How has the rise in popularity of graphic novels shaped the television and film industry? (1970 – Present)

How has the rise in popularity of graphic novels shaped the television and film industry? (1970 – Present)

Introduction
It is no secret that right now in terms of film and television we are living in the age of the Superheroes. Comic book movies have been around for a very long time, the first being “The Mark of Zorro” (1920) directed by Fred Niblo and Theodore Reed. From then onwards there have been a plethora of comic book/superhero films; the Tim Burton Batman films, the Christopher Reeve Superman films, the start of the “Blade” trilogy and many more one off superhero movies which didn’t quite satisfy the consumer market. However with the turn of the century something changed. From the year 2000 onwards there have been at least two superhero films every year; X-Men, Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hellboy, Punisher – each one performing well at the Box Office. Then came 2008’s Iron-Man, directed by Jon Favreau, starring Robert Downey Jr in his first major role in years. Thus began the building blocks for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a proof of concept that several of these ‘Superheroes’ could inhabit the same screen space. The effect this has had on the film and television industry is rather remarkable, but also quite daunting. How much longer can the golden goose which is the comic book industry dominate and support western cinema? In this article I hope to answer this question, and also look at some other broader influences this comic book craze has had on the industry such as; its effect on modern comic books and on exhibitors (cinemas).

(Special Effects) The First Wave in Film
Superman (1978), starring Christopher Reeve, was the first modern superhero film, quite fitting considering that Superman was the very first popular superhero (Action Comics #1 1938). At that moment in time the comic books were in what is known as ‘the Bronze age’ which spans from 1970 to 1985 meaning that they had darker plot elements and more socially relevant storylines. The film was made before the digital age, and is well-known for its large scale visual effect sequences.
A whole host of scale models, miniatures, rigging systems and choice camera angles were used to create a convincing Superman that audiences would believe had these incredible powers, however due to the limitations of practical effects Reeve’s Superman was not a completely accurate representation of the Superman seen in comics. For the iconic flying scenes a technique was developed that combined the front projection effect (were an image is projected onto a projection screen behind the actor) with specially designed zoom lenses. The illusion of movement was created by zooming in on Reeve while making the front projected image appear to recede.

This led to the creation of ‘The Zoptic System’ by Zoran Perisic (Effects Wizard) where a zoom lens was placed on both the movie camera and the projector, then both were synchronised to zoom in and out simultaneously in the same direction. As the projection lens zooms in, it projects a smaller image on the screen; the camera zooms in at the same time, and to the same degree, so that the background image appears unchanged. However the subject (in this case Reeve) placed in front of the projection screen appears to have moved closer to the camera, hence Superman flies towards the camera. For scenes where Superman interacts with other people or other objects whilst flying a variety of rigging equipment with careful lighting and photography was used. A truly innovative way of achieving their goals with basic technology. This effect was used in two of the Superman sequels (but not the fourth due to budget constraints) and several other Hollywood movies such as ‘Return to Oz’ and the TV series ‘Greatest American Hero’.

From one film, and the ingenuity of its crew, a brand new technique for filming was created – before the digital age. Not only did Superman leave its mark on audiences around the world with its awe inspiring score (John Williams), it proved that graphic novels could be made into films, and made well.

The success of Superman (grossing over 490 million dollars) prompted more graphic novels to be made into films, Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), and most importantly for Marvel - Blade (1998). These were the first comic book films to have their own franchises spawning off one or two more sequels. Of course there had been Television films e.g. Captain America (1979), The Incredible Hulk returns (1988), The Trial of the Incredible hulk (1989), and The death of the Incredible Hulk (1990) but they had nowhere near the same level of popularity as the Box office films. This was likely due to funding, as well as how limited the filmmakers were when it came to bringing these fantastical characters to life. However fans of Superman would not see a truly comic accurate representation of the beloved character on the silver screen until 2008’s ‘Superman Returns’ featuring Brandon Routh as Christopher Reeve’s successor. Due to advances in technology the ‘man of Steel’ was brought to life at full power, reflecting the powers and abilities of his graphic novel counterpart perfectly.

