Marvel Comics Into Film: Essays on Adaptations Since the 1940s - Paperback

by Matthew J. McEniry (Editor), Robert Moses Peaslee (Editor), Robert G. Weiner (Editor)

Marvel Studios' approach to its Cinematic Universe--beginning with the release of Iron Man (2008)--has become the template for successful management of blockbuster film properties. Yet films featuring Marvel characters can be traced back to the 1940s, when the Captain America serial first appeared on the screen.

This collection of new essays is the first to explore the historical, textual and cultural context of the larger cinematic Marvel universe, including serials, animated films, television movies, non-U.S. versions of Marvel characters, films that feature characters licensed by Marvel, and the contemporary Cinematic Universe as conceived by Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. Films analyzed include Transformers (1986), Howard the Duck (1986), Blade (1998), Planet Hulk (2010), Iron Man: Rise of Technovore (2013), Elektra (2005), the Conan the Barbarian franchise (1982-1990), Ultimate Avengers (2006) and Ghost Rider (2007).

Author Biography

Matthew J. McEniry is an associate librarian and the director of the Digital Scholarship Lab at Texas Tech University. Robert Moses Peaslee is an associate professor and chair of Journalism and Electronic Media at the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University. His work has been published in several journals and he is coeditor of two previous essay collections on comics. Robert G. Weiner is the popular culture librarian at Texas Tech University. His work has been published in the Journal of Popular Culture, Public Library Quarterly, Journal of American Culture, International Journal of Comic Art and Popular Music and Society and is the author/editor/coeditor of numerous books related to popular culture.