Abstract
The aim of the article is to analyze modern superhero films through the specifics of superhero narratives in comics. By referring to the ‘organic’ elements of graphic super-storytelling – like retcon or crossover – the author tries to explain the main shift within comic book adaptations heading towards a ‘universe-al’ mode of narration. By doing so the analysis concentrates on the most succesful recent cases of superhero films as attempts to achieve a narrative ‘remediation’ of comic books’ spatial organization that requires reconsideration of the status of an individual superheroic franchise (or sub-franchise) within the larger universe of pre-existing, future and even alternate texts.
Highlights
The aim of the article is to analyze modern superhero films through the specifics of superhero narratives in comics
We are witnessing a situation that has never been seen before in film-comic book relations: for the very first time, it is cinema that has to admit the superiority of comic book narration and, has followed its patterns as opposed to merely adjusting them to the demands of the big screen
Superhero comic books represent a more ‘universe-alized’ mode of narration with their neverending re-shaping, re-inventing, re-connecting and re-altering mechanisms. Such a complexity truly seems to exceed the possibilities of more ‘traditional’ narrative media and it surely was beyond the reach of the first wave of comic book films before the beginning of the 21st century
Summary
We are witnessing a situation that has never been seen before in film-comic book relations: for the very first time, it is cinema that has to admit the superiority of comic book narration and, has followed its patterns as opposed to merely adjusting them to the demands of the big screen This leads to quite drastic changes in the classical modes of cinematic storytelling. The ‘modern’ (1960’s) incarnation of the Flash (named Barry Allen) meets his counter-vision from the comic book’s past (Jay Garrick) who was the original Flash in the 1940s This particular comic book story, written by Gardner Fox, opened up infinite possibilities for future artists, who would be able to re-imagine a given hero but even create relations between different timelines within a given title (and respective regions of the comic’s universe). Such a complexity truly seems to exceed the possibilities of more ‘traditional’ narrative media and it surely was beyond the reach of the first wave of comic book films before the beginning of the 21st century
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