History of Marvel and DC
By Zakaria Khalifa
Proposal
My specialist study is going to be about the comic book genre/industry mainly talking about Marvel and DC. I will be exploring more about the history of both companies and the practioners aka creators of marvel and dc. I will be talking about the superhero movie genre and how that has shaped public opinion on comic book characters as well as talking about other medias like animation and games.
Marvel overview
Marvel is a comic book brand that was founded by martin Goodman in 1939 where at the time it was called timely comics and created characters like the human torch who would later be revamped in the 1960s for the fantastic four. Other characters were created in the golden age era like Namor the submariner and Captain America. The people related to marvel comics is Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.
DC overview
DC is a comic book brand much like Marvel comics. That started publishing in 1938 in Action comics number 1 with Superman who was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. In the golden age era other characters were created like Batman, Wonder woman, Green lantern and the flash as well as the Justice society of America who were a group of heroes that were created in 1941 during the second world war.
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is a comic book writer whose work is best known for marvel comics and is responsible for writing such characters like spiderman, hulk, ironman, thor, daredevil etc. Stan lee was born December 28th 1922 and his original name Stanley martin Lieber then changed his name to stan lee in the 1960s. At his early life after graduating from high school at age 16 stan lee was hired as an editorial assistant for timely comics but was promoted to editor in 1942. At the time he had began writing comics book scripts. In the 1940s-50s Stan lee created characters like the destroyer, the whizzer, jack frost etc and in that time period timely comics were changed to atlas comics. (Brittanica 2022)
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby is a comic book creator/artist that has created many characters for Marvel comics in the 1960s. Jack Kirby was born on august 28th 1917 in new York and his original name was Jacob Kurtzberg. Kirby left high school at the age 16 and worked in Max Fleischer animation studios. Jack Kirby’s work is best known for creating comic book characters for marvel in 1941 where he teamed up with fellow artist joe Simon, the pair created the iconic Captain America for timely comics at the time. In 1961 Jack Kirby began working with his co creator/writer Stan lee and created the first super team for Marvel comics at the time the Fantastic four. After the success of the Fantastic four it gave Marvel the courage to do more so jack Kirby had created other characters like Hulk, Thor, X- men, Ironman, Daredevil, Silver surfer, Antman and the Avengers. In 1970 Kirby lefts Marvel over creative differences with Lee and went to DC and launched the title the New Gods which he created and wrote and came up with the whole concept. Kirby returned back to Marvel in 1975 and wanted to do a similar story and created the Eternals and wanted to have a concept that was similar to what he did with New Gods from DC. (Brittanica 2022)
Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko is a comic book artist has created many character for Marvel and DC comics. Steve Ditko was born on November 2nd 1927 and at an early life he studied at the cartoonist and illustrators school in New York and began professionally illustrating comic books in 1953. In the 1960s Steve Ditko worked with Marvel comics and created Spiderman in Amazing Fantasy issue 15 in August of 1962. Shortly after the success of Spiderman Steve Ditko also created Dr strange with Stan Lee. During this time period Steve Ditko illustrated most of Marvel’s story lines in the comics, for example he had drew most the Hulk story line, he also drew some in Tales to Astonish (title for Antman) and mostly Dr strange and Spiderman comics. Steve had also created other comic book characters for DC comics. He created other characters like Captain Atom and Blue beetle in the late 1960s. He also created Shade the changing man in 1975 for DC comics for the Vertigo imprint. (Marvel Fandom 2022)
Marv Wolfman
Marv Wolfman is American comic book writer who wrote such titles like Tomb of Dracula, Blade, Teen Titans. Marv Wolfman is mostly known for writing 1985 Crisis on infinite earths. The reason he decided to launch the title for Crisis on infinite earths with George Perez is because DC storylines were all over the place and felt like readers were getting mixed up and confused on which storylines were in continuity, when DC decided to introduced the idea of the multiverse in the early 1960s. Marv wolfman took the idea and concept and decided to reboot DCs comics line with Crisis on infinite earths wiping the slate and starting over (reboot). (Wikipedia 2022)
Geoff Johns
