Golden Age Superman week: Max and Dave

The animated Superman shorts of the 40s are one of those things that have seemed conspicous by their absence around here. They're so well covered online with so many resources, I feel my two cents don't really contribute much. But I'd be remiss if I didn't do a little some thing for Golden Age week.

Their praises have been sung since their creation in 1941 all the way until today. The first in the series was nominated for an Academy Award, and Dini/Timm have frequently cited them as one of the primary influences of the animated DC universe that began with Batman The Animated Series.

They're most often referred to as the Fliescher shorts, but Max and Dave Fliescher actually only had a hand in the first nine. The second series of 8 were handled by the Paramount owned successor to Fliescher Studios, Famous Studios. The later cartoons, while still good, don't quite match the quality of the originals in story or animation.

They've fallen into the public domain, Paramount never renewing the copyright way back when. If you've ever looked at the dollar DVD/VHS bins full of old cartoons at Wal-Mart, gas stations, drug stores or just about any where cheap stuff is sold, you've probably seen these in there.

A random interesting bit; the famous taglines "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound' all started here. My favorite of these, "More powerful than the pounding surf!" never gets much play.

This is my favorite of the series, The Mechanical Monsters. I watched this one over and over when I was a kid; the giant simple but creepy robots, the scenes with Superman in the power lines and protecting Lois from the molten steel, it's all exciting and just gorgeously rendered. Enjoy.

You can read more about them and find links to watch them online at their wiki entry. I can't recommend them enough.