The First Wave in Television
The Incredible Hulk TV series (1978-1982) took place during ‘the Bronze age’ at the same time as the Superman films. But the TV films took place during what is known as ‘the Copper age’ of comic books which spans from 1984 to 1991. This did not mean much for The Incredible Hulk aside from that the story lines were more relevant to current events, much like in ‘the Bronze age’. The series and films had several major differences to the comic books which allowed the live-action show to be more believable and acceptable to a wide audience. The producer and writer Kenneth Johnson’s most notable change was his name, from Dr Bruce Banner to Dr David Banner, and the Hulk’s strength, which is far more limited. In an interview for a ‘Hulk-Themed’ Rolling Stone cover story Johnson stated “What I was trying to do was pull away from as much as the comic book-ness as I could, so that I could really create something that could live and breathe in the real world” Some would argue that as successful as the show was it cut out an important element of the comic book version of the characters personality which is the fact that “Hulk is strongest there is” – Hulk can lift around to 100 tons and as the adage goes “The madder the Hulk gets, the stronger he gets”.

Due to the limitations of technology it is clear that they achieved the transformation from David Banner (Bill Bixby) to the Incredible Hulk (Lou Ferrigno) using a series of quick cuts and practical effects. Cutting from Bixby wearing coloured contact lenses to footage of Ferrigno, painted green, bursting out of small clothing. As for the Hulk’s impressive feats of strength stunt props, and Ferrigno’s strength, were used – stunt sets too for when Ferrigno came crashing through walls. The use of practical and visual effects extended to Tim Burton’s highly successful Batman films. Practical effects usage could only go so far, yet the showrunners did the best they could to stick to the source material.

Eleven years after Richard Donner’s Superman, Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) was released. This film relied heavily upon practical effects, just like its predecessor Superman, because Batman is a billionaire playboy with gadgets for every occasion, and his villains are crazed with extravagant egomaniacal plans. Scale models, miniatures, rigging systems and choice camera angles were used in the film - after eleven years technology and superhero films had not advanced. That was at least up until the digital age.
Before the digital age there was a very clear line between on-screen superheroes and their source material counterparts. An example of a very popular character who was not done justice is ‘Spider-Man’, in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ (1977-1979) TV show starring Richard Hammond as Peter Parker. The practical effects were limited and once more a key element of the character was omitted for wider audiences – Peter Parkers’ sharp wit and quick quips. However this did not deter fans from wanting to see their favourite heroes done ‘right’.
Comic books from 1992 to present day are considered a part of the ‘Modern age’ where characters generally became darker and more psychologically complex. It is also known as the ‘Dark Age of Comic Books’ due to the popularity of grim titles such as ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Returns’ and ‘Watchmen’. It also saw the rise of the Anti-Hero [see The New Millennium].

Digital Age
The coming of digital editing with the digital age has removed limitations on filming things which cannot be done by practical and visual effects. Some things which once did not seem possible have now become possible; complicated processes such as the Zoptic system are now obsolete for achieving the illusion of flight on camera. Computer animation, or more commonly known as CGI has become the dominant tool used in animation today. The digital age represents a turning point in graphic novels influences on technology in the television and film industry, technological advances very much determine what is brought to the screen and what is not.

The first graphic novel film to use computer animation (CGI) was ‘The Mask’ (1994) starring Jim Carrey as the loveable goofball Stanley Ipkiss who stumbled across a mask which gave him unbelievable reality-bending powers and invulnerability. Its intriguing plot and colourful cinematics could only be achieved by using computer animation. Practical effects could only go so far with the bright yellow banana suit and full green head mask. CGI was required to bring the insane and energetic character to life: jumping off of walls, spinning around like the Tasmanian devil, morphing into cartoon characters and having his jaw drop, eyes pop and heart pump out of his chest – only a few examples of what practical effects cannot do convincingly.
Studios have the ability to bring the source material to the silver screen accurately however it does not serve in their best interest due to who they want their audience to be - everyone. Certain aspects of the character where left out or removed due to how this relatively new technology had not yet been refined, as well as the characters violent and murderous attributes being replaced by exaggerated humour and mischievous behaviour to help its wider audience appeal. This by no means made the character less entertaining.

All CGI sequences were supervised by Wes Ford Takahashi and ‘Industrial Light & Magic’ (ILM). For the iconic transformation scenes Carrey had to act out all scenes without the mask meanwhile ILM had to create the mask and a mould of his head on a computer, the mask was then digitally manipulated to wrap around his head, and the footage was combined with the live-action footage of Jim Carrey. As for the more memorable scene of where he morphs into a wolf and whistles at Cameron Diaz he once more had to act out the scene (extending his arm to simulate the wolfs mouth) and then on a computer his head was removed digitally and replaced with a 3D animation of the cartoon wolf by Steve Williams (also known for his work on Jurassic Park).
After the success of the film the run of ‘Mask’ comic books had an altered storyline which reflected the films less violent and more comedic tone. This aided in bringing in fans of the film into the world of comic books, however it was not appreciated by traditional fans of the material.

