Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Superman. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Tuesday, February 01, 2022
Bruce Guthrie on "Icons of American Animation" in Westminster, Maryland
I went to Westminster, Maryland to visit the new "Icons of American Animation" exhibit which is spread over two different venues there. The exhibit opened on January 3rd and runs until March 12th.
The main portion, about 60% of the 150+ pieces, are at the Carroll County Arts Council’s Tevis Gallery. This gallery's largest chunk are Disney pieces (although, like the other sections, there are Disney pieces in both galleries).
The other portion is at the Esther Prangley Rice Gallery at McDaniel College.
The two galleries are 0.4 miles apart and you can easily walk between them. I parked for free at the college, visited the gallery there, and then walked to the Council's gallery. Both exhibits are free.
Both
venues offer the free 32-page color exhibition pamphlet which includes
images of all of the pieces in the exhibit as well as some of the wall
text.
The
exhibit includes original sketches and animation cels dating back to
1914. That earliest piece is a sketch from Winsor McCay's "Gertie the Dinosaur"
which most of us keep thinking is America's first animated cartoon. In
actuality, McCay himself had earlier made "Little Nemo" (1911) and "How
a Mosquito Operates" (1912) and there were some earlier animation
experiments done earlier by others. Wikipedia bills the cartoon as "the
earliest animated film to feature a dinosaur."
Another McCay piece, a panel from his "The Sinking of the Titanic" (1918) is also included.
There
is an amazing array of pieces here. When I was walking between the
venues, I was promoting the exhibit to strangers on the street and a
Westminsterite lit up and asked if there were any pieces by Ralph Bakshi
in the show -- he especially loved "Fritz the Cat". Well, yes. There
is a cell from that as well as from Bakshi's "Wizards".
To give you an idea of some of the pieces you'll see by decade:
- 1910s: The two Winsor McCay pieces.
Curator Robert Lemieux - 1920s: Oswald the Rabbit, Steamboat Willie, Out of the Inkwell
- 1930s: Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Betty Boop, Gulliver's Travels, Flowers and Trees (Disney), The Band Concert (Disney), Porky's Duck Hunt
- 1940s: Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad, Bambi, Superman (Fleisher), Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, Red Hot Riding Hood (Tex Avery), Mighty Mouse
- 1950s: Gerald McBoing-Boing, Rooty Toot Toot, Mr. Magoo, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Huckleberry Hound, Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, 101 Dalmatians, Tom and Jerry, What's Opera Doc, Road Runner Show
- 1960s: The Jungle Book, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, The Pink Panther, Charlie Brown, George of the Jungle, Droopy
- 1970s: The Aristocats, Scooby Doo, Yogi Bear, Wizards, Fritz the Cat, Horton Hears a Who, The Phantom Tollbooth
- 1980s: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, The Smurfs, Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, The Simpsons
- 1990s: Aladdin, The Lion King, Tarzan, Mulan, Rugrats, Toy Story 2, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Ren & Stimpy Show
- 2000s: Shrek
Obviously, as cartoons increasingly became computer-generated, you're not going to see original cels so the latter years are mostly represented by concept art or storyboards. The latest piece, for example, was a city design painting from "Shrek" (2001). One of the pieces (a model sheet) was a lithograph but everything else was original.
Since there are two venues, you'll want to
time your visit so you can see both of them in the same trip. Of course
the venues have different hours but here's a combined schedule -- don't
go on Wednesday or Sunday!:- Monday: Rice 10-4pm, Council 10-4pm
- Tuesday: Rice 10-4pm, Council noon-7pm
- Wednesday: Rice 10-4pm, Council ---
- Thursday: Rice 10-4pm, Council noon-7pm
- Friday: Rice 10-4pm, Council 10-4pm
- Saturday: Rice noon-5pm, Council 10-4pm
- Sunday: Rice ---, Council ---
The exhibit's official home page is https://iconsofanimation.com/ The news release about the exhibit: https://www.mcdaniel.edu/news/
I of course did my normal photo obsessive thing, spending about 90 minutes at each venue and some of my photos are below. My pages for the exhibit:
- Council exhibit: http://www.bguthriephotos.com/
graphlib.nsf/keys/2022_01_ 13B1_Icons_Animation1 - Rice (college) exhibit: http://www.bguthriephotos.com/
graphlib.nsf/keys/2022_01_ 13B2_Icons_Animation2
Both venues require masks but not proof of vaccination. During my visit, there were two other people seeing the Rice exhibit and three at the Council gallery (two of them being the same two from the Rice exhibit) so social distancing was easy.
Sunday, June 20, 2021
No sex please, we're superheroes
If even superheroes can't have fun sex, what hope is there for the rest of us?
