Companhia da Destruição

A SUPERMAN Cartoon.

Intrepid reporter Lois Lane discovers that DESTRUCTION INC. - a small band of murderous saboteurs - plans to destroy the Metropolis Munitions Works. Looks like a job for Superman...

This was another in the series of 17 excellent cartoons initially created by Max Fleischer for Paramount Studio. They feature great animation and taut, fast-moving plots. Meant to be shown in movie theaters, they are miles ahead of their Saturday morning TV counterparts. Bud Collyer is the voice of Superman; Joan Alexander does the honors for Lois Lane.

I love the Fleischer Superman cartoons. The animation is smooth and fluid with vivid colors. The distinct art-deco style, vintage science fiction imagery, and use of noirish shadows gave them a look unlike any other cartoons. The music and voicework is superb. They're fun, accessible, enduring animation classics. While this is a cartoon from Fleischer Studios' successor, Famous Studios, it still tries to maintain the Fleischer style.

Thirteenth in the series starts off with a cool-looking sequence of an arm sinking into a marsh as a car speeds away. A night watchman at a munitions plant has been murdered, so Lois & Clark go undercover to find out what happened. Turns out some of the plant workers are saboteurs. Lois overhears their plot but is discovered. They shove her into a torpedo that will explode when tested. The torpedo is sent to the firing range and Superman must race to save Lois in time.

The best part is when the saboteurs are chasing Lois, as well as the intriguing opening scene. Other than that, this is another straightforward WW2 saboteur story.

This was yet another in the Fleischer/Famous Studios series of Superman cartoons. In the one, a guard from the Metropolis Munitions Works factory is found dead in a swamp so Lois Lane goes to work there to uncover a plan to blow it up. Somehow, Superman also seems to be there...Pretty atmospheric outing for the series as we see how things are being kept from happening due to the actions of the Man of Steel. As usual, Ms. Lane ends up being the damsel in distress who would have ended up dead were it not for Clark Kent always being nearby. For an 8 minute short, it's pretty entertaining enough but really, these are starting to become really repetitious concerning plots on these superhero cartoons. Still, if you're a Superman completist, Destruction Inc. is at least worth a look.

Destruction, Inc. (1942)

** (out of 4)

Set during WW2, this Superman short finds out hero trying to battle some saboteurs who plan on doing destruction at the Metropolis Munitions Works factory. This is one of the weakest shorts I've seen in the series and that's saying quite a bit since there have been several that I was disappointed in. The biggest problem here, as in previous shorts, is the story is just downright bad. It's made even worse here because of how the Superman side of things is handled and all of these leads up to some weak villains and a pretty bland and boring ending. The animation is once again the main reason for watching it because the colors are outstanding so at least you have something to look at.

There is sabotage going on at a munitions factory and Clark and Lois are sent to investigate. Lois spies on some suspicious characters and gets herself caught (again). She does put up a good fight, but finds herself put inside a torpedo (an odd place for her). These crooks go to such lengths to find ways to kill people when there are a lot of old fashioned ones. Anyway, we are at war and Superman must fight these guys. One thing pointed out be a previous reviewer is that Superman's strength seems to change from one episode to another. One time he is utterly unstoppable; the next it takes him time to recoup his strength. The way these bad guys act doesn't help their credibility, but for decades, crooks have been portrayed as idiots, especially the petty ones.