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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Comics to Film (and Back Again): A Study in Stylistic Remediation from 1978-2009 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1jp6q352 Author Morton, Drew Anthony Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Comics to Film (and Back Again): A Study in Stylistic Remediation from 1978-2009 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television by Drew Anthony Morton 2012 © Copyright by Drew Anthony Morton 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Comics to Film (and Back Again): A Study in Stylistic Remediation from 1978-2009 by Drew Anthony Morton Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor John Caldwell, Co-Chair Professor Denise Mann, Co-Chair In this dissertation, I will examine the formal interchange between American film and American comic books from 1978-2009. Building upon the theory of remediation defined by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, I describe a contemporary facet of the relationship between these two media forms as exemplifying stylistic remediation, or the representation of one medium’s stylistic characteristics within another medium. Through the following chapters, I will investigate the complex and ever evolving formal relationship between these two media forms, which are also experiencing convergence at the levels of the industries which produce them and the customers who consume them. Moreover, I will also offer commentary upon the potential economic future of stylistic remediation and what new hybrid forms of media these trends in form and conglomeration have begun to produce. To this end, this study applies ii theories of form out of Comic Studies, Film Studies, and New Media Studies to analyses of texts in both media. Moreover, in order to fully contextualize these stylistic developments, I will draw upon an analysis of the industrial and popular presses representing both industries that I will elaborate upon with subject interviews. iii The dissertation of Drew Anthony Morton is approved. Janet Bergstrom Henry Jenkins John Caldwell, Committee Co-Chair Denise Mann, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv DEDICATIONS Writing a dissertation can both be an exhilarating experience and, at those bleakest early morning hours (many of which involved the inevitable and necessary task of revision), a lonely and depressing task as well. Through every step of the process, I had the emotional and financial support of my loving wife, Nicole Alvarado. She accompanied me to San Diego Comic-Con for a handful of years, aided me in tracking down interview participants, gave me swift kicks to the backside when it came to over simplifying aspects of her favorite medium---animation, and provided an abundance of hugs and kisses when I hit the psychological skids. The dissertation is a milestone of transformation in the life and career of an academic. At times, I felt an incredible confidence in the venture, spurred on by my research and analysis. At other times, a young academic (despite being in the academy for eight years when I began this study, I was still in my mid-twenties) is faced with a bout of acid reflux that comes with feeling as if they are an inexperienced writer and researcher. Nicole has been with me through this draining cycle with her kind words of support, an occasional beer, and her abundance of love and care. I dedicate this modest study to my beautiful, thoughtful wife. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I: Comics are in Right Now, Part 1: Overview of Topic 1 Part 2: An Overview of Related Scholarly Material 14 Part 3: Methodology 23 Part 4: Limits of Investigation 40 Part 5: Chapter Breakdown 44 Chapter II: The History of Remediation between Comics and Film 56 Part 1: Comic Books, Film, and Television Before the Blockbuster (1934-1968) 58 Part 2: The Superman Cycle (1978-1987) 67 Part 3: The Batman Cycle (1989-1997) 75 Part 4: The High Fidelity Cycle (2000-2009) 97 Chapter III: Stylistic Remediation in Comic Book Films 101 Part 1: An Early Attempt at Graphical Remediation in Dick Tracy (1990) 104 Part 2: The Remediation of the Multiframe in Hulk (2003) 120 Part 3: The Remediation of Time and Space in 300 (2006) and Watchmen (2009) 132 Part 4: Textual Remediation in American Splendor (2003) 151 Conclusions 162 Chapter IV: Remediation Beyond Comic Book Films and an Initial Consideration of Transmedia from a Stylistic Perspective 166 Part 1: Action Lines Become Bullet Time in The Matrix (1999) 166 vi Part 2: Spaghetti Western Style in The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (2007) 180 Conclusions 196 Chapter V: Remediation as a Cyclical Cultural Process 199 Part 1: There is Nothing Funny about a Clown in the Moonlight: The Graphical Remediation of the Joker 204 Part 2: The Curious Case of Frank Miller 221 Conclusions 244 Chapter VI: The Future of Stylistic Remediation Between Comics and Film 246 Part 1: The Form and Marketing of the Perpetual Motion (Comic) Machine 246 Part 2: Stylistic Remediation Becomes Transmedia Style in the “Scott Pilgrim Experience” 268 Conclusions 286 Conclusion: Comics are in Right Now? 289 Bibliography 305 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: The Multiframe in the Hulk (2003). 3 Figure 1.2: High Contrast, Low Key Lighting in Sin City (1991). 4 Figure 1.3: Action Comics #1 (1938). 12 Figure 1.4: Superman Returns (2006). 13 Figure 1.5: Little Sammy Sneeze (1905). 27 Figure 1.6: Fred Ott’s Sneeze (1894). 27 Figure 1.7: The Zoom or Camera Dolly Out in Watchmen (1986). 28 Figure 1.8: Remediation and Re-Remediation in Sin City. 29 Figure 1.9: McCloud’s Graphic Representation. 33 Figure 1.10: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966). 48 Figure 1.11: The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (2007). 49 Figure 1.12: The Man Who Laughs (1928). 51 Figure 1.13: Batman: The Man Who Laughs (2005). 51 Figure 2.1: Lurid Subject Matter and Gore in EC’s Vault of Horror #18 (1951). 62 Figure 2.2: “You’ll Believe a Man Can Fly,” a Poster Advertising Superman (1978). 70 Figure 2.3: Roger’s Map of Comic Book Production. 81 Figure 2.4: Rogers’ Map of Sales and Distribution in the Comic Book Industry. 82 Figure 2.5: Burton and Furst’s Gotham City in Batman (1989). 90 Figure 2.6: The Garish Costumes of the Riddler and Two-Face in Batman Forever (1995). 94 Figure 3.1: McCloud’s Pyramid of Representation. 108 Figure 3.2: The Generic Quality of Warehouse Mise-en-Scène in viii Dick Tracy (1990). 109 Figure 3.3: The Lack of Detail of Tracytown in Dick Tracy (1990). 110 Figure 3.4: The Iconographic Qualities of Gould’s Dick Tracy (1951). 112 Figure 3.5: The Villains of Gould’s Dick Tracy (1941-1945). 115 Figure 3.6: The Villains of Beatty’s Dick Tracy (1990). 116 Figure 3.7: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Incredible Hulk (1962). 124 Figure 3.8: David Banner Starts the Reactor in Two “Panels” of the Hulk (2003). 126 Figure 3.9: David Banner Hears Alarm Bells Across the Multiframe of Hulk. 127 Figure 3.10: A Barrage of Simultaneous Panels Inhabiting the Multiframe of Hulk. 128 Figure 3.11: Miller’s Two Dimensional Blood Becomes Marketing Iconography. 139 Figure 3.12: Clashes in Representation in 300 the film (Above) and the Comic (Below). 140 Figure 3.13: The Fluidity of Time as Expressed by Panel Size in Watchmen. 147 Figure 3.14: The Thought Balloon Freeze Frame in American Splendor (2003). 155 Figure 3.15: The Thought Balloon Freeze Frame in American Splendor (2003). 156 Figure 3.16: The Thought Balloon in American Splendor (2003). 156 Figure 3.17: The Transition from Balloon to the Frame in American Splendor (2003). 156 Figure 3.18: Giamatti’s Pekar vs. Animated Pekar in American Splendor (2003). 157 ix Figure 3.19: Pekar and Crumb’s “Standing Behind Old Jewish Ladies…” (1986). 158 Figure 4.1: McCloud’s Discussion of Action Lines in Practice. 170 Figure 4.2: Streaking and Multiple Images as Motion in The Matrix. 172 Figure 4.3: Bullet Trajectories Marked by Motion Lines in The Matrix. 172 Figure 4.4: Caricature and the Crimson King in The Gunslinger Born (2007). 186 Figure 5.1: The Cover Art to Batman: A DC Movie Special (1989). 202 Figure 5.2: Cinematic Remediation in Batman: A DC Movie Special. 203 Figure 5.3: Veidt as Gwynplaine (1928). 207 Figure 5.4: The Joker in Batman #1 (1940). 207 Figure 5.5: The Killing Joke Joker (1988). 208 Figure 5.6: Joker in The Batman Adventures. 212 Figure 5.7: Joker in The Animated Series. 212 Figure 5.8: Grant Morrison’s Joker (2007). 216 Figure 5.9: Heath Ledger’s Joker (2008). 216 Figure 5.10: Noir Equal Emphasis Lighting in Sin City. 230 Figure 5.11: Miller’s Marv, Lost in the Psychoanalytical Rains of Sin City. 231 Figure 5.12: The Grotesque Distortion of the Yellow Bastard in Sin City. 233 Figure 5.13: Eisner’s Diverse Style in The Spirit. 239 Figure 5.14: Eisner’s Diverse Style in The Spirit. 239 Figure 5.15: The High Concept Marketing of Frank Miller’s Graphical Remediation. 242 Figure 6.1: Juxtaposed Panels in the Saw: Rebirth Motion Comic (2005). 252 x Figure 6.2: O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim. 270 Figure 6.3: Donbo’s Kamichama Karin. 270 Figure 6.4: Scott Pilgrim Intro (2007).