Blair Davis. Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2017. Illustrations. 256 pp. $99.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-8135-7226-0.

Reviewed by Caryn E. Neumann

Published on Jhistory (October, 2018)

Commissioned by Robert A. Rabe

As Batwoman, Venom, and Black Panther pop Davis’s discussion of the international connec‐ up alongside their comic-born peers on big and tions between comics is one of the more interest‐ small screens, it seems as if we are living in a ing sections of his well-written book. golden age for flm and television comics. This is When audiences demanded sound flmmak‐ not the frst golden age. In Movie Comics: Page to ing at the start of the 1930s, the market for long- Screen/Screen to Page, media historian Blair Davis running silent shorts, like Mutt and Jef, Krazy explains that adaptations of comics trace back to Kat, and their peers, dried up. As sound flmmak‐ the silent flms and fourished in the mid-twenti‐ ing changed the art of adapting comics, die-hard eth century. Comic books helped shape flm and fans feared that beloved comic characters would television, and these mediums also infuenced the be ruined in the process. The link with modern- content of comics. day fans complaining about Ben Afeck ruining In the silent era, numerous comic strips be‐ Batman are evident. Paramount somewhat ad‐ came short flms. Some of these early flms fo‐ dressed these fears in promoting a 1931 live-ac‐ cused on the wonder of flm, rather than a narra‐ tion flm of Percy Crosby’s Skippy by touting a tive. Fans could see a beloved character up close, more active and resonating experience than read‐ such as a live-action Happy Hooligan eating soup ing comics as viewers could see a living, in Hooligan in Jail (1903). As flm became less of a whistling, talking child. novelty, animated shorts fourished in the 1910s. Although most comic-based flms were popu‐ The most popular comic strips of the 1910s and lar, science fction serials dominated in the 1930s. 1920s, such as the Katzenjammer Kids, Harold Buck Rogers, Tailspin Tommy, and Ace Drum‐ Teen, and Tillie the Toiler, were also translated mond all drew large audiences. They ofered flm into live-action shorts and feature flms. audiences action sequences relying on motion— Meanwhile, silent flm comedians showed up high-fying planes, speedy car chases, exciting fst‐ in print comics. Great Britain led in flm-related fghts. As Davis notes, flm allows viewers to vi‐ comic strips, with Charlie Chaplin appearing cariously experience motion in ways that most weekly in The Funny Wonder from 1915 to 1944. people will never get to do. Motion to readers of Movie comedians, including Buster Keaton and comic panels is an entirely diferent experience Harold Lloyd, recognized that the crossover and not as thrilling. Most serials were made by so- helped advance their popularity on screen. called Poverty Row studios, which emphasized ac‐ H-Net Reviews tion rather than acting skills. By 1939, comics had become the biggest source of material for Holly‐ wood adaptations. They were proftable and re‐ viewed positively. In the 1940s, comic adaptations continued al‐ though there were diferent approaches among the studios with respect to fdelity to narrative el‐ ements, characterization, and visual design. Many fans of serials were unfamiliar with the print ver‐ sions of their heroes, while comic fans were often just happy to see Dick Tracy on screen. Serials had a presold fan base from the comic strip but could also be marketed to general audiences. Davis notes that the Batman newspaper strip developed after the release of the Columbia serial in 1943. The print comic owes both the Bat Cave name and design to the flm. Butler Alfred Pennyworth, short and bumbling in comic books, eventually re‐ sembled tall and distinguished actor William Austin. In the 1950s, comic book publishers increas‐ ingly adapted movies, partly in response to the censorship of the Comics Code Authority. Movies aimed at children were a safe source of inspira‐ tion. National Comics continued Batman and Su‐ perman, but most of their comics focused on flm and television stars like Bob Hope and Phil Sil‐ vers. Motion Picture Comics focused on B-movie Westerns, while Movie Love included a wider range of genres. It rather beggars belief that a comic could be based on a musical, but Movie Love attempted this feat with several flms. Movie Love #14 (April 1952) covered Singin’ in the Rain (1952) without Gene Kelly singing and dancing in rain puddles. Davis does not report how well the issue sold, though the reader clearly wonders. As Davis successfully argues, movies and comics have a history that goes back to the dawn of flm. The golden age of comic books also served as the golden age of movie adaptations from comics. This is a well-researched, delightful book to read. It will appeal to general audiences as well as upper-division classes in media history.

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Citation: Caryn E. Neumann. Review of Davis, Blair. Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page. Jhistory, H-Net Reviews. October, 2018.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=51826

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