Title: Comic books incorporated : how the business of comics became the business of Hollywood /
Authors: Kidman, Shawna, 1981-
Year: 2019
Subjects: Motion pictures and comic books United States History; Comic books, strips, etc. United States History; Comic books, strips, etc.; Motion pictures and comic books; United States
Abstract: "Comic Books Incorporated tells the story of the US comic book business, reframing the history of the medium through an industrial and transmedial lens. Comic books wielded their influence from the margins and in-between spaces of the entertainment business for half a century before moving to the center of mainstream film and television production. This extraordinary history begins at the medium's origin in the 1930s, when comics were a reviled, disorganized, and lowbrow mass medium. Visiting critical moments along the way--market crashes, corporate takeovers, upheavals in distribution, and financial transformations--Shawna Kidman concludes this revisionist history in the early 2000s, when Hollywood had fully incorporated comic book properties and strategies into its business models. The medium had transformed into the heavily exploited, exceedingly corporate, and highly esteemed niche art form we know so well today"--Provided by publisher.
Contents: Introduction : an unruly medium -- Incorporating comics : a brief transmedia history of the U.S. comic book industry -- Comic book crisis : public relations, regulation, and distribution in the 1950s -- Superman origins : authorship, creative labor, and copyright in the 1960s/1970s -- Tales of the comic book cult : quality demographics and insider fans in the 1970s/1980s -- Mutant risk : speculation and comic book films in the 1990s/2000s -- Epilogue : a powerful medium -- Appendix A : comic book adaptations for film and television -- Appendix B : comic book film adaptations, 1955-2010.