Monday, August 12, 2019
Friday, November 23, 2018
Exhibit review: Superheroes at the National Museum of American History
Superheroes. Washington, DC: National Museum of American History. November 20, 2018 to September 2, 2019. http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/super-heroes
The Smithsonian museum has mounted a small, but choice, exhibit made up of some extremely surprising pieces. The terse description on their website only hints at it:
This showcase presents artifacts from the museum's collections that relate to Superheroes, including comic books, original comic art, movie and television costumes and props, and memorabilia. The display includes George Reeves's Superman costume from the Adventures of Superman TV program, which ran from 1951-1958, as well as Halle Berry's Storm costume from the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Of the five exhibit cases, two concentrate on comic books and original art, while the other three contain props from movies and pop culture ephemera. Surprisingly, the Black Panther costume from the Marvel movies which the African-American History museum collected this summer is not included, but as noted above they have displayed George Reeve's Superman costume (since it is in color rather than grey shades, it came from the later seasons of the television show), Halle Berry's Storm uniform, along with Captain America's shield, Wolverine's claws and Batman's cowl and a batarang. Those three cases are rounded out with the first issue of Ms. Magazine which had a Wonder Woman cover, two lunchboxes (Wonder Woman and Marvel heroes), and a Superman telephone.
 |
| courtesy of Grand Comics Database |
The small exhibit lines two sides of a hallway off the busy Constitution Avenue entrance of the Museum, but the location has the advantage of being around the corner from a Batmobile from the 1989 Batman movie that was installed earlier this year. The car may be tied into the nearby installation and branding of a Warner Bros. theater showing the latest Harry Potter spin-off movie which seems like a true waste of space in the perennially over-crowded and under –exhibited (i.e. they have literally hundreds of thousands of items worthy of display in storage), but one assumes that besides the Batmobile, the theater came with a cash donation or promise of shared revenues.
Bruce Guthrie has an extensive series of photographs including the individual comic books at http://www.bguthriephotos.com/graphlib.nsf/keys/2018_11_22D2_SIAH_Superheroes
(This review was written for the International Journal of Comic Art 20:2, but this version appears on both the IJOCA and ComicsDC websites on November 23, 2018, while the exhibit is still open for viewing.)
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Book Review: DC: Anatomy of a Metahuman
by Mike Rhode
DC Comics collects a lot of the comic books they've published, but they also have quite a few publications aimed at an adult audience looking for a gift or willing to spend larger amounts on material that interests them. The fact that these books even exist can be amazing especially for someone who grew up in the 1970s when there was one (or less!) collection of comics published per year (The Dark Knight Returns in 1986 started the modern trend of collecting a story arc in a book or "waiting for the trade"). Over the next week or so, I'll look at three of these I've been provided with recently.
DC Comics collects a lot of the comic books they've published, but they also have quite a few publications aimed at an adult audience looking for a gift or willing to spend larger amounts on material that interests them. The fact that these books even exist can be amazing especially for someone who grew up in the 1970s when there was one (or less!) collection of comics published per year (The Dark Knight Returns in 1986 started the modern trend of collecting a story arc in a book or "waiting for the trade"). Over the next week or so, I'll look at three of these I've been provided with recently.
Concerned about the threat that so-called "metahumans" may pose to the world, Batman has begun compiling a detailed dossier on their incredible physiology and abilities. From villains like Killer Croc, Bane, and Brainiac to Batman's own comrades, including Superman and Cyborg, the file brings together the Dark Knight's fascinating personal theories on the unique anatomical composition of these formidable individuals.
This stunning and unique book delves into the incredible abilities of DC Comics characters like never before. Using beautifully illustrated anatomical cross sections depicting twelve different DC characters, the book, told from Batman's unique perspective, will explore how these metahumans' physical makeup differs significantly from that of the average person. From detailed theories on how Superman's eyes shoot heat rays to an in-depth exploration of how Aquaman is able to breathe underwater, the book delves into the deepest secrets of these classic characters. Also featuring chapters on the anatomy and abilities of Doomsday, Aquaman, Swamp Thing, Darkseid, Martian Manhunter, and more, this one-of-a-kind book will change the way you look at metahumans forever.
The authors Perry (a sf/fantasy novelization writer) and Manning (a comic book historian) do a good job at summarizing the powers and features of the characters in the book (Superman, Cheetah, Aquaman, Cyborg, Martian Manhunter, Swamp Thing, Darkseid, Bane, Doomsday, Killer Croc, Bizarro and Killer Frost), but run quickly into the major problem of the fact that these powers are impossible by our understanding of physics, chemistry and other sciences, so how can they be explained? On page 9, the second page of his dossier, Batman writes, "Much of my research has been focused on the composition of Superman's bones and muscles. What combination of organic structures could possible generate his immense strength? I have many theories but all are at odds with conventional scientific thinking." This difficulty with the human scientist Batman trying to understand impossible phenomena continues throughout the book. How can a woman become a were-cheetah?
The authors Perry (a sf/fantasy novelization writer) and Manning (a comic book historian) do a good job at summarizing the powers and features of the characters in the book (Superman, Cheetah, Aquaman, Cyborg, Martian Manhunter, Swamp Thing, Darkseid, Bane, Doomsday, Killer Croc, Bizarro and Killer Frost), but run quickly into the major problem of the fact that these powers are impossible by our understanding of physics, chemistry and other sciences, so how can they be explained? On page 9, the second page of his dossier, Batman writes, "Much of my research has been focused on the composition of Superman's bones and muscles. What combination of organic structures could possible generate his immense strength? I have many theories but all are at odds with conventional scientific thinking." This difficulty with the human scientist Batman trying to understand impossible phenomena continues throughout the book. How can a woman become a were-cheetah?
Of course, the suspension of disbelief is a major requirement in enjoying superhero comic books (and television and movies, fans of which the characters of this book seem to have been selected for). Once one decides to accept the internal logic of the book, the writing is concise and seems to reflect the current DC Universe of the comics (they've had so many reboots recently that I can't tell). Ming Doyle's semi-scientific illustration is a good match and very well done. Her illustration of Superman as Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian man has an underlying layer of amusement since on the same page Batman specifically notes that Superman is not and never will be human.
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