Superman (Max Fleischer) Max Fleischer’s Superman is a 40’s Children’s cartoon series that were originally created for the Cinema. Considering this cartoon series was created in the 1940's, I have to say that the quality of the animation astounded me. There have been cartoons made after this time that should be ashamed of their shoddy work compared to this. The animation techniques were years ahead of their time and were probably not emulated for quite a number of years. The first 9 episodes were produced by Fleisher Studios, but it wasn't to last. They went out of business, so another animation studio (Famous Studios) created the remaining one. These were more based on beating a common enemy, the Nazi's.     Story  On the green planet of Krypton, were a race of superhuman beings. Their civilisation was far more advanced than ours. But this planet was threatened by gigantic earthquakes that threatened to rip it apart. Their top scientist knew this and sent his infant son in a small spaceship to Earth, just before the planet was destroyed.   The spaceship landed on Earth and the infant was found by a passing motorist and put into an orphanage (that was kind of them eh?). As he grew up he found that he had superhuman powers. He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and had x-ray vision. He became known as Superman - the Man of Steel. But he conceals his identity and assumes the alter ego of Clarke Kent, a reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper - The Daily Planet. Superman (Max Fleischer) Characters     Superman / Clarke Kent Clarke Kent is a shy type of man and fellow reporter, Lois Lane, thinks that he gets scared too easily, but she would be wrong. Clarke listens and waits for the call of danger. When he hears it, then he jumps to the rescue, but not as Clarke Kent, but as Superman. Clarke changes into his special Superman costume (well, have you seen it get any bullet holes?) anywhere he can (usually a phone box) and flies off to the rescue. Its strange no ones seen him getting changed...well he is out in public? Also amazingly no one spots the similarity between Clarke and Superman (can a pair of glasses really make you look totally different?).   He has a number of special powers, including super strength and x-ray vision. He needs this power, as there are a lot of baddies and monsters out there waiting to wreak havoc and destruction on the inhabitants of Earth. He's even had to battle a dinosaur  - don't ask, lets just say that he was freezing when he got out. But each time he does do battle, Superman suffers a setback (like being buried alive in rubble) and you think all is lost, but fear not, he's been toying with us and he's ok and battles back to win the day! One thing that seems to confuse the people of the city is why Superman disappears after each heroic deed. It's as if they need him to do interviews and earn a bit of cash on the side. So much is their confusion, that Lois Lane reports his disappearance each time, just to emphasise it one more time.     Lois Lane  She's not keen on Clarke Kent muscling in on her job and prefers to work alone and get her news scoops. News stories always come first! She's a talented Lady, who even flies her own plan to get some of the stories out there, but she is reckless and its a miracle that she hasn't been killed. She rushes into everything without thinking and gets captured and tied up nearly every single time. Luckily Superman is always around and he rescues her, but then she writes it up for the Daily Planet and gets the headline story. Seems like she is taking all the glory for being stupid! (sorry, but she is). Not only that, but she seems to have the hots for Superman, but just doesn't click with Clarke. I think she must be part of the NRI (National Rifle Association), as boy does she know how to handle a machine gun!     Mr White  Hi is the Managing Editor of the Daily Planet newspaper and gives both Lois and Clarke stories to follow up. Superman (Max Fleisher) T-Shirts - NONE Superman (Max Fleisher) DVDs Region 2 (Europe) - Superman (Max Fleischer)      DVDs Region 1 (USA) - Superman (Max Fleischer)      DVDs Superman (Max Fleisher) Video Superman (Max Fleisher) Episodes Series 1 (1941)  1. Superman  2. The Mechanical Monsters  3. Billion Dollar Limited  4. The Arctic Giant  5. The Bulleteers  6. The Magnetic Telescope  7. Electronic Earthquake  8. Volcano  9. Terror on the Midway  10. Japoteurs  11. Showdown  12. Eleventh Hour  13. Destruction, Inc.  14. The Mummy Strikes  15. Jungle Drums  16. The Underground World  17. Secret Agent Superman (Max Fleisher) Images (click to enlarge) © JedisParadise.com Toys & Gifts T-Shirts Bargain DVDs