Men in Black (1997) starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as Agent J and Agent K heavily implements the use of practical effects, visual effects and CGI to create the alien inhabited world of MIB. The unlikely pair come together and face off against a giant Cockroach alien, defending the galaxy and saving the Earth. The comic book titled “The Men in Black” was published by Aircel comics in 1990, which falls into ‘the Bronze age’ of comic books – yet they do not have ‘socially relevant’ story lines. Instead they are extravagant and almost unbelievable, meaning that the only way to achieve the incredible story on the big screen was CGI.
The film contains a large portion of Computer Generated (CG) character animation, bluescreen composites, miniature work, wire and rig removals, and an incredible amount of live-action creature effects – all of this can be seen in the ‘Behind the Scenes’ footage from the films. The CGI was done by ILM, just like in ‘The Mask’. The final reveal of the main villain being a fifteen foot tall cockroach alien was originally going to be done using practical effects with a full-scale animatronic alien – but due to script and design changes this was scrapped and ILM took over, creating an impressive sequence for Agent K and Agent J’s final showdown with the creature. ILM’s advancements in animation and match-moving (insertion computer graphics to live-action footage with correct position, scale etc.) allow for directors to shoot in the same style they would shoot a non CG sequence, whilst maintaining full creative control. This would be used again by ILM for 2003’s ‘Hulk’.

The film had one of the most iconic closing sequences of all time with its epic zoom out. Starting from a close up of a N.Y. City street pulling all the way back to a reveal of the Earth, then the Solar System, the galaxy, and finally that our Galaxy is game much like marbles to another race of aliens. The shot was overseen by ILM’s Scott Farrar and is very hard not to believe. The opening credits of Superman (1978) may have been impressive with its visual effects, but it is nothing compared to CGI.

In 1999 a change was brought about with what can be considered the most important graphic novel film of all time due to its anti-bigotry message, X-Men with Hugh Jackman cast as the main protagonist - The Wolverine. This was the first ever appearance of a successful teaming up of several on-screen comic book heroes in Hollywood. The idea of mutants with fantastical and incredible powers seemed to captivate audiences and create solid ground for a whole franchise to be born.

Director Brian Singer had visited the sets of George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace and James Cameron’s Titanic to understand practical and digital effects, and although filming of ‘X-Men’ had started without the use of a special effects several companies were hired in December of 1999: Digital Domain, Cinesite, Kleiser-Walczak Construction Co., Hammerhead Production, Matte World Digital, CORE and POP, these companies were all credited in the end credits of the film. For Wolverine’s claws full silicone casts of Hugh Jackman’s arms were taken and over 700 pairs were needed for both Hugh and his stunt double. The claws came out and retracted on screen realistically, this was all due to CG animation. Cyclops’ laser beam was CG animation paired with live-action from James Marsden, the character of Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) had a grand total 110 prosthetics applied to her skin – this was an extensive practical effect which was paired with CGI for Mystiques body morph scenes. However the most extensive use of CGI and live-action acting paired together in ‘X-Men’ was Senator Kelly’s mutation scene into an unstable watery mess. Digital Domain's technical director Sean C. Cunningham and lead compositor Claas Henke morphed Bruce Davison into a liquid figure for the scene. Cunningham said in a behind the scenes preview for the film, "There were many digital layers: water without refraction, water with murkiness, skin with and without highlights, skin with goo in it. When rendered together, it took 39 hours per frame." This was an incredibly feat of technology, creating full 3D models which could be manipulated at will through layering, which became an example of what had become possible with CG animation. Practical effects started to serve to enhance the realism of CG animation rather than being fully phased out.

As with previous comic book films the X-Men films veered from the source material often, borrowing story arcs from the published works and cherry-picking what they kept and what they removed. To most fans dismay the ‘yellow spandex’ suits worn by the team were replaced by military black leather suits. However in the first film there is a nod to the comic books with a moment between Cyclops and Wolverine (James Marsden and Hugh Jackman) – “You actually go outside in these things?” “Well, what would you prefer, yellow spandex?”

