Tag Archives: Batman

Late Night Movie House of Crap: Superhero Serials

2 May

May 2, 2011

Let me first say that I don’t consider any of this crap. However they are old and in black and white and that’s enough for a lot of people. The special effects may not match today’s cgi magic but a lot of it stands up very well.

End of disclaimer.

This is going to be a big superhero movie summer. Thor, Captain America, and Green Lantern are all hitting the big screen. Comic book movies do well at the box office so it is no surprise that there are more installments of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and Iron Man movies in the works, as well as Justice League and Avengers films in the wings.

A lot of people don’t realize how far back these films really go. for many people they go all the way back to the long-gone era of 1978 and Superman the Movie. They should go back quite a bit farther.

Serials were weekly installments of a story that usually ran from 12 to 16 weeks. If you went to the movies from the late 1930’s to early 1950’s for the Saturday matinée you’d likely see one or two serials, a newsreel, some cartoons, a B-movie, and the main feature. A few cents for a ticket kept you entertained most of the day.  Serials also tended to have great lobby cards and I have a few (reproductions, alas) in my collection. But on to the superheroes!

From 1948, here’s Kirk Alyn as Superman:

This isn’t Captain America’s first time on-screen either. From 1944, here’s Dick Purcell:

Think Batman begins with Adam West? Both Superman and Batman had two serials apiece. From 1949 here’s Batman and Robin:

Superman is the world’s most popular hero? Not always. Captain Marvel regularly outsold him and in fact Captain Marvel still holds the record for sales in the millions.

Cool as all of that is, here is the icing on the cake. This is a fan made trailer for what they call a “premake,” a “what if the Avengers film was made decades ago?” You can find a lot of these “premakes,” like Star Wars and Ghostbusters on Youtube. In the spirit of the superhero serials, here is the premake of the Avengers.

Take some time and watch the old stuff. There is some magic there. Some cheese too, but that is part of the magic.

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The Saturday Comics: Sunday Comics Rarities

23 Apr

April 23, 2010

Today Mr. BTR presents a compilation of some cool old newspaper comics that you may not know ever existed. I honestly feel that if some of these were still running today there’d be more interest in buying the newspaper.

SUPERMAN

Superman began in 1939 and ran until 1966. This is the first Sunday installment, a retelling of his now-iconic origin. And speaking of iconic, think Lex Luthor was always bald? Not so. He was depicted with red hair until he appeared hairless in this strip. Multi-dimensional imp Mr. Mxyzptlk debuted here, and another iconic image- Superman changing clothes in a phone booth- started here too.

THE WORLD’S GREATEST SUPERHEROES

This version ran in 1978 and 1979 until the focus changed to primarily feature Superman and ran until 1985. It showcased a great roster of DC heroes, including the Flash, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Aquaman, and Black Lightening. Paul Levitz, current DC Comics executive and known for his run on Legion of Super Heroes, was one of the writers.

STAR WARS

The Star Wars strip has been collected in a few places over the years but is still not very well-known. This is considered a part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, meaning that it is non-canonical and doesn’t necessarily follow the continuity established in the movies. Like the Star Wars comic books, they follow their own storylines that are based on the movies but are never referenced outside of the strip.

STAR TREK

Being a big classic Trek fan I was shocked to find this. I’ve got most of the comic books but I never knew this newspaper version existed. I didn’t become a Trek fan until Star Trek II so this must have gone under my radar. It ran from 1979 to 1983, just after Wrath of Khan premiered so it was out of publication right when I would have loved to read it.

DARK SHADOWS

I was a baby when Dark Shadows first ran on TV but I’ve become a huge fan watching it on DVD. (BTW- out of 1,225 episodes I’m up to 1,045.) This ran for one year, from March 1971 to March 1972. The TV series ended in April of 1971 so this was the only daily Dark Shadows left for fans to enjoy, though the Gold Key-published comic book ran on an irregular schedule until 1976.

DALLAS

Another surprise here. I never watched the show but I am sure I should have come across this somewhere. As you can tell from the Sunday strip above, JR was causing trouble here too. It ran from 1981 to 1984.

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