Geoff Johns is American comic book writer that works for DC comics. He was born on January 25th 1973, in his early life Geoff and his brother first discovered comic books through an old box of comics. These comics included the copies of Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash and Batman from the 60s and 70s. John began collecting comics starting with the first comic he collected which was Crisis on infinite earths issues 3-4 and the flash. After he had graduated from Clarkston high school he studied media arts. John had gravitated towards DC comics later Vertigo is well. In 2010 John was named the cco of DC. Geoff johns had written storylines for major titles for DC comics like flashpoint paradox which would lead in to the new 52 line of comics. During the new 52 Geoff johns had written major titles like Batman, Green lantern, Shazam, Aqua man and the Justice League. (Wikipedia 2022)
Jim Lee
Jim Lee was born on August 11th 1964 and is an Korean American comic book artist that is best known for his stylized and Dynamic drawing as a artist. In his early life Jim Lee grew up in St Louise Missouri. His school classmates predicted that he would found his own comic book company but lee initially resigned and followed into his fathers career in medicine. An elective course in Fine Arts reawakened his passion for drawing. In 1986 he graduated and attempted a career in comic book illustration. Jim Lee started out his career with Marvel comic as he Drew some of the 90s X-men comics and later went to DC and started drawing their comic line for the new 52 in 2011. (DC fandom 2022)
practice interview
The Game interview
My partners specialist study is about the representation of games and how games have adapted real life event in to the gaming industry. Some gaming companies have their own twists on different historical event and having different interpretation yet similar story telling in games. My partner has interest in gaming because the industry shows how accurate the games adapt different historical events and it shows how the events played out in real life. My partners favourite game studio is SledgeHammer games because they created world war 2 and it shows how accurate it is and how similar the story telling that is told in the game is similar to what happens in the events of world war 2. The impact of gaming it has on my partner is that he wants to gain more knowledge about the gaming industry and its history.
Marvel and DC film adaptation (Primary research)
Marvel and DC film adaptation
Focus Group
Ibraheem: My partners favourite comic book trilogy is the original Spiderman trilogy and what he likes about it is that it has social views for example the character of Spiderman is trying to be changed by the media so that the public goes against him. My partner favourite DC film is the Dark Knight trilogy because it was comic accurate and it was grounded in reality. My partner favourite Marvel Shang Chi and the legend of the ten rings because it represented Asian culture in American society. My friend thinks that comic book movies should take some elements from the comic and it implement it in the movies. My friend thinks that comic book characters haven’t been adapted well because they could do so little in a movie. My friends view on the comic book/superhero genre is that it’s very good because it brings a lot for the comic book fans and make casual fans interested and aware.
Nasim: My friend favourite superhero trilogy is the original Spiderman trilogy because it shows the character arc of Peter parker getting bullied to becoming a hero and facing the consequences of what heroism comes with. My friends favourite DC film is Lego Batman because it shows batman being represented well in film. My partner favourite Marvel film is Spiderman into the Spider verse because of the animation that was used well with characters and how the good the story was told. My partner believes that it should be 50/50 when it comes comic book movies being different, because they should take some elements but have something new and fresh. Parts of the characters in superhero movies have been adapted well but some aspects are hard to do. My friends view in the comic book and super hero genre is that it’s difficult because there are multiple interpretations of comics and the movies have definitive interpretation.
Danny: My friends favourite superhero trilogy is the Dark Knight trilogy. My friend likes this trilogy because the character of batman has a lot of political and social views because the villains that batman faces in the trilogy challenges his ideology. My friends favourite Marvel film is Thor Ragnarok because it’s a vibe to watch and it reinvents the characters of Thor. My partner thinks that some comic book characters haven’t adapted well because some of them were not comic accurate. My partner believes that comic book movies should take the base storylines but change it up because if people have read the comic, they will expect what to happen. My friends view on the superhero genre is that he loves it because it represents that character well.
