Fleischer series modernized the monomyth of the Greek godlike hero and expanded and romanticized the prevalent themes of sci-fi and fantasy. It was this combination of heartfelt storytelling, relatable heroes and amazing visuals that has endeared the Fleischer series to fans as one of the greatest superhero stories of all time. This featurette explores the visual storytelling as the lavish animation, with special attention paid to all the atomic age technology, pushes science fiction closer to becoming a powerful social and pop culture force.

Featurette – First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series – The Origins and Influence of This Groundbreaking Cartoon Series – A gathering of contemporary animators, comic book & animation historians, and legendary Fleischer artists examine these beloved shorts, focusing on the animation and the breakthrough techniques that created it, as well as studying the title character’s place in history.

Featurette – The Man, the Myth, Superman: Exploring the Tradition of Superman Heroes on the Page and Screen – A fascinating study of Superman-esque characters throughout history – in ancient myth, literature and film – that bring forth imaginative, super-human qualities, captivating audiences and enduring the test of time.

Pricing and film information:

PRODUCT                                                     SRP

Digital HD Purchase                                       $14.99 USA and CANADA

Blu-ray                                                            $33.99 USA, 39.99 CANADA

Languages: English

Subtitles: English, French

Running Time: 145 minutes

REVIEW: The Adventures of Batman

REVIEW: The Adventures of Batman

Filmation caught lightning in a bottle. In 1965 or so, with no real money or track record, they bamboozled DC Comics into licensing Superman for animated fare. Just as the Man of Steel flew to his Broadway debut and Batmania was sweeping the country, they gave us Superman cartoons, followed by Aqualand and friends. Finally, in 1968, six months after the live-action series left ABC, CBS Saturday Morning welcomed The Batman/Superman Hour, mixing the 1966 super-doings with brand new 12-minute Bat-capades.

All 34 capers are now packaged in remastered form as The Adventures of Batman, a two-disc set from Warner Home Entertainment. At 10, I was delighted by these, even if some of the equipment and villains didn’t look quite on model, and even at that tender age, I recognized how many shots were reused to stretch the animation budget.

They played it straight and in animated form, worked without the camp element that propelled the live-action series to stratospheric heights. In a mere dozen minutes, we have a villain, conflict, death trap, battle, and quips between the Dynamic Duo. It was pleasing fare that went nicely with a bowl of cereal.

Olen Soule’s Batman was solid and serious with Casey Kasem’s Robin not sounding right. He just couldn’t vary his voice enough for the parts he played, which included Chief O’Hara. Ted Knight, the redoubtable narrator, does better with his Commissioner Gordon, Penguin, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, and Mad Hatter.

Dennis Marks, Bill Keenan, and Oscar Bensol were all animation veterans, with Marks going back to the beginning a few years before. They were joined by DC writers Bob Haney and George Kashdan, who both cut their teeth on the earlier Aquaman stories. Interestingly, they use the villainous heavy-hitters and add in Scarecrow, who never made it to live-action. Conversely, none of the live-action original foes are seen here. Instead, we get Simon the Pieman as a repeat offender.

Looking at them now, though, you see they were not terribly well-thought-out, and certainly, the conflicts and fights were pedestrian without the outrageousness of the ABC incarnation. It didn’t closely resemble either the Adam West-led series or the Julie Schwartz-edited comic books, so doesn’t particularly work well. This set is for nostalgia only.

The 1080p high definition transfer is definitely superior to the 2014 DVD collection but it also makes the limited animation more glaring. Thank goodness things move quickly enough you don’t pay attention. The best looking Batman is the Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez style guide art that graces the box. The DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix is perfectly fine for what we’re dealing with.

The two-disc set presents zero extras nor is there a digital HD code.

DISC ONE

My Crime Is Your Crime / A Bird Out of Hand

The Cool, Cruel Mr. Freeze / The Joke’s on Robin

How Many Herring in a Wheelbarrow? / In Again, Out Again Penguin

The Nine Lives of Batman / Long John Joker

Bubi, Bubi, Who’s Got the Ruby? / The 1001 Faces of the Riddler

The Big Birthday Caper / Two Penguins Too Many

Partners in Peril / The Underworld Underground Caper

Hizzoner the Joker / Freeze’s Frozen Vikings

The Crime Computer / The Great Scarecrow Scare

DISC TWO

A Game of Cat and Mouse / Beware of Living Dolls

Will the Real Robin Please Stand Up? / He Who Swipes the Ice, Goes to the Cooler

Simon the Pieman / A Mad, Mad Tea Party

From Catwoman with Love / Perilous Playthings

A Perfidious Pieman Is Simon / Cool, Cruel Christmas Caper

The Fiendishly Frigid Fraud / Enter the Judge

The Jigsaw Jeopardy / Wrath of the Riddler

It Takes Two to Make a Team / Opera Buffa

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks