Comic Book Movies

Blair Davis

Blair Davis

Comic Book Movies

In: Quick Takes: Movies and Popular Culture

Rutgers University Press | 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813588797

Overview
Contents

About this book

Comic Book Movies explores how this genre serves as a source for modern-day myths, sometimes even incorporating ancient mythic figures like Thor and Wonder Woman’s Amazons, while engaging with the questions that haunt a post-9/11 world: How do we define heroism and morality today? How far are we willing to go when fighting terror? How can we resist a dystopian state?

Film scholar Blair Davis also considers how the genre’s visual style is equally important as its weighty themes, and he details how advances in digital effects have allowed filmmakers to incorporate elements of comic book art in innovative ways. As he reveals, comic book movies have inspired just as many innovations to Hollywood’s business model, with film franchises and transmedia storytelling helping to ensure that the genre will continue its reign over popular culture for years to come.

Author information

BLAIR DAVIS is an associate professor of media and cinema studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of several books, including Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page (Rutgers University Press).

Reviews

"Blair Davis challenges the notion of 'the comic book movie' as a label that shuts down rather than opens up discussion of films derived from comic book sources. His book successfully argues for other ways of seeing these films."

— Ian Gordon, author of Superman: The Persistence of an American Icon

"Blair Davis's Comic Book Moviescombines academic insight with the expertise of a lifelong fan. He writes with clarity, energy, and enthusiasm, condensing debates about politics and aestheticsinto an accessible guide that both explains what a comic book movie is, and questions what we think we know about this most popular of contemporary genres."

— Will Brooker, author of Batman Unmasked and Hunting the Dark Knight

"Quick Takes, Movie Comics, Wonder Woman, Watchmen and Archie" by Boyce MClain

— Collectors' Corner

"This is a well-researched, delightful book to read. It will appeal to general audiences as well as upper-division classes in media history."

— H-Net

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
Contents Free access PDF PDF	vii
Introduction Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
1. Genre Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	11
2. Myth Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	45
3. Politics Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	68
4. Style Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	87
Acknowledgments Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	111
Notes Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	113
Further Reading Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	115
Works Cited Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	119
Films Cited Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	127
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	133

Comic Book Movies

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