Marvel and DC film adaptation
Ethan interview
My friend favourite superhero trilogy is the Dark Knight trilogy. The reason he chose the Dark Knight trilogy is because it’s the most consistent and it has one of the best characters in any batman film. My friend likes it because it has social and political views as the characters who stand by the law are easily influenced by crime in the trilogy. My friends favourite DC film is the Joker because it did something new and it tells you the origin of the villain. However, his favourite Marvel film is Spiderman Far from Home because they brought in the character of Mysterio and how accurate he was to the comics. My partner view on comic book movies is that he believes that yes, they and no because they should do something new because it takes in the characters in new direction but should also stay faithful to the comics. My friend also thinks comic book characters have been adapted well because there are movies like the Dark Knight, Spiderman, X-men etc, but other films like Green lantern haven’t been adapted well and should stay faithful to the source material. My partner view on the Comic book/superhero genre is that he thins it’s really good because if they adapted to the source material then it can be very good but if they aren’t adapted well and they are taken in new direction the characters can be totally unrecognizable.
Marvel and DC film adaptation (secondary research)
DC films are a media based on comic book movies. DC films are less represented in the film media because the people who are in charge of movies don’t know what they are doing. This leads to some of DCs main characters like Batman and Superman being mis represented in media. For example,like Batman in current DC films is more evil than a hero and he kills and has no regrets and cares little for life. This version of Batman is based of the Dark Knight returns and most of these elements are put into the movie of Batman v Superman. This could work but it doesn’t because it doesn’t have the core ideas of what makes Bruce Wayne Batman and why he becomes a hero in the first place. The way he is Portrayed in Batman v Superman and in Justice league is that he doesn’t save a single life and has total disregard for human life. This gives the public/casual movie fans an idea of what Batman is and with out understanding the core ideas of what makes Batman so interesting and intriguing. There are other films that do Batman justice in terms of representation for example like the Dark Knight trilogy which was directed by Christopher Nolan. What Christopher Nolan had done with the character of Batman is that he made him realistic in a way of saying what if Batman existed in the real life world. The influences that Nolan used was that The Dark Knight returns, Batman the Killing Joke, Batman year one and Batman the long Halloween. What Nolan did was take elements from the original source material and created his story into a trilogy that would actually resonate with audiences and casual comic book fans.
Superman is another example that is being mis represented in media like films. The way Superman is portrayed in the current DC films is that he is shown to be an emotionless being and instead of facing the consequences he runs away and hides. In Batman v Superman and in Man of steel his personality is shown to be boring who sees humanity beneath him because he’s different to everyone else. Furthermore whenever he is facing the consequences he does nothing to fix the problem and just hides. In the comics Superman is shown to be more human has a total regard for human life and the rest of the people on earth. The character of Clark Kent in the comics personality is more crucial has he has parents and relationships that he cares about. This all happens before he becomes an all powerful demigod. When Clark Kent becomes Superman he helps people and humanity, not only because he has to becomes he want to which that he want to use his power for the greater good. In the films he shown to do this but doesn’t fix any of the problems. This makes audience and the people who don’t read comics would think Superman is boring character that has no personality what so ever.
Other DC characters like Green Lantern, are mis represented in where as in comics they are way more interested and they have more of a personality. Whereas other character like Aquaman are made fun of because of the super friends. But in film the character of Aquaman is redeemed as he is one of the few characters in DC have been comic accurate and interesting to the casual audiences.