The New Millennium (Modern Age)
There is little difference between the ‘Digital age’ and ‘The New Millennium’ except for that ‘The New Millennium’ will go down in the history of Film as the age of advanced special effects (CGI and performance capture) and the era of franchise films. 1999 had birthed the X-Men franchise which is still going strong today with its most recent production being “X-Men: Apocalypse”. But the new millennium has spawned the MCU and currently in the process of creating a coherent DCEU (DC Expanded Universe). Director Zack Snyder acquainted this influx of superhero films to this, “It’s the modern mythology, its visual effects technology at its height, and it’s also, if done right, about compelling characters, especially now that we have so many A-list actors on board. It’s a Hollywood wet dream in that way, and then everything comes together in box office madness.”

However the ‘Generalissimo’ himself, Stan Lee (creator of Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Fantastic Four) pin-pointed the reasoning for the influx perfectly back in 2004 in an interview with FilmInk “Studios are looking for comic book characters because they’re now able to do them properly thanks to the advances in special effects and computer generated imagery”. He went on to say how hard it must have been to make X-Men “Here are a few characters, each one with a super power, and they’re all so much bigger than life. How do you get an adult audience to accept this? And yet the director, Bryan Singer – I’m a big fan of his, as I am Sam Raimi, who did Spider-Man – did it in such a way that even people who weren’t comic book fans were able to enjoy the movie. He made it intelligent, and it could be silly in the wrong hands. I was very impressed.”

The increasing popularity of these films has had an impact on what kind of comic book films are being made. The Anti-Hero has started to become very popular in recent years with ‘Deadpool’ (2016) which had an age rating of ‘R’ – clearly a superhero film not meant for children. The character has the ability to break the ‘fourth wall’ and address its audience giving the perfect justification as to why he is not a traditional hero. “You’re probably thinking ‘My boyfriend said this was a superhero movie but that guy just turned that other guy into a [frick]ing kabab’ Well I may be super, but I’m no hero” [See The Formation of a Franchise].

The Modern Age in Film
Looking back at the films in the early 2000s; (2002) ‘Spider-Man’, ‘X2: X-Men United’,(2003) Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk’, ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentleman’, (2004) ‘Spider-Man 2’, (2005) ‘Batman Begins’, ‘Fantastic Four’, (2006) ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, ‘Superman returns’, (2007) ‘Ghost Rider’, ‘Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer’, and ‘Spider-Man 3’, it is not hard to see the progression of special effects, especially when compared to 2016.

Ang Lee’s Hulk serves as a perfect example of practical effects and CG animation being used in tandem convincingly. Rigging systems with explosives, pressure releases, wires, and unique stunts were used, then the ‘Hulk’ was rendered in in post-production using CG animation. A great contrast to the 1978-1982 Hulk Television series in which Hulk was ‘powered down’ to allow for Ferrigno to play him convincingly. This version of the Hulk was allowed to flourish and be at full marvellous strength with Eric Bana as Bruce Banner and the model for Hulk’s CG figure. Michael Lantieri the Special Effects Supervisor on the film described the process as this; “Whatever the Hulk does, comes in contact with, manipulates, pushes, shoves, breaks, touches, and lifts falls under the category of on-set physical effects crew”. This is incredible when you consider that REAL destruction which occurred on set to walls, labs, windows, cars and in some cases entire building fronts.

An underrated yet iconic scene in which CGI, Special effects, stunt coordination, and wires were used is when Jennifer Connelly is lifted and lowered in time with Hulk’s stride in a scene where the Hulk grabs her character Betty Ross and then places her in a car safe from danger. This was a true representation of ‘The incredible Hulk’ fans from the comic books are familiar with, it was a head of its time, and a precursor to what we later see with the current cinematic universe in terms of special effects and CG animation.

(The Formation of a Franchise)
The Copper Age of comic books (1984 – 1991) involved crossover stories, events and tie-ins becoming the norm. Essentially this meant is that comic books such as ‘The Avengers’ became increasingly popular. Readers of that time period are now in their thirties or forties, and some are directly involved in the filmmaking process; for example the director of Marvel’s Avengers (2012) Joss Whedon was a fan when he was a teenager. With the advancements of CG technology studios were able to use this passion of fans within the industry to sift through the literal hundreds of issues worth of source material and begin to make films with cohesive stories that span across multiple superhero films.

