Category: Cartooning

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.

Take your pick – but remember, if it doesn’t say “Archive Collection”… its not “Archive Collection”. Just saying… — Jerry Beck

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.

Happiness is… Facsimile Editions

Until the publication of The Complete Peanuts, my favorite books with Charlie Brown & Co. were the old Holt, Rhinehart & Co. reprints that sold for $1. Reading them on Christmas mornings is a particularly happy childhood memory. Forty years ago I happened to come across a large collection of the original paperbacks for cover price at a used bookstore. As a bonus, most of them are first printings.

My buddy Denro surprised me with a few facsimile editions of the paperbacks, published by Titan Comics. A direct comparison with the original books shows they are indeed exact replicas. Peanuts, from its modest Truman-era beginning to its LBJ glory, really comes alive in these collections.

For a deep dive into what Sparky Schulz created with pencil and ink on paper, there is the Unpacking Peanuts podcast.

https://www.unpackingpeanuts.com/podcast/

A very different Schulzian world is found within Monte’s new novel, Metropolis. It’s complex, and densely packed, with many quotable lines. A review will be coming up, as soon as I get to a million other things that have “best if done by” dates associated with them.

https://www.amazon.com/Metropolis-Monte-Schulz/dp/1683965795/