Marvel films are a media based on comic book much like DC. The differences between Marvel and DC is that Marvel films have been well represented in the film industry. The way Marvel characters are have been interpretated in film are pretty accurate to the comics but at the same the creators behind ad a twist change it up by putting the characters in new direction so that casual fans get the core idea of what they are like. For example characters like Ironman, Captain America and Thor have character in the comics were not that popular amongst casual fans. When Marvel starting making films about these characters they became more popular and people started to like these characters wanted to know more about them. Characters like Ironman, Captain America and Thor have characters arcs in their movies like Ironman starts out as a billionaire who is egotistical and didn’t care for anyone else but himself but when the weapons he created went into the wrong hands for example terrorists and weapons dealers it started affecting the people around him and started to protect those individuals that he put in harms way. Captain America is another example who has resonated with audiences because the way he wasportrayed. Captain America in the movies is world war 2 patriotic solider that has been out time by awakening in the 21st century after a long period of time. This shows more depths because he deals with what happens and facing the consequences in a world that is different and where certain people have agendas for example the government who turned out to be a Nazi death cult. Thor is another characters that is underrated in Marvel comics, much like Ironman and Captain America, Thor also has a character arc as he starts out as a arrogant and spoilt with his father, but later learns that he is more than that and learns the values of becoming a better man and using the responsibilities for good. Marvel movies show their characters to have more depths which make them more interesting and talking in certain elements from the comics and having their own spin on the characters in the movies. This makes casual fans and audiences feel like the movies have a definitive version of the characters and they have a understanding of what these comic characters are and what they represent.
Marvel and DC animation adaptation (Primary research)
Marvel and DC animation adaptation (secondary research)
Marvel animation is a format where comic book storylines are adapted in animation, this could be done in a animated series or a film. Marvel animation started release around the mid to late 2000s with The Invincible Ironman, Ultimate Avengers 1 and 2, Dr Strange, Tales of Asgard and Planet Hulk. When it comes to marvel animated movies they take a lot of elements from the comics, also changing some aspect of the story lines. This can work if it’s done correctly but since it’s animation It doesn’t work, for example in the animated movie Dr Strange the movie doesn’t utilizes the use of magic but instead its used as unlocking powers or using matter manipulation. Movies like Planet Hulk and Ultimate Avengers are good because they are solid adaptation of the source material and following the line of the comics.
There are also Marvel animated tv shows When it comes to Marvel animation. When it comes to Marvel animated tv shows there some of the 90s two of the most popular being X-men the animated series and Spiderman the animated series. These two are the most popular of the 90s as they had good storylines and it had good character developments with different arcs, as they were more comic accurate and was received well by the audience. However currently Marvel animation are not being received well because most of the animated tv shows are more reminiscent of the Marvel movies. Because of this many marvel shows started to follow this trend like Avengers assemble, Hulk and the agents of smash and Guardians of the Galaxy. These shows weren’t received by audiences because they didn’t have their own identity and were basically the marvel movies in animated formats which lead marvel animation to decline because they weren’t comic accurate and there was no good story telling and the animation had declined has each show looked stiff with the animation style. However there are other animated tv shows that were faithful to the source material like Avengers earth’s mightiest heroes, Wolverine and the X-men and Spectacular Spiderman. These shows were well well received because they were comic accurate and each of the shows had good story telling and good characters arcs with good animation.
DC animation is a format where comic book storylines are told in either tv shows or movies. When it comes to DC animation DCs major characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder woman. The most popular of DC animation is through the animated tv shows like Batman the animated series and other like Superman the animated series and Justice League. The reason these shows are major hits isbecause the way the characters are adapted from the source material and they take in a lot of elements from the comics. Compared to the live actions version of these characters the animated ones are the definitive version of these characters because they have more character development which makes them more interesting. The animation and art style that is used works is well it makes the show look more fluid and the have more of a vibe and brighter tone that is targeted to kids but also allows adults watch the show the story telling in these shows are pretty accurate to the comics.
