SUPERMAN - THE MAD SCIENTIST (1941)

 THE VERY FIRST OF THE CLASSIC FLEISCHER STUDIOS SUPERMAN CARTOONS WAS ALSO THE VERY FIRST ONE I EVER SAW. 

I have a hard time pinning down exactly when it was I first encountered this mind-blowingly excellent cartoon but I know where I saw it.  It was the extremely early 1980's --

very possibly 1981 but surely no later than that.  And it was on the legendary late lamented TV show NIGHT FLIGHT which aired on the cable channel USA Network.  The delicious-voiced Pat Prescott introduced weird item after weird item; among those I first saw on Night Flight were J-MEN FOREVER, Cat Stevens' MOONSHADOW video, the Church of the Sub Genius, Kate Bush Live at Hammersmith Odeon, and countless other mind-bending films that haunted early cable television for 4 hours starting at 11:PM . . . and when the 4 hours were up the entire NIGHT FLIGHT show we just watched would repeat again and run until dawn.  This is why early cable TV was so magical.  And this is the magical place where suddenly I encountered my first Fleischer Superman cartoon:  THE MAD SCIENTIST! 

Now, long before the internet I had no idea there even was such a thing as a series of early-1940's Superman cartoons so this came as quite a shock to this young, unprepared comic book fan to see Superman animated SO BLOODY WELL.  Was I dreaming it?  It was pretty late at night.  But no, there it was and I was riveted!  The art deco, 1940's-ness of the cartoon was beautiful to behold as was the high quality animation and chiaroscuro lighting; no brightly-lit, sunny Superman skies here but a moody, atmospheric cartoon where you could practically sense the war clouds gathering as Superman faced his foe the mad scientist. 

This mad scientist was threatening to use his 'Electrothanasia Ray' to rain destruction down on all those who laughed at the nutty guy.  He's gonna do the dirty deed at midnight (natch!) and that what makes this cartoon so good and so unusual in the long history of the Man of Steel; we get a nighttime adventure where atmosphere and spookiness can get their due.  If more Superman stories took place at night, I think they'd be a hell of a lot more interesting!  The overgrown boy scout needs all the help he can get and bringing a moodiness to the proceedings (as these Fleischer Studio cartoons usually do) makes it so much more interesting. 

"The hour has come," snarls the mad scientist as he and his wacky evil bird head towards the Electrothanasia Ray (the size of the Mount Palomar observatory or anything Dr. Janos Rukh had lying around) and the device is fitted out with sparking, arcing electricity bolts a la Kenneth Strickfaden!  This is great stuff!  The mountaintop aerie the mad scientist has strongly evokes the windmill lab in FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and, more directly, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939) which was released only a couple short years before this cartoon. 

The Man of Tomorrow doesn't even appear until six and a half minutes into the cartoon (not counting the beautiful origin story of Superman that occurs at the beginning of the film).  When Supes does finally appear, he bare-knuckle punches the destructo-ray (which makes absolutely no sense but is frikkin' faboo!  There's nothing else to the story but, as an introduction of Superman to the world of animation, this is all you need to inaugurate a classic series of superhero cartoons which would become the benchmark of all to follow.