Full Description
This is a book about the comics genre and language, how these were used to create Batman, and how that character's longevity is largely due to the medium's unique formal qualities. It argues that Batman's core appeal is his mythic nature which allows him to transcend changes in reader tastes, the vicissitudes of the comics industry, and the changing media landscape. While including some historical elements, it is mostly a study of how the formal aspects of comics are able to evoke uniquely mythic qualities that have made Batman such a long-lived cultural phenomenon and how efforts to adapt these qualities into other media, particularly live-action feature films, have succeeded or failed based on the strategies employed.
The book sheds light both on comics as a medium and art form with its own language, syntax and codes and on the process of adaptation - a growing area of study, given Hollywood's continuing interest in working with the comics superheroes.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
1. Myth and the Mythic
2. "I shall become a bat!" Batman's History, Personality and Legend
3. Mythic Characteristics in Batman
4. Comics Art and Batman
5. Adapting Batman and the Mythic into Film
6. Adapting Batman, Part 1: Batman in Film and Other Media
7. Adapting Batman, Part 2: The Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy
8. The Comics Medium as a Means of Evoking the Mythic
Appendix: Charting the Mythic in Mass Media
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
