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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.