Consume All Media! Superman: "Electric Earthquake"
- Joseph Heath
- Jun 19
- 2 min read
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 returned to the animated Superman shorts. This time, they continue even further.
Superman: "Electric Earthquake" - 8:42 (Available on YouTube.)
Film Info
Release date: May 15th, 1942
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Written by Seymour Kneitel & Isadore Sparber
Based on the National/DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
Produced by Max Fleischer
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Writer Highlights
Seymour Kneitel (1908-1964)
Other comic book media credits: Writing previous Superman animated shorts Superman (1941), The Mechanical Monsters (1941), & Billion Dollar Limited (1942) as well as directing the later Superman animated shorts Japoteurs (1942), The Underground World (1943), & Secret Agent (1943)
Isadore Sparber (1906-1958)
Other comic book media credits: Writing previous Superman animated shorts Superman (1941), The Mechanical Monsters (1941), & Billion Dollar Limited (1942) as well as directing the later Superman animated short Showdown (1942), Destruction, Inc. (1942), & The Mummy Strikes (1943)
Producer Highlights
Max Fleischer (1883-1972)
Other comic book media credits: Previous Superman animated shorts Superman (1941), The Mechanical Monsters (1941), Billion Dollar Limited (1942), The Arctic Giant (1942), The Bulleteers (1942), The Magnetic Telescope (1942) & further Superman animated shorts Volcano (1942) & Terror on the Midway (1942)
Director Highlights
Dave Fleischer (1894-1979)
Other comic book media credits: Previous Superman animated shorts Superman (1941), The Mechanical Monsters (1941), Billion Dollar Limited (1942), The Arctic Giant (1942), The Bulleteers (1942), The Magnetic Telescope (1942) & further Superman animated shorts Volcano (1942) & Terror on the Midway (1942)
A Native American man goes to the Daily Planet and says the city belongs to his people and everyone should evacuate.
The Daily Planet’s official stance is to say “Yeah, maybe, but what do you want us to do about it?” So they do nothing about it.
Lois sneakily follows him to his boat. He catches her and straps her down to a chair while he causes earthquakes with some science machine he made.
Superman stops the machine, saves Lois, and catches the scientist. Lois gets the scoop.
Wait, Manhattan? I thought we were in Metropolis?
Should you watch it, though? It definitely doesn’t feel good having a Native American as a villain, but he doesn’t fall into a lot of the stereotypes you’d expect from this era. Clark does seem to think he has legitimate concerns, but instead of attempting to address those concerns in any way, he just does some punches and throws the man in jail. But if you removed the background of the character, this plays just like any other mad scientist character in these cartoons. So definitely racist, but not as racist as it could be. But that’s gonna happen soon. Head’s up.
Tune in next time for another Superman cartoon: "Volcano" (Available on YouTube.)
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