2008 saw ‘Iron-Man’ and ‘the Incredible Hulk’ (a full reboot of the 2003 film) - the start of the MCU. Marvel categorsied their Cinematic Universe into three sections; phase One, phase Two, and phase Three. Phase One includes; ‘Iron-Man’, ‘The Incredible Hulk’, ‘Iron-Man 2’, ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, and ‘The Avengers’ - Phase Two includes; ‘Iron-Man 3’, Thor: The Dark World’, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, and ‘Ant-Man’ - and Phase Three includes; ‘Captain America: Civil War’, ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2’, ‘Spider-Man:Homecoming’, ‘Thor: Ragnarok’,’Avengers: Infinity War Part One’, ‘Black Panther’, ‘Captain Marvel’, ‘Avengers: Infinity War Part Two’, and finally ‘Inhumans’. With each one of these titles the studios have taken inspiration from throughout comicbook history, all the way from the ‘Silver Age’ and ‘Golden Age’ with  ‘Iron-Man’, ‘Captain America’, and ‘The Incredible Hulk’ to the ‘Bronze Age’ with Spider-Man story arcs.

However it all began in 2008 with the extravagant character of Tony Stark who was brought to life by Robert Downey Jr (RDJ) on the big screen. The filming process involved a lot of improvisation with dialogue scenes as the script had not yet been completed before filming began. This was because the filmmakers had focused on the story making sense and planning the action, director John Favreau felt that this gave the film a more natural and organic feel.

Favreau’s main concern with the film’s special effects was whether or not the transition between the CG and practical costumes would be too obvious. As with other high profile productions dealing with CG animation ILM were hired to create a bulk of the visual effects. These included the Mark I armour for which a digital model was created. In order to help refine the animation of the other suits (mark II and Mark III) information was captured by RDJ by having him wear only the helmet, sleeves and chest of the costume over a motion capture suit. Skydivers were also filmed in a vertical wind tunnel to study the physics of flying. As for shots like where the Mark III suit was flying it was animated to look realistic by taking off slowly, and landing quickly. A modern approach to ‘camera trickery’ but with animation instead of choice camera angles. What is clear from ‘Iron-Man’ is that real life physics started to become considered when animating to bring realism to the characters in such a way that ‘even people who weren’t comic book fans were able to enjoy the movie’. An example of this being when shots were generated for Iron Man and two F-22 Raptors (fighter jets) have a mid-air battle. Cameras were flown in the air to provide reference for physics, specifically the wind and frost on the lenses.

The huge success of ‘Iron-Man’, $584,604,126 at the Box Office worldwide and $398,604,126 profit, lead to a sequel ‘Iron-Man 2’ (2010), and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ (2011) starring Chris Evans as the star-spangled man himself Steve Rogers. Not only was this the first fully digitally filmed marvel film, but it also used an extensive amount of visual effects (nearly 1,600 visual effects shots) to portray Evans as a meek, skinny young adult for the first portion of the film (before Rogers acquires the super-soldier serum).

These visual effects were split between thirteen different companies, in a ‘Film Journal Interview’ (FJI) director Joe Johnston stated that he used two major techniques, the first; “Most of the shots were done by an L.A. company called LOLA that specialises in digital “plastic surgery”. The technique involved shrinking Chris in all dimensions. We shot each skinny Steve at least four times; once like a normal scene with Chris and his fellow actors in the scene, once with Chris alone in front of a green screen so his element could be reduced digitally, again with everyone in the scene but with Chris absent so that the shrunken Steve could be re-inserted into the scene, and finally with a body double mimicking Chris’s actions in case the second technique were required. When Chris had to interact with other characters in the scene, we had to either lower Chris or raise the other actors on apple boxes or elevated walkways to make skinny Steve shorter in comparison. For close-ups, Chris’ fellow actors had to look at marks on his chin that represented where his eyes would be after the shrinking process, and Chris had to look at marks on the tops of the actors head to represent their eyes” This convoluted and thorough process truly makes ones marvel at what can be done with CG animation in the correct skilled hands. The lore of the comic books drove the filmmakers to try and make the film as accurate as possible having Steve start out being small and weak and then transform into the Adonis of a man that Chris Evans is.

