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A Brief History of Comic Book Movies

Abstract

Though comic book movies are now seen as mainstream entertainment, they were once designed specifically for children, and usually formatted as “serials” which played out on successive Saturday mornings at movie theater matinees, for a largely juvenile audience. Still, the history of comic book movies is a long one, and can be traced to the very earliest days of the motion picture medium. In this book, we will consider, for the most part, those motion pictures and animated cartoons that drew their inspiration from actual comic strips, comic books, and/or graphic novels. Early comic book serials included Batman (1943), Superman (1948), and The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) along with many other titles discussed in this chapter.

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Dixon, W.W., Graham, R. (2017). Origins. In: A Brief History of Comic Book Movies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47184-6_1

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