Marvelous.

The term comic book is almost synonymous with a certain company called 'Marvel'. Marvel a company so huge searching for it on wikipedia dishes out several possible results;

"

• Marvel Entertainment, a character-based entertainment and licensing company based in the United States of America
  • Marvel Comics, a comic book publisher owned by Marvel Entertainment
  • Marvel Productions
  • Marvel Animation
  • Marvel Studios, the film division of Marvel Entertainment

"

Thats not even the half of it seriously.

What with my research and topic on comic books and their effect on world cinema i thought i would research a bit into the organisation known as Marvel and there break into world cinema. Now i know that Marvel are not the only comic book company which has films to its name as well but none of the other companies such as Dark Horse or DC are going to do something very very special in the coming years that will have fanboys creaming their pants for a while...

Its obvious to everyone that the beginning of the 21st century saw a massive boom of comic book films. As Marvel Studios, a sub-division of the Marvel Entertainment company was formed in the late 90s and headed by Avi Arad. This sudden burst on to the silver screen had come at a profound time for Marvel as in the late eighties up to the early nineties some would say that Marvel had lost its way as they had suffered some severe financial pit falls and abundantly increased their amount of titles from around 40 to 140, their sales were plummeting. Marvel's former boss Ronald O. Perelman would only prove to cause more problems as he made more and more financial moves by implementing failing ideas such as trading cards, sticker collections and collectibles causing major problems for the company already teetering on the edge of total financial melt down and even resulting in eventual bankruptcy.

But enter Avi Arad who swung in like some hyped up super hero and rejigged everything by taking control of Marvel Studios with co-company Toy Biz. With the release of Batman films through the 90s from Marvels rival leading comic company DC comics, Avi put the wheels in motion to convert Marvels hottest properties, its characters into film by latching onto Marvels then wasted licensing potential by setting up films such as Spider-Man and Hulk with distributors such as Universal and New Line Cinema. Following the success of Marvel Studios first major motion picture Blade in 1998 which saw takings of over 130 million dollars world wide and studios began to churn out more and more comic book titles with 18 films since Blade burst onto our screens in 1998. But these films were made by companies that hadn't any thing to do with Marvel and thus rendered with some of them being total flops financially, such as Ang Lee's original Hulk or just plain terrible, point in case;

At least being blind meant he didn't have to see such a terrible film

But recently Marvel have decided that they will start to produce and distribute their own films in the years to come with Paramount Pictures as they regain the rights to their characters. A bold move and a very highly lucrative one that paid off very well with their first release of Iron Man in 2008 which had an opening weekend of over 100 million dollars world wide, damn. Not only that but has gathered mainly positive reviews! Some thing quite uncommon of Marvel films of late what with Fantastic Four 2, ghost Rider and Spider-Man 3. But what may be one of the best things about Iron Man could be the short scene after the credits in which Samuel L. Jackson comes into the screen announces himself as Nick Fury and informs Tony Stark of the 'Avengers Initiative'. This is followed closely by Marvel's second self produced film, a reboot similar to that of DC's Batman Begins directed by Edward Norton him self of The Incredible hulk, a film that is laden not only with intense action, Liv Tyler in a wet shirt but also many references to World War 2 and a super soldier serum, which all act as indirect references to another of Marvel's upcoming films, that of Captain America. The third member of The Avengers reference in film so far.

The Avengers, widely known as one of comics greatest show case of super heroes consisting of Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor and Ant-Man. The latter 2 films are also soon to be in production which will finalise The Avenger's singular character films before getting them all together in the on screen debut of Earths mightiest Heroes, The Avengers which is said to be released in 2011.

"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born — to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, but their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then — for now, the Avengers Assemble!" — Prologue from The Avengers


If this film isn't awesome,there is no hope for any of us. Ever.

Marvel are looking to monopolise the comic book film market in the future, and if the recent success of their current films shows any thing, maybe even world cinema as a whole. The pending films will most definitely dominate our summer block busters for the years to come. And thats JUST from Marvel.

Ill be posting more about different comic book industries from different sections of the world etc, but i felt that this post at the moment was appropriate what with Iron Man and Hulk coming out within a month of each other and causing such a kerfuffel. There are so many comic book films out there, some of which you wouldn't even know originated on the glorious technicolour pages of a 1 dollar 25 magazine. and i hope to inform you more of these soon ;)

-Alex x