Johnston describes the second process as a technique that involved “grafting Chris’s head onto the body double. This technique was used mostly when Chris was sitting or lying down, or when a minimum of physical acting was required” Far more simplistic but no less impressive. Captain America’s iconic shield also required the use of practical and visual effects, there were four types on set: metal, fiberglass, rubber and a CG shield. Each one served a different purpose, in a FJI prop master Barry Gibbs specified that there was a “Hero shield” which was made of aluminium and use for close-ups and ‘beauty shots’, an “aluminium-faced with fiberglass” shield which was for daily use, a “stunt shield” made of polyurethane, and finally an “ultrasoft Shield” which was put on Evans back to protect him in case there was an accident. The practical shield was handled by Evans who would practice swinging it so he knew the arc and the speed at which he should move. He would shoot the scenes without the shield and then it would be added in in post-production with CG animation.

Over the course of four years Marvel established a stable base for a film Universe with characters who had solo films or cameo’s within those films, Iron-man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow (cameo in ‘Iron-Man 2’), and the Hulk (although it was given a soft reboot with Mark Ruffalo replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner). This paved the way for 2012’s ‘The Avengers’ – the first visual representation of the Avengers with visual effects and modern technologies to refine the performances.

Creating ‘The Avengers’ directed by Joss Whedon, was no easy task, the film contains more than 2,200 visual effects shots completed by fourteen companies: ILM, Weta Digital, Scanline VFX, Hydraulx, Fuel VFX, Evil Eye Pictures, Luma Pictures, Cantina Creative, Trixter, Modus FX, Whiskytree, Digital Domain, The Third Floor and Method Design. Once again ILM was the lead company and shared responsibility for the film’s key effects, these included the Hellicarrier, the New York cityscape, digital body doubles, Iron-Man and the Hulk. Motion capture (mo-cap) technology had advanced to a point where when Mark Ruffalo performed wearing a motion-capture suit on set with the other actors four motion-capture HD cameras (two full body, two focused on his face) captured his face and body movements. Jeff White, ILM’s Visual Effects Supervisor said “We really wanted to utilise everything we’ve developed the last 10 years and make it a pretty spectacular Hulk”. Ruffalo’s look was incorporated into the final look of the Hulk, this included his eyes, his teeth, and his tongue. Technology was utilised fully and pushed to the extremes on even the most minor of details to bring life to the comic book hero.

The thirteen companies worked together to create and render fully CG environments that the actors could interact with and inhabit via the use of ‘green screen’. As well as paying careful attention to details of the characters improve their realism and the audience’s suspended belief in their existence. It also shows the extent to which filmmakers have gone to to try and bring what fans have seen in the comics to life, as faithfully to the source material as they possibly can. ‘The Avenges’ grossed $1.5 billion in the national Box Office, its popularity can be attributed to the fact that it was the first film of its kind bringing together all of these heroes for one motion picture in a much bigger way than the X-Men.

Marvels Studios used the success of this to springboard more risky heroes onto the silver screen such as ‘The Guardians of The Glaxy’ (GoTG), directed by James Gunn. Although the films had fantastic success worlwide, grossing $635 million, the film helped to reignite the comicbook industries faith in the characetrs – allowing for the comic books to go back into publishing. Similarly to the film industry where the technology stopped being pushed for innovation by superheroes [see the Zoptic system], the popularity of superhero films directly impacts comic book sales and whether or not they are still worth printing.

Prior to the 2014 blockbuster the Guardians starred in a self-titled comic that ran for just 62 issues in the early 1990s, but it was cancelled in 1995. However in 2008 a second volume was published and sold an estimated 39,854 copies, making it the 61^st top-selling comic title that month (May). After the films excellent reception in 2014 a new ongoing series titled ‘Guardians 3000’ launched and is still going to this day having multiple cross-overs with Marvel’s main titles such as Iron-Man and the Avengers.

The film itself was approximately 90% visual effects shots (2,750) which were largely created by Moving Picture Company who worked in creating the giant charatcer ‘Groot’, as well as Morag (the first planet shown after Erath), Xandar, the Dark Aster and the final battle on Xandar. Framestore worked on creating Rocket Racoon, and Proof contributed to both the creation of Rocket and Groot. CG animation and mo-cap were used for both Groot and Rocket. James Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, played Rocket on set and Krystian Godlewski played Groot. This helped provide reference for lighting and on-set performances to the animators. I had the opportunity to interview Sean Gunn in 2014 at a Comic Convention in London. When I asked him about his portrayal of Rocket he told me that “Preperation for the role was just like any other role”.

