ZAP! POW! BAM!

We went to the Skirball Museum (or Skirball Cultural Center to be exact) today to see the ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950 exhibit. It featured many of the early artists and writers from the 1930s and 1940s such as Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, C.C. Beck (creator of the original Captain Marvel), and many more – most of the big names. They had the original comics on exhibit, as well as original scripts and art. It wasn’t a huge exhibit, but was well done.

They also had some amusing superhero related displays – an old coin operated Batmobile, Kryptonite, etc. You couldn’t take photos of the original art, but could take them of the displays, so I got a few of those. It was also a free admission day, and was fairly crowded – had to take some of the pictures fast to get them without a crowd in front of them.

There was also a companion exhibit, Lights, Camera, Action: Comic Book Heroes of Film and Television. This was a smaller exhibit of various comic book associated media and was centered on the 1950’s – 1970’s. It had games, toys and original comic books – Amazing Fantasy #15, Daredevil #1, etc. from the early Marvel era. They had the original Batcycle from the 1966 television show, but they unfortunately didn’t allow photos at all in the exhibit.

Deane and the Batmobile