Saturdays With Superman - “The Magnetic Telescope” (1942) -Max Fleischer

 

The Max Fleischer Cartoons were absolutely amazing. It’s also the first cartoon to feature human figures, which was accomplished through rotoscoping. Essentially, an actor would shadow dance behind a blank screen, and each frame would be colored and drawn over as a tracing. Additionally, Superman was only depicted as being able to jump very long distances. The cartoon introduced the idea that he could fly, with him changing directions in mid-flight for the first time for the character.

“Faster than a speeding bullitt! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!…” was the introduction used for these early serials. They are very, very worth your time.



Because these are old enough to be in the public domain you can see fantastic versions of these classic cartoons on the You Tube. They still hold up after all these years and can teach computer animators a lot about storytelling. Lois is a fascinating character study. For the 1940s, she is every bit the opposite of how a woman in the 1940s was suppose to act and behave, especially in the work environment. I like how much trouble she is able to get into with very little effort on her part. She exasperating but magnificent all at the same time.