Help ID a Comic Book-Themed Short from 30 Years Ago

[knight errant00]

I'm figuring someone here might know it (or heck, have it on VHS, knowing you guys) . . .

I remember watching it late on our local (St. Louis) PBS station, sometime in the mid-80s, I think. It was late on a Sunday night, when after Doctor Who, they would sometimes air odd independent or student films.

I'm a little foggy on some details, but as I recall, it was about a guy doing a research paper on how harmful reading comic books is to kids (very Wertham). He finds himself then being stalked by a supervillain from one of the comics -- a silent, masked figure, all in black, called the Black Viper, who just starts appearing in the guy's life and trying to kill him in various comic book villain ways. As the story progresses and the main character keeps barely escaping, he also runs into various superheroes from the same company that published Black Viper, who all refuse to help him escape the villain. The main character and the Black Viper are played by actual costumed actors, while the various superheroes are animated into the scenes. The only hero I recall clearly is one called Waterman, who the MC meets at the edge of a pond or maybe a flooded quarry.

Anybody know anything about this?

[LonnieFisher]

Very vivid dream......? Fever hallucination? It sounds pretty cool, though.

[knight errant00]

Very vivid dream......? Fever hallucination? It sounds pretty cool, though.

I wish I'd dreamed it -- I'd have written it myself by now . . . there was even a bit I remember afterwards, like a "making of" segment, where the director showed how they made some of the interactions happen between the main character and the animated superheroes, like when he pleads with one and grabs hold of the hero as he walks away and gets dragged behind the hero. As I recall, they actually pulled him behind a slow-moving pickup.

[LonnieFisher]

Now I really want to see it!

[hedrap]

That sounds like an indie flick with regional broadcast. If it had any video distribution, I would have run across that in the 90's.

If it's driving you crazy, deduce what channel it would have shown on. From there, I'm sure Jim the TV guy could help point you in the right direction as to who to talk to.

[hedrap]

OK - here you go. It's an indie film from Atlanta. top article. I can't access the whole thing.

https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/26412792/

Here's an article from the director about how he got it made. His name is Richard Taylor.

https://www.questia.com/magazine/1P3-1323938761/comic-book-overcoming-the-obstacles-to-independent

Alright. I think I know who he is. This was one of the guys behind Tron and the Genesis sequence from Khan. He was a legit CG pioneer. If he's alive, track him down, I'm sure he would love to hear from somebody who remembers the film that started his career.

[hedrap]

Here's the text of the Indiana article

Wednesday, Jaunary 9, 1974 6DWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER Page 3 More Humor Than Mayhem SIU Filmmaker Was Atlanta Award Winner Third in a Series By Jody Stone Of the Intelligencer

When Richard Taylor was 8 years old, he made his first film. He called it "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre." "See, I was already into violence and mayhem,' said Taylor, a filmmaker at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Taylor's "Comic Book," which won a Gold Medal in the Mixed Media competition at the 1973 Atlanta Film Festival, is closer to humor than mayhem, but the film does have some violence. "Comic Book" was in good company at the festival, the sixth annual one to be held at Atlanta. "The Paper Chase," currently playing in St. Louis, was awarded the Golden Phoenix as best of festival. "F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Last of the Belles," broadcast by ABC-TV Monday night, was selected as the best television film. The best feature was "Heavy Traffic," which was part cartoon and part film, created by the maker of the notorious X-rated cartoon "Fritz the Cat."

Taylor also used animation. 'The "hero" of the film, Ralph Baggit. encountered a number of villains, all comic book characters. There was "The Rock." "Waterman," "The Cockroach." "The Volt" and "Mr. Strength." But none were so terrifying as "The Black Viper." Steve Snyder, who also drew the cartoon villains, portrayed Ralph Baggit, a college student. He goes to the "Comic Book Institute." a building whose huge, vault-like qualities were accentuated by Taylor's filming It with a wide-angle lens. Baggit, while in a vault poring over old copies of books published by Mighty Fine Comix, criticizes the comic book heroes, little more than burlesques of the comic book heroes children have been growing up with for decades. Baggit looks up and sees The Black Viper. The Viper pursues Baggit, shooting his ray gun often but wildly at the fleeing critic of comic heroes.

