Things To Do In Los Angeles: ZAP! POW! BAM! I'm sad

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

ZAP! POW! BAM! I'm sad

I visited the Skirball Cultural Center for ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950.

http://www.skirball.org/index.php?option=com_ccevents&scope=exbt&task=detail&ccmenu=v2hhdcdzie9u&oid=34

ADMISSION:
Included with Museum admission (tickets at the door): $10 General; $7 Seniors and Full-Time Students; $5 Children 2–12; Free to Members and Children under 2; Free to all on Thursdays

The comics at the newstand are free to read, I laughed becuse DJ's Universal comcis donated them and I go there sometimes http://www.yelp.com/biz/djs-universal-comics-studio-city#hrid:IjjMwbTpXtbUf4CJn8r1OA/src:self

This just in ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950 sucks.

What could have been a great exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center turned into a huge flop,
the two exhibits ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books and
Lights, Camera, Action: Comic Book Heroes of Film and Television
or really two rooms filled with comic memorabilia give a extremely boring outlook of comic books and their history tied to America. I'm saddened by how the two exhibits had little to no thought or time put into them. The worst being Lights, Camera, Action: Comic Book Heroes of Film and Television where all these great props from superhero tv shows and movies are crammed into a small room .

They do have some great props such as Batman's costume from Tim Burton's first Batman movie, the batcycle from the old 1960's show and many first editions of some highly prized comics such as Action Comics #1, but it might not be the real version. The rest of the crammed room makes mw want to be a supervillian, with stupid Marvel Posters up and shutter even a Daredevil movie poster. To get in more depth they have a poster of the Hulk that anyone could just buy today in the exhibit for no reason, its just there to I guess look comicy. I felt that the museum should have done something better with what they had. The room has no real setup everythings all over the place. Sorry, bout lack of pics in there, but they don't even allow cameras inside which is just another gripe.

Switching to the
ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books exhibit. Its look seemed strange and out of order. There was no real timeline or explanation of the comic industry.

I dare you to touch the Kryptonite if you go!

Information cards around the exhibit were not thoughtful and seemed to lack any real knowledge of the comic industry as though someone just copied things off of Wikipedia. The placing of some cards was also strange as some are out of view. It's almost if they're hidden so you don't read about different comic book creators and writers.

The main exhibit was more in depth, having classic pieces of art and sketches up, some are so strange and silly it shows how wide people's imagination could be in the early years of the industry.

It's so strange, think if a giant statue of yourself appeared with a secret passage in your eye socket.

Yes, he's Yankee Doodle Jones

It makes me sad with all the sketches and stuff available they put together such a pathetic exhibit, I'm sure they could of asked a ton of comic book people in LA for help, what a shame. The shows not a total wash out there is some great stuff here I just suggest coming on Thursday and not paying admission, parking is free.

Here's some more pieces they had.

Just look how Joker is represent on the cover as a huge and strange threat. Just compare the size of Batman on this sketch to Joker who looks extremely adversarial and intimidating. I love this piece.

There was a section for little kids to learn to draw comics under the insane view of the Joker. Really small kids could even try on super hero costumes and watch some old serials of superheroes.

The gift shop has a few silly items such as a guide to being Superman, a excerpt is below