Jonas called my attention to this entry at Blography which points to all of the old Max Fleischer Superman cartoons stashed away over at archive.org. I've got all of these cartoons on DVD already, and while the animation is superb, the storylines are definitely a product of the times that they were made in...the 1940s. Nowhere is this point driven home more forcefully than in this WWII propaganda piece, Japoteurs, wherein Clark Kent dons slanty-eyed makeup and buck teeth in order to penetrate a Japanese spy ring.

They sure don't make 'em like that anymore.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Continuing with the religious kick I appear to be on...

Before I was a psychedelic Christian, I was Catholic, and if there was one thing the church knew how to do, it was how to produce cool comic-book propaganda that attempted to explain the ostensible purpose behind all of the weird rituals us kids had to endure in order to prevent us from being sent to Purgatory, or Limbo, or the Phantom Unitarian Zone should we die suddenly without having performed them. Our Sunday-school teacher used to hand out copies of Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact and we'd read them cover-to-cover because anything was more interesting than having to practice reciting the Apostle's Creed or learning the Stations of the Cross.

Another fine link from BtROL

Posted by MrBaliHai at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)