Another Avengers Sneak Peek

The latest trailer for The Avengers debuted today. The movie opens in the U.S. on May 4.

And the Oscar Went to . . .

Love ’em or hate ’em, the Academy Awards continue to hold sway over the motion picture industry—and many devoted filmophiles—despite a glut of competing and seemingly redundant ceremonies and criticism over studio marketing campaigns designed to influence the nomination process. As the originator of cinematic pageantry, the Oscars deliver three hours of history, humor, humility, and chutzpah that are just much about Hollywood’s view of itself as they are about filmmaking. And while most of the high profile accolades (i.e. Best Picture) have tended to fall on memorable heavy hitters like The Sound of Music, Gandhi, and Titanic, a number of live-action comic adaptations have been recognized for their achievements.


Skippy, released in 1931, holds the distinction of being the first live-action comic adaptation to receive praise from the Academy. The movie is based on Percy Cosby’s comic strip of the same name about the misadventures of young boy named Skippy Skinner, which ran from 1923 to 1945 and helped influence future kid comics like Peanuts. The film, which follows Skippy and his friend Sooky as they try to save Sooky’s dog from the dogcatcher, garnered four nominations: Best Actor (former Our Gang star Jackie Cooper), Best Director (Norman Taurog (Cooper’s uncle)), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture with Taurog taking the only win. During the 4th Academy Awards ceremony, nine-year-old Cooper—the youngest actor ever to be nomitated—fell asleep on Marie Dressler and had to be relocated to his mother’s lap after Dressler won the award for Best Actress.

Morrissey Elected

It looks that zombies won’t be the only ones causing trouble on the next season of The Walking Dead.

On this Date: February 22

1969: Thomas Jane was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He biggest role in live-action comic book film was as Frank Castle in The Punisher (2004). Jane also portrayed the thug Nemo in The Crow: City of Angels (1996) and a Vegan Police officer in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).


1975: Drew Barrymore was born in Culver City, Calif. Member of an American acting dynasty (her paternal gradnfather was John Barrymore), she played Sugar, one of the criminal Two-Face’s assistants, in Batman Forever (1995).


(Image: Thomas Jane and Clifton Collins, Jr. as the Vegan Police in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). Warner Bros.)

Underdog vs. Marmaduke

Every few years, Hollywood decides that the family-friendly comedy needs a kick in the pants and lets loose a fun-filled romp centered around one main element: a dog. Often a clumsy, lovable oaf or a wily, little rascal, the four-legged protagonist usually spends roughly the first third of the film inadvertently turning the lives of its human companions upside down before events conspire to create a situation that only a little pooch power can resolve. This formula most likely reached its pinnacle with the release of Beethoven in 1992, but that hasn’t kept the studios from sniffing around the food bowl looking for scraps. Inevitably, they came across a cartoon canine and a comic strip hound and gave each its own live-action vehicle.

On This Date: February 17

1925: Actor George Kennedy was born in New York City. He won an Academy Award for his role in Cool Hand Luke (1967), appeared in Airport (1970), and much later portrayed Grandpa Johnson in Dennis the Menace Strikes Again (1998).

1935: The comic strip King of the Royal Mounted launches. Created by radio. film, and television producer Stephen Slesinger, the series followed the exploits of Dave king of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The strip inspired four live-action adaptations—King of the Royal Mounted (a.k.a Romance of the Royal Mounted) (1936), King of the Royal Mounted (1940), The Yukon Patrol (1942), and King of the Mounties (1942)—before it ended in March of 1955.

1936: Lee Falk’s The Phantom first appears. The long-running action hero comic strip was the basis for an eponymous movie serial in 1943. (In 1955, a planned sequel was shot but was later repackaged and released as The Adventures of Captain Africa.) Other live-actions versions include The Phantom (1996), an unaired 1961 television pilot, and a two-part mini-series that ran on Syfy in June of 2010.

1954: John Travolta was born in Englewood, New Jersey. The star of Saturday Night Fever (1977)  and Pulp Fiction (1994), he also played himself in Boris and Natasha: The Movie (1992) and crime boss Howard Saint in The Punisher (2004).

