Superheroes Smash the Box Office

Superheroes Smash the Box Office

Author: Shawn Conner

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2023-09-11

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1476676666

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In 1997, the superhero movie was all but dead. The last Superman flick had been released a decade earlier to disastrous reviews and ticket sales. The most recent Batman film was a franchise-killing bomb. And an oft-promised Spider-Man feature was grounded. Yet a mere five years later this once-derided genre would be well on its way to world domination at the box office and even critical respectability. How did this happen? And why, two decades later, does the phenomenon show no sign of abating? Here, for the first time, is an extensively researched soup-to-nuts history of the superhero movie, from the first bargain-basement black-and-white serials to today's multiverse blockbusters. Chronicling eight decades of stops and starts, controversies and creators, good guys and bad guys--onscreen and off--this entertaining account explains how and why our entertainment universe came to be overpowered by costumed crimefighters and their nefarious counterparts.


Comic Book Movies

Comic Book Movies

Author: Blair Davis

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2018-06-25

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 0813588790

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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.


The Rough Guide to Superheroes

The Rough Guide to Superheroes

Author: Paul Simpson

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9781843533863

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Featuring the mind-bending truth about the world's bravest and baddest, this book includes all you need to know about the superheroes who save us - and their vile enemies.


Superheroes!

Superheroes!

Author: Roz Kaveney

Publisher: I.B. Tauris

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13:

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Argues that this is a mistake, that, at their best, superhero comics are a form in which some writers and artists are doing fascinating work, not in spite of their chosen form, but because of it.


Superheroes Smash the Box Office

Superheroes Smash the Box Office

Author: Shawn Conner

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2023-09-06

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 147665011X

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In 1997, the superhero movie was all but dead. The last Superman flick had been released a decade earlier to disastrous reviews and ticket sales. The most recent Batman film was a franchise-killing bomb. And an oft-promised Spider-Man feature was grounded. Yet a mere five years later this once-derided genre would be well on its way to world domination at the box office and even critical respectability. How did this happen? And why, two decades later, does the phenomenon show no sign of abating? Here, for the first time, is an extensively researched soup-to-nuts history of the superhero movie, from the first bargain-basement black-and-white serials to today's multiverse blockbusters. Chronicling eight decades of stops and starts, controversies and creators, good guys and bad guys--onscreen and off--this entertaining account explains how and why our entertainment universe came to be overpowered by costumed crimefighters and their nefarious counterparts.


SMASH: Trial by Fire

SMASH: Trial by Fire

Author: Chris A. Bolton

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 076365406X

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Imaginative fifth-grade student Andrew Ryan dreams of having the powers of his superhero idol Defender, but when Andrew is caught in fallout from the blast that kills Defender and sees his wish come true, he finds that having superpowers is only part of being a hero.


Amazing Adventures from Zoom's Academy

Amazing Adventures from Zoom's Academy

Author: Jason Lethcoe

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2007-12-18

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0307414523

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“ARE YOU READY TO BE TOTALLY FREAKED OUT?” As the most unpopular kid in high school, Summer Jones isn’t ready for much of anything, except for teasing from classmates. Then Jasper, her eccentric Dad, makes a shocking disclosure: He’s a professor at Zoom’s Academy, a school that develops super-powers in select students. Before Summer can say “lost his marbles,” Jasper gives her a strange ring, which glows the instant Summer slips it on her finger. Okay, now she’s ready to be totally freaked out! So begins Summer’s amazing adventures, as she blasts off to an astonishing campus in the clouds. It is a place where rockets run on lime gelatin, shiny brass robots zip around, and caped (soon-to-be-crusading) kids fly the skies and fine tune their special gifts–from lightning speed and elastic limbs to telepathy and colossal strength. Can it be true that Summer, a geeky girl with a paralyzing fear of heights, is a budding crime-fighting super hero? Yet while the faculty of Zoom’s Academy tries to discover what sort of super-powers Summer actually possesses, the dark headmaster of Zoom’s archrival, Grave’s School for the Villainous Arts, plots a hostile take-over, in which one unsuspecting girl will play a vital role in its sinister execution. From the Trade Paperback edition.


Splat, Boom, Pow!

Splat, Boom, Pow!

Author: Valerie Cassel

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13:

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Text by Valerie Cassel, Roger Sabin, Bernard Weldt, Marti Mayo.


American Pop

American Pop

Author: Bob Batchelor

Publisher: Greenwood

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13:

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Chronicles the history of popular culture in America from 1960 through 1989, and discusses advertising, architecture, print media, entertainment, fashion, food, music, sports, art, and more; and includes time line for each decade.