Word is circulating among comic book fans that Barry Windsor-Smith suffered an Ischemic stroke in May. He reportedly spent about a week in a hospital.
Category: Cartooning
World Eater
From bankruptcy to all-powerful franchise, Marvel is now Galactus, consuming everything in its path, as covered in the latest New Yorker issue.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/12/how-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-swallowed-hollywood
That illustration reminds me of a painting that Wally Wood did for a TV Guide article in 60s, when superheroes were taking over Saturday morning cartoons.
The Red and Blue on Blu
A review I posted on the Facebook group Cartoon Research:
The new Blu-ray collection of the classic Fleischer/Famous Superman cartoons comes with the classic question, “Was the baby thrown out with the bath water?”
I have compared the raw and scrubbed images posted on Hi-Def Digest, using the screens of two laptops PC’s, two desktop PC’s, and a tablet. The PC displays were color-calibrated with an X-Rite colorimeter.
Then in blackest night, where no evil shall escape my sight, I watched the Blu-ray on two video projectors. An Epson 3-LCD (45″/1.33 image) and a much more expensive, and superior quality, JVC D-ILA (60″/1.33). Both were adjusted using a Spears & Munsil Blu-ray test disc.
When comparing the captured frames on Hi-Def Digest, I think the better the quality of the display the less appealing the raw scans are for me. Being so very familiar with the limitations and imperfections of the previous releases of these cartoons, watching them in Blu-ray is a new and vastly improved experience, especially on the JVC projector.
The raw clips in the “Speeding Towards Tomorrow” featurette don’t make me think, “Wow, if only the complete cartoons looked like this!” In fact, it feels more like I’m watching a DC DVD that’s been scaled up. I’ll go even further and say that, for me, the question isn’t so much whether the baby was lost with the bath water. It’s more, “What if the cels had been scanned digitally, rather than photographed onto 3-strip Technicolor film?”
I would of course be very interested in seeing the Superman cartoons given the Archive Collection treatment, but right now I’m very pleased with what I bought for less than 25 bucks.
I mentioned an Epson 3-LCD projector. It’s an Epson EF12, currently on sale for $700. Work on a new patio should start right after — correction: before — Memorial Day. Once it’s done I’m hoping to enjoy some backyard movie nights.
My Superman Blu-ray review posted on Amazon:
The negative reviews are coming from a certain point of view that I feel borders on axe-grinding, about how every film restoration should be done. It’s a disservice to fans telling them to pass on this Blu-ray.
We are well past the early days of software that “threw the baby out with the bath water” by removing details along with blemishes and film grain, resulting in an overall softening of the image.
Be assured that Max Fleischer’s Superman on Blu-ray looks absolutely fantastic! It’s so good I can almost imagine the original cels had been photographed digitally 80 years ago, rather than the Technicolor prints being scanned for this release.
The Hearst Follies – 4
The enduring legacy of William Randolph Hearst’s influence on media is on display at the Billy Ireland Library and Cartoon Museum.
Jane Pauley, wife of cartoonist Gary Trudeau, introduces coverage of the Bill Blackbeard exhibit at the museum. My recollection is that Blackbeard suffered a stroke that led to him needing to find a buyer for his massive collection of newspaper comic strips.
Superman Destroyed?
There’s controversy in fandom over the new Blu-ray release of the 1940’s Superman cartoons.
One pre-release review says the remastering is awful…
https://thedigitalbits.com/item/max-fleischers-superman-bd-2023
… and another says it’s even worse than awful…
https://bluray.highdefdigest.com/115440/maxfleischerssuperman.html
… while another praises the image quality.
https://13thdimension.com/sneak-peek-behold-the-majesty-of-the-remastered-fleischer-superman/
The pre-release listing on Amazon has been pulled…
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BXQM8FTK/
… but Superman isn’t missing, because my copy should be here on Wednesday. I’m going to assume Amazon deleted the listing because they can’t fill any more pre-release orders.
Something that can’t be debated is the Blu-ray is not part of the Warner Archive Collection, which has a reputation for absolutely impeccable quality. Color is corrected, and blemishes are cleaned, but they prefer to leave film grain intact, out of concern that removing it will result in a softer image.
Animation expert and historian Jerry Beck has been involved with many video releases, going back to VHS and LD. On Facebook, Beck seemed to imply the Archive Collection team would have done a better job of mastering the Superman Blu-ray.
For 25 bucks, I will decide for myself whether the cartoons look fantastic or if they suck royally.
The Hearst Follies – 1
April 8, 1911, Winsor McCay, “The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald,” released Little Nemo, a groundbreaking work of animation based on his Sunday comic strip.
Just three months later, on July 23, 1911, McCay left the New York Herald to work for William Randolph Hearst. Little Nemo, renamed In the Land of Wonderful Dreams, reappeared on September 3 in Hearst’s New York American.
We are living in the final few years of printed newspapers. Hearst was a towering figure in the business, whose influence helped to make the American comic strip an important creative and commercial medium. Comic strips led, of course, to the creation of comic books.
Don’t delay in watching this 2-part American Experience documentary. The videos are supposed to expire on May 31.