(Image: King of the Royal Mounted by Allen Dean, May, 5, 1935)

On This Date: February 16

1958: Lisa Loring was born in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands. From 1964 to 1966, she portrayed Wednesday Addams on The Addams Family.


1958: Rapper Ice-T (né Tracy Morrow) was born in Newark, New Jersey. He played T-Saint in Tank Girl (1995), based on the eponymous comic by Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin.


1968: Writer Warren Ellis was born in Essex, England. His comic book mini-series Red was adapted into a live-action film in 2010 starring Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, James Remar, Ernest Borgnine, Brian Cox, Helen Mirren, Richard Dreyfuss, and Julian McMahon.


2011: Len Lesser died in Burbank, Calif., at the age of 88. Best known for his role as Uncle Leo in the television series Seinfeld, Lesser also appeared in the 1977 pilot episode of The Amazing Spider-Man.


(Image: Len Lesser)

On This Date: February 15

1907: Cesar Romero was born in New York City. His long-running film career included roles as the Cisco Kid and as Zorro’s uncle. In the 1960s, he played the Joker in 19 episodes of the Batman television series as well as the eponymous film spinoff.


1914: Kevin McCarthy was born in Seattle, Wash. Nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Death of a Salesman (1951) and star of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), he played Grandpa Addams in Addams Family Reunion (1998).


1927: Harvey Korman was born in Chicago, Ill. A four-time Emmy Award winner for his work on the The Carol Burnett Show, Corman also appeared in the 1963 episode “My Four Boys” of Dennis the Menace.


(Image: Cesar Romero as the Joker. 20th Century Fox)

Turtle Talk

The return of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continues to inch along as Paramount Pictures talks with Jonathan Liebesman about directing a live-action reboot of the  comic book and cartoon franchise. Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, the last live-action adaptation of the pizza-loving heroes, ran for 26 episodes on the now-defunct Fox Kids network from 1997 to 1998.


(Image: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Nickelodeon)

My Head's on Fire

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the first live-action comic book film of the year, opens this Friday. Nicholas Cage reprises his role of the demonic antihero he portrayed in the 2007 movie Ghost Rider, based on the Marvel comic book character.

On This Date: February 14

1964: Zach Galligan was born in New York City. He portrayed Sir Kay in Prince Valiant (1997) and appeared in the 1992 Tales From the Crypt episode “Strung Along.”

2003: Daredevil, based on the eponymous Marvel character, was released by 20th Century Fox. The movie stars Ben Affleck as Matt Murdoch, an attorney who was blinded by toxic waste as a youth and, as a result, developed heightened senses and a sonar-like ability to perceive the world around him. Written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who would go on to helm Ghost Rider (2007), the film also features Jennifer Garner, Jon Favreau, Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrell, Joe Pantoliano, and David Keith.

(Image: Jennifer Garner as Elektra Natchios and Ben Affleck as Daredevil in Daredevil. 20th Century Fox)

John Severin (1921–2012)

One of the original artists to launch Mad, John Severin passed away at his home in Denver, Colo., on February 12. Best known for his work on humor and western comics, Severin also contributed to several superhero titles including The Incredible Hulk and The Punisher—both of which have been adapted into live-action films.

(Image: King Kull by John Severin)

A Royal Birthday

Harold “Hal” Foster’s groundbreaking—each panel possessed a high degree of detail and a notable absence of word balloons—adventure comic strip Prince Valiant debuted 75 years ago today. The ongoing Arthurian epic follows the exploits of Valiant, a young Nordic prince who journeys to Camelot and eventually joins the ranks of the Knights of the Round Table. His adventures across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and even North America led to encounters with treacherous kings, pirates, Huns, Vikings, and other foes. For a superb overview of the series, check out The Definitive Prince Valiant Companion by Brain M. Kane.


Despite its lenghty run, only two live-action adaptations of the comic have been produced. Twentieth Century Fox released Prince Valiant in Technicolor and Cinemascope on April 5, 1954. Directed by Henry Hathaway, the film features Roger Wagner in the title role along with Janet Leigh, James Mason, Debra Paget, and Sterling Hayden. It’s a fairly straightforward story about a plot to usurp the throne from King Arthur, but certainly worth a viewing.