Taylor had the idea for "Comic Book" long before the first foot of film for the Baggit saga was ever shot. However. he could not find any investors. Fortunately for Taylor. he was film supervisor for WTIU- TV the educational television station at the University of Indiana. Working at the station gave him easy access to quality equipment. He also had made documentary films, proving his ability as a filmmaker to anyone questioning his motives. A 2,100 grant, a year of working on "nights and weekends" and help from friends made "Comic Book" a reality.

"We had some setbacks." Tajlor recalled. There were occasional continuity problems as actors tried to remember how they had been acting two weeks earlier when the first part of a scene was shot. One night's filming resulted in a humorous confrontation with the law. According to Taylor, floodlights, mounted in trees, served as glowing eyes for the Viper. A policeman came by and said, "Hey kid, what's going on here?" "Orloff (Mike Orloff who portrayed The Viper) came out to see what was happening." Orloff was dressed in his costume, complete with cape, large hat, mask and dark glasses. Needless to say the policeman was startled, although not as much as the campus newspaper claimed the next day, Taylor said. In another scene, Ralph Baggit had to slide beneath a large door which was being lowered. Baggit practiced until his slide was just a split second ahead of the 2 l /2-ton door's closing. After about 10 practice runs, Taylor shot the scene. Then, a maintenance man came out, Taylor said, and remarked, "We've been having trouble with that door--sometimes it falls." "Steve (Snyder played Baggit) drank a lot of beer that night," Taylor commented.

Other problems were minor, although once, a wayward explosive charge burned all the hair from Snyder's chest. Taylor's first association with a "good group"--those as serious about film as he--was in junior high school in New York. He remembers those early ventures as "atrocious" and "real bombs." One film he and others made in high school was "Charlie Chan in the Empire State Building," a spoof of the prolific film series about the fictitious Oriental detective. "We shot the film in 8 mm black-and-white and had it blown up to 16. It was mag- striped and the dialogue was dubbed," he said. In the Chan satire, a "Dogmatic Pictures" production, the killer turns out to be the shuffling black chauffeur, Birmingham. He pulls a gun and grabs Charlie's Number Five son, shouting that he was tired of being the illiterate chauffeur in "B" films. Charlie outwits Birmingham by shooting his hostage son. the bullet also killing Birmingham. Char-lie gets his just reward by walking out the wrong door and falling to his death from the building far above the city pavement below.

Years after the film, while Taylor was studying at Syracuse University, he read in a magazine that a film buff had the only known print of a Charlie Chan film in which the Negro chauffeur solves the case. The film was titled "Charlie Chan in the Empire State Building," Taylor said the magazine claimed. He's convinced somebody is playing a practical joke on him. "But, I've never gotten to the bottom of this," he said. At SIU-E, Taylor spends most of his time making films. He enjoys the creative control SIU- E offers, he said. "I've had the opportunity a couple of times to do films the way I wanted to." Taylor is also looking in the St. Louis area for people to invest in his new film. Presently, he is polishing his latest script. As for becoming a filmmaker, Taylor commented, "It's tough, and I think most people just give up." With enough ambition and talent, one can become a success in film, he said. Taylor hopes to one day be a successful theatrical filmmaker. All he needs to do, he said, is to win an Academy Award' for the best short film. "And it's not all that hard," he commented. "I'm going to try. If I fall flat on my face--well, I enjoy what I'm doing. And I make a living at it." he said. "I can live without being famous."

[hedrap]

Here's the follow-up movie Taylor made. It does not appear to be the same guy who helped launch CGI.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078323/?ref_=nm_flmg_edt_2

[knight errant00]

Good lord 'n butter, Hedrap! How the #@$! did you pull that off the Internet so fast?!? Yeah, that's it, I'm certain. This is why I turn to the group here for stuff like this -- the knowledge here is amazing! I had no idea the film was probably almost 10 years old when I saw it. The SIU Edwardsville part makes sense for the local broadcast, since it's just a few minutes away.

Appreciate the help!

[hedrap]

In the 90's I was part of a cadre who unearthed lost prints, series, pilots, etc...I can point to some very big DVD releases and know first-hand that we were responsible for its official release. A lot of superhero stuff, but I had never heard of yours. It sounded like someone's attempt at Bakshi meets Tron and the early 80's timeline fit. Bit to find out it's from the early 70's is startling.