From what we know so far studios like Marvel have superhero films planned for the next ten years. Warner Brothers have only recently started to establish a ‘Cinematic Universe’ with the critically infamous films ‘Man of Steel’ (2013) and ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (2016). It is important to not that it is not just the film industry which has been flooded with superheroes. The television industry has been equally if not moreso affected. So far Marvel have brought each of their chaarcetrs to life on-screen pleasing die-hard fans and wider audiences, making sure not to go too far away from the source material.

Unfortunately compromises have had to be made in some special cases which make films very different to the comic books. Marvel Entertainment (owned by Disney) does not own all of the filming rights to their characters. In short Marvel were on the verge of bankruptcy and collapse in 1996, so in order to save themselves they sold off some key and popular chaarcter movie rights to maintain and keep their comic book empire. There had yet to be a succesful Marvel superhero film, that was at least until ‘X-Men’. Soon after Marvel started to fund their own films. Different studios own different characters. Twentieth Century Fox own; X-Men and The Fantastic Four (and all related villains, characters, etc.), Sony Pictures own; Spider-Man and Ghost Rider (and all related villains, characters, etc.), Paramount Studios own Hulk (and all related villains, characters, etc.), and Marvel Studios/Disney own all of the characters who are not affiliated with any of the previously mentioned characters. In order for films such as ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘The Avenegrs’ Marvel had to make deals with Sony and Paramount in order to use both Hulk and Spider-Man. It is because of this that certain storylines will never be seen on screen, such as seeing the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Avenegrs all interacting on screen.

In recent years, 2016 – 1017, superhero films have been pushing for an ‘R’ rating to allow for more complex stories which reflect those of in the comic books. ‘Deadpool’ (2016) and ‘Logan’ (2017) are the first two to have achieved this, receiving excellent critical reception. Director James Mangold (Logan) told ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ that “one of the main reasons for wanting rated R wasn’t just to be able to deliver for audiences the kind of action they’d been wanting for a while with Logan. Because as much as this movie kind of dived into the violence of having a lead character and a daughter with claws, I think it’s also about feeling the weight and the loss that the aftermath of violence results in. And that is what I was most interested in, in making an adult-themed film, a more sophisticated film. For me, getting the studio to agree to rated R is also when a movie stops being about the four boxes. The movie stops being a vehicle for moving merchandise. No one’s watching the film through the prism of a 9-year old or a 12-year old and hoping to be able to sit through this six-minute scene between Charles Xavier and Hugh Jackman” What this shows is that superhero films are progressing to a point where they are able to follow the source material, given that they are allowed to break free of the confines of marketing to children – after all, comic books are largely not for children contrary to popular belief.

The Modern Age in Television
The big names in the comic book industry dominate the market when it comes to superheroes, leaving smaller companies such as Dark Horse (Hellboy) and 2000AD (Judge Dredd) to pick up whatever funding they can. However when it comes to the conflict of ‘who’s better’ Marvel takes the lead for their Cinematic Universe. Yet this does not reign true when it comes to television. Much like how Marvel established a universe DC have done the same with what has the rather intriguing name ‘The Super Flarrow-Verse of Tomorrow’. First established with ‘Arrow’ (2012) the universe has grown since adding ‘The Flash’ (2014), ‘Supergirl’ (2015), and ‘Legends of Tomorrow’ (2016) – these shows all air on the ‘CW’ channel.

These shows have repeated use of CG animation, stunts, wires, pressure releases, rigging systems and pyrotechnics on a regular basis to produce weekly airing programs. The entire filming and editing process has been streamlined to accommodate for the demand for Superhero shows, but without sacrificing quality. This is done by keeping storylines simple and having a stockpile of pre-designed animations such as Flash’s super speed and Supergirl’s flight. Much like in the films, the TV shows borrow, mix and match different stories from across the comic books ages to suit their purposes.

The creation of the MCU, and also DC’s domination of TV, pushed Marvel to team up with the streaming service Netflix to distribute their series ‘Daredevil’ (2015), which is much grittier and violent than anything the studio has previously produced. “Marvel wanted to try something a little more adult, a little darker, and a little more morally complex,” showrunner, Steven S. DeKnight, told FilmInk. This of course was in order to compete with DC and their gritty storylines with ‘Arrow’ and an attempt to expand their cinematic universe to the small screen with smaller, grittier, more self-contained storylines.