In 1997, director Anthony Hickox’s Prince Valiant was released in Great Britain. The cast includes Stephen Moyer, Katherine Heigl, Edward Fox, Thomas Kreischmann, Joanna Lumley, Ron Perlman, and Warrick Davis. I’ve yet to see the film in its entirety, but it’s novelty seems to lie more in seeing Moyer and Heigl prior to their breakout television roles on True Blood and Grey’s Anatomy respectively.

On This Date: February 12

1968: Josh Brolin was born in Los Angeles, Calif. He played the title role in Jonah Hex (2009), based on DC Comics’ Western antihero.


1973: Tara Strong was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A prolific voice talent, she provides the voice of Ben Tennyson on the Cartoon Network’s animated series Ben 10.


1980: Actress Sarah Lancaster was born in Overland Park, Kansas. Following three seasons on Saved By the Bell: The New Class, she appeared in the 1997 episode “Dante’s Inferno” of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.


1980: Christina Ricci was born in Santa Monica, Calif. She garnered postive reviews for her roles as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) and as Kathleen ‘Kat’ Harvey in Casper (1995). More recently, she portrayed Trixie Fontaine in Speed Racer (2008)


(Image: Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams in Paramount Pictures’ The Addams Family)

What’s Your Blog About?

Thanks for checking out Comic Book Cinema.


Over the past decade or so, there’s been a lot of hype around live-action, blockbuster films based on comic books and graphic novels by the media and others. Indeed, pop culture heroes such as Spider-Man and Batman are now just as likely to share the multiplex with characters from Sin City and Watchmen as they are with each other. And while new franchises have been born and others simply dusted off, it would be inaccurate to say that Hollywood has finally discovered comics.


In fact, live-action versions of comic characters have been around almost from the start of the motion picture industry. In the 1920s, Buster Brown and Tillie the Toiler made the leap from the newspaper to the silver screen. By the 30s and 40s, serials featuring Flash Gordon, Red Ryder, and the Phantom were a staple at theaters nationwide and a precursor to television adventure shows of the 50s. And the list of characters to headline their own TV series includes everyone from Superman and Dennis the Menace to the Crow and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.


The aim of this blog is a simple one: to treat these adaptations collectively as a combined subgenre of film and television worthy of historical examination. To do this, we’ll look at the comics that inspired these movies and shows, the production processes involved, and the artists, actors, and filmmakers responsible for creating them. News and reviews will also be part of the mix, but frankly there are already plenty of excellent sites out there doing that. In the end, it’s all about seeing what happens when one medium tries to interpret another and perhaps discovering something interesting along the way. 


 Carry on.

The Ultimate Batfan

Michael Uslan: The Boy Who Loved Batman, currently on display at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City, chronicles the career of one of the key players behind the the Dark Knight’s return to the big screen beginning with director Tim Burton’s Batman (1989).

Dead or Alive

The second season of The Walking Dead resumes tomorrow evening. Remember to set your DVRs cause it’s a school night.


Shameless plug: creator Robert Kirkman will be part of the Image Comics 20th Anniversay Celebration on February 23 in San Francisco.

On This Date: February 11

1926: Leslie Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. After a long and varied acting career that included films such as Forbidden Planet (1956) and Airplane! (1980), Nielson appeared as the wealthy, nearsighted Quincy Magoo in Mr. Magoo (1997).


1985: Henry Hathaway, director of Prince Valiant (1954), died.


2000: Filmmaker Roger Vadim died. In 1968, he directed his then-wife Jane Fonda in Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy, based on the eponymous comic book by Jean-Claude Forrest.

Act of Vengeance?

Less than a week before the release of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the character’s co-creator Gary Friedrich was ordered to pay $17,000 to Marvel Characters, Inc., following years of legal wrangling over the rights to the supernatural hero. Writer Steve Niles of 30 Days of Night fame has set up a donation page where fans can offer some financial support to the 68-year-old Friedrich.

On This Date: February 10
1893: Jimmy Durante was born in Brooklyn, New York. He played boxing manager Nobby Walsh in Palooka, a 1934 comedy based on Ham Fisher’s comic strip Joe Palooka, and sang his signature song “Inka Dinak Doo” in the film.


