For years I've been aware of the "Superman" animated shorts made by the Max Fleischer Studio in the early 1940s.

But apart from a few clips, I'd never really watched them. That changed last weekend when I sat down with "Max Fleischer's Superman: 1941-1942," a new digitally restored DVD compilation of all 17 Man of Steel shorts.

To put it mildly, I was blown away.

Narratively, these shorts quickly fall into a predictable pattern. Aggressive newshound Lois Lane finds herself threatened — by a mad scientist's army of flying robots, by gangsters, by Nazis or buck-toothed Japanese saboteurs (these were the war years, after all), by a thawed-out T-Rex, by an erupting volcano.

Unassertive Clark Kent announces, "This is a job for Superman!" and disappears into a phone booth/closet/alley, emerging as the guy with the big S on his chest.

Supe saves the day. Every episode ends with Lois basking in the glow of her front-page scoop and Clark grinning knowingly at the viewer.

OK, so these weren't the most psychologically daring examinations of the Superman mythology.

But visually these cell-animated shorts were as beautiful, as exciting, as engaging as any of today's high-tech computer-generated features.

Every aspect of these truly handmade productions was first-class, from the astonishingly detailed backgrounds to the dramatic lighting effects and skewed camera angles (some scholars believe Fleishman's "Superman" inspired the look of film noir classics of the late '40s and early '50s). Explosions and fires (there are plenty) are particularly well done.

And the colors are nothing less than intoxicating. This was Technicolor at its most vivid.

This two-disc package includes a couple of documentaries that provide great insight into the superhero genre and the Fleischer Studio, which at the time was second only to Disney.

Before "Superman," the Fleischer brothers (producer Max, director Dave) had big hits with the Popeye and Betty Boop series. But Superman kicked down lots of doors, being the first animated series to have serious themes rather than just jokes.

It almost didn't happen. The Fleischers were so busy with other projects that when Paramount approached them about turning Superman — already a hit in comic books and on the radio — into an animated series they asked for an exorbitantly high budget, figuring the studio would look elsewhere.

To their amazement, Paramount committed to making each "Superman" short for three times the amount usually devoted to a "Popeye" title.