Consume All Media! Superman: "Destruction, Inc."

Joe Heath is a big fan of comic books and watching things in order. So they made this spreadsheet containing every serial, short, film, television episode, commercial, motion comic, and web series based on a comic book. Now they're watching them all. Previously, Joe watched Superman go on a killing spree. This time, Joe watches Superman get a little meta.

Superman: "Destruction, Inc." - 8:33 (Available on YouTube.)

Film Info

Release date: December 25th, 1942

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Written by Jay Morton

Based on the National/DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster

Produced by Sam Buchwald

Directed by Isadore Sparber

Writer Highlights

Jay Morton (1911-2003)

Other comic book media credits: Writing the previous Superman animated shorts Terror on the Midway (1942), Showdown (1942) & further Superman animated shorts The Mummy Strikes (1943), Jungle Drums (1943), & The Underground World (1943).

Producer Highlights

Sam Buchwald (Unknown-1951)

Other comic book media credits: Previous animated Superman short Japoteurs (1942), Showdown (1942), Eleventh Hour (1942) & further animated Superman shorts The Mummy Strikes (1943), Jungle Drums (1943), The Underground World (1943), & Secret Agent (1943)

Director Highlights

Isadore Sparber (1906-1958)

Other comic book media credits: Writing previous Superman animated shorts Superman (1941), The Mechanical Monsters (1941), Billion Dollar Limited (1942), & Electric Earthquake (1942) as well as directing Showdown (1942) & further animated Superman short The Mummy Strikes (1943)

The thirteenth Superman cartoon was released on Christmas! And what’s the best way to start a Christmas cartoon?

A murder, of course!

Lois and Clark are walking down the street, when they overhear a news bulletin about a watchman who is found dead in a lake. Lois ditches Clark to go investigate. Clark doesn’t notice and accidentally calls a strange man “Lois.”

But his name is Louis. He gets very angry and has a whole rant about it where he eventually forgets what his own name is. He doesn’t even notice that Clark has left.

It’s a very strange bit of comedy.

Oh, look. It’s Metropolis again (as opposed to New York).

Lois pretends to work at the Metropolis Munitions Works and gets caught listening in on the bad guys saying they’re gonna blow stuff up. After doing some amazing acrobatics, running around on girders and swinging on ropes, she is still grabbed by the bad guys and stuffed into a torpedo.

A security guard sees this and rushes in to save the day.

Then he gets a bunch of girders dropped on him.

The torpedo with Lois inside is taken to a torpedo testing range where it’s going to be shot into a boat.

But guess what? That old guard was actually Superman in disguise!

He flies in and stops the torpedo just before it hits the boat. He releases Lois, who warns him that the plant is about to explode. He flies to the plant, fights some guys, and stops that from happening.

While he’s doing that, a guy sends a truck full of TNT at him. Superman gets in and drives it off of a cliff.

The bad guys are arrested.

And Lois finally sees through his disguise.

Well, one of them. She rips off Clark’s security guard disguise and says that she can’t be fooled that easily. Clark grins as his mustache falls off.

Should you watch it, though? Lois gets a lot to do in this one, which is always fun. Plus that ending is delightfully meta and hilarious. I love that they are poking fun at how basic Clark’s secret identity is, even this early on!

And that’s it for 1942! There was spy smashing, racism, and our first gorilla!

Tune in next time for the first Superman cartoon of 1943: "The Mummy Strikes" (Available on YouTube.)

A version of this article was previously published on The Dipp.

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