1906: Lon Chaney, Jr. was born in Oklahoma City, Okla. Several years before his portrayal of Lawrence Talbot in The Wolf Man (1941) made him a cinematic icon, Chaney appeared as a henchman in movie serials such as Ace Drummond (1936) and Secret Agent X-9 (1937).


1930: Robert Wagner was born in Detroit, Mich. Perhaps most familiar for his role in the early 1980s television series Hart to Hart and as Number 2 in the Austin Powers films, Wagner starred as the title character in Prince Valiant (1954) and as Mr. Wilson in A Dennis the Menace Christmas (2007). 

First (and Only) Flight

Columbia Pictures’ 15-episode movie serial Bruce Gentry, Daredevil of the Skies debuted on February 10, 1949, starring Tom Neal as the aviator hero. Based on Ray Bailey’s Bruce Gentry comic strip, which ran from 1945 to 1951, the series features one of the earliest cinematic appearances of a flying saucer. Co-directors Spencer Gordon Bennett and Thomas Carr had previously worked on the 1947 Brick Bradford serial and the 1948 Superman and Congo Bill serials.

On This Date: February 9
Fantasy artist Frank Frazetta was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928. In addition to painting iconic characters such as Tarzan and Conan, Frazetta worked as an assistant on comic strips including Al Capp's Lil’ Abner and Flash Gordon with Dan Barry.


David Wayne died in 1995. He guest starred twice as Jervis Tetch (a.k.a. the Mad Hatter) in the live-action Batman series.


Scottish actor Ian Richardson died in 2007. He portrayed Sir Charles Warren in the Jack the Ripper-inspired film From Hell (2001).

Meanwhile, in Smallville
Nearly a year after airing its final episode, the long-running CW show Smallville looks set to continue on in a new comic book series. It’s not the first time that this updated version of a young Clark Kent has appeared in comics, but the presence of writer Bryan Q. Miller, the show's former executive story editor, should guarantee Smallville Season 11 a smooth transition from the small screen.


I really grew to like this show, though its initial villian-of-the-week formula made me think it wouldn’t last. The idea of the future Superman having to master his abilities and responsibilites while swimming in a sea of teen angst was incredibly novel.  And I never grew tired of Clark—only anyone else, really—barging into Lex Luthor’s home unannounced to confront him. (You’d think his people would a better job of screening visitors.)

Still in Orbit
A new writing team has been tapped to rework The Jetsons screenplay.

On This Date: February 8
Burt Mustin was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., in 1884. A prolific character actor, Mustin portrayed Old Mac Donald in the 1966 episode “The Yegg Foes of Gotham” of Batman.


Comic book writer Bill Finger was born in New York City in 1914. He is best remembered for helping to develop and refine Bob Kane's Batman and for assisting in the creation of some of the character's most well-known villains including the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman. Finger also created Green Lantern with artist Martin Nodell.


Jules Schwartz died in 2004. A longtime editor at DC Comics, he oversaw the revamp of the Flash in 1956, which helped usher in the Silver Age of Comic Books, along with other iconic characters such as Green Lantern and Hawkman.

Image Comics Turns 20

On February 23, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco kicks off its latest exhibition Image Comics: A 20th Anniversary Celebration with a reception featuring The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. For tickets and details, click here.

Coming Attractions

In honor of Buster Crabbe's birthday, a 1936 primer for the 13-part Flash Gordon serial.

On This Date: February 7

Clarence Linden “Buster” Crabbe was born in Oakland, Calif. A medal-winning swimmer at both the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games, Crabbe would go on to portray several pulp and comic strip characters including Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers.

Pete Postlethwaite was born on Warrington, Lancashire, England. Nominated for an Academy Award for his role in In the Name of the Father (1993), Postlewaite portrayed the Keeper in Æon Flux (2005).

Eddie Izzard was born in what is now Aden, Yemen. He portrayed Casanova Frankenstein's seceond-in-command, Tony P. in Mystery Men (1999).

The Avengers Super Bowl Appearance

In case you missed yesterday's big game, here's a spot that aired heralding the superteam's upcoming film debut.

On This Date: February 6
Happy birthday to Rip Torn, who portrayed Zed, head of the MIB, in Men in Black (1997) and Men in Black II (2002).