Dc animation also have animated movies. Much like the animated shows Batman and Superman the DC animated movies were major hits because it followed the comics and it had solid adaptation of the characters especially the one that were stand alone and were based on the graphic novels from DC.However DC also had interconnected animated movies which were based of the new 52 line of comics which the movies started out as with the Flashpoint Paradox. The new 52 movies solid adaptation of the characters but more a lot more darker and focused more on shock value instead of good story telling. Although these movies were successful the animation did feel stiff and the same, where as the original DC movies each had unique animation and art style in a way that would emulate the comics.
References
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History of Marvel and DC ESSAY
Introduction
The topic for my specialist study is about the history of Marvel and DC MAINLY talking about media representation like films and animation. My goal is to basically get people opinion on these adaptations of comic book characters and how they have been represented in other media outside of comics. I talked about the practitioners I choose and how their creation and story telling have been adapted in other media like in the film industry and animation.
Marvel and DC animation film adaptation
The film side is that there are lot of comic book movies and they are more popular than comics. What I found out is that there are fans who are into the superhero genre but there are also casual audience members who would watch the movie to get the bases of the genre instead of read the comics. from what researched is that there a lot of casual fans out there that familiar with comic book movies and they find it more entertaining because the movies they have seen the characters have been adapted well for most of them and they get the core idea of not only the genre and but the way characters have been portrayed and represented. When it comes to comic book fans who know the genre well would say majority of comic book movies have been adapted because the way they take elements from the comics and how the creators make a whole new experience for comic book fans and casual audience members. For example majority of people have picked the Dark Knight trilogy and the original Spiderman trilogy. The reason people picked this because they tell a constant story with character and showing the characters arc through out the trilogy and shows the political and social views on them.
When it comes to comic book movies trilogy people have chosen Spiderman and Batman because they are more popular and recognisable and they are adapted well in film. From comic book fans some of them would say that some have been represented well like Marvel but some movies haven’t been adapted well especially DC films as character like Batman and Superman have not gotten the best adaptation when it comes to film, but other films like Aquaman, Shazam and Joker as they are well represented and it gives casual fans and comic book fans an idea of what the character should be like and understanding the core ideas of it.
Marvel and DC animation adaption
For animation both brands have had their fair share of interpretation. For marvel animation I have found out that their animated movies were solid but lack in adapting the storylines properly. Other animation like tv show have been faithful to the comics like X-men the animated series and Spiderman. But I also found out there are other shows that don’t emulate the comics but are very reminiscent of the marvel movies which didn’t do so good because fans didn’t like the animation and how it took the look of the marvel movies in animated format. For marvel animated shows people do have their favourite like Spectacular Spiderman, X-men and favourite animated movies like Spiderman into the spider verse.
When it comes to DC animation I found out there is more to love about DC animation than the movies from what I have researched because DC animation tends to do more comic accurate adaptation for movies and tv shows. From my research I learnt that not a lot of people don’t animation in general in terms of superheroes. However from what I have found out is that there are passionate comic book fans who have watched a lot of animation especially when it comes to DC because they are way better than the live action ones because on the animation side there is a lot to offer and it is more interesting. A few comic book fans have favourite DC show like Batman the animated series, Batman beyond and Justice league. For animated movies most of their favourites Flashpoint Paradox. These were picked because they have more story to tell and it is more based on the comics.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think comic book characters have been adapted well in media because it gives casual audiences an idea of the genre. I also think that in some media like animation, comic adaption have worked strongly because the creators have free range on how they want to tell a story, whereas in film it is different because there are some restriction and not everything is going to be fully accurate. I do think that in film not everything shouldn’t be accurate because you will have fans who read comics will know how the story would play out but if the creators add their own spin to it would make the movie better if is executed well and if it’s done correctly. Overall my thoughts on the comic book genre is that some characters haven’t had good adaptations and but majority of them have had good ones like the Dark Knight trilogy and Spiderman as well as other like X-men. I think comic book genre has shaped public opinion that they thinks is good and for those are casual movie goers could appreciate the genre.