Marvel’s flagship TV show was ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ (2013) unfortunately did not seem to satisfy fans of the genre which lead the studio to working with Netflix – creating Daredevil. This lack of success was due to the fact that it was a wholly new creation with no prior comic book foundations, it was birthed from Marvel attempting to have a series which dealt with the MCU on a smaller scale, bringing back the character of Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) from the dead – meaning that it was lacking greatly in its appeal from the usual fans who start the initial ‘hype’ for superhero shows. It also had to compete with other more popular shows on the CW.

The success of ‘Daredevil’ with a Rotten tomatoes score of 98% lead to two more series commissioned specifically for Netflix. ‘Jessica Jones’ (2015) and ‘Luke Cage’ (2016). Marvel’s upcoming release is ‘Iron Fist’ (2017) which will then lead on to a series called ‘The Defenders’ (2017) which will feature all four of the TV heroes. Again the process of filming and editing has been streamlined, however instead of releasing episodes on a weekly basis with season breaks Netflix releases each season in one go allowing for fans to gorge themselves on the stories. It is this desire and interest in the genre which causes exhibitors to continue demanding superhero content from production companies.

Exhibitors
In order for these Superhero films and TV shows to be successful they must appeal to general audiences and diehard fans – diehard fans are repeat customers and set the tone of ‘Buzz’ on the internet and hype for the films. This type of ‘buzz’ is very important in the modern age as it dictates the tone and attitude the marketing campaigns must abide by. For instance when you think of ‘Batman’ you will most likely think of 2008’s critically acclaimed ‘The Dark Knight’ starring Heath Ledger and Christian Bale. You know what to expect; darkness, grit, action, explosions, combat, gadgets. But if you hear ‘Spider-Man’ you may think if the 2002 adaption, meaning you expect to see; comedy, laughter, romance, and a general jovial tone. Exhibitors are fully aware of this hence they know their target audiences. To clarify what an exhibitor is it is a cinema, Vue, IMAX, Odeon. These are means of filmmakers showing their films to wide audiences.

The financial reality of filmmaking is astonishing; over 70% of America’s income comes from outside of the US, meaning that ultimately films are made for export. So it can be broken down into simple business – supply and demand. The general populous is currently obsessed with superhero films, we just can’t seem to get enough of them. Films must be good whether they are about comic books or not. It is the core elements of the characters which we enjoy, and in some aspects aspire to become like, that attract us to the fantastical world of beings greater than ourselves and better than we can ever hope to be. The Superhero genre is very much a form of modern day escapism.
 
 
Conclusion
The rise in popularity of graphic novels over the past twenty years has impacted the television and film industry greatly since the very first film in 1920. They have influenced technology in film to a point where basic unbelievable abilities such as flight became possible, and once technology advanced they served as source material – testing the limits that anything imaginable is possible on screen, provided you have the right skill-set with CG animation and mo-cap. It has been over 10 years after Stan Lee’s quote about technology being able to bring comic book characters to life (2004) and we are still making advances which allow us to make those characters even more convincing and life-like.

However the greatest impact is definitely upon the market itself, especially when you look at how many films Marvel has produced as a part of its MCU, what they are going to produce, as well as what Warner Brothers are going to produce as a part of their DCEU. It is not entirely impossible that the general population won’t get bored of superhero films before they are all done being made.

As the characters become more and more popular the films get further and further away from the source material which aggravates some of the ‘die-hard’ fans. Even though they have the ability to bring anything on paper to life the studios have to make decisions that will allow the films to be accessible to the general population. A prime example of this is ‘Logan’ and ‘Deadpool’ which excluded a whole group of film-goers with its ‘R’ age rating. But even then if the ‘die-hard’ fans are not happy with the film produced its critical reception is greatly affected. A prime example of this is ‘Suicide Squad’ (2016). Only a minority of fans enjoyed it despite being highly excited by the trailers. As a consequence it was ripped apart by critics, and even disliked by many normal film-goers.

If you look back into history Superheroes were very popular in the 1930s during the great depression (Superman, Action Comics #1 1938), this suggests that the craze of superheroes peaks when the world is in a state of decline or turmoil. The broader implications of this are that it may very well be a long time before the Western world is bored of the genre in film. As already mentioned, it is a form of modern day escapism. Stoic characters who live in a reality where Iron-Men, Gods, Super-soldiers, and good-willed superhuman protect the weak and defend the innocent. A utopian reality if ever there was one.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Bibliography