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MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:37 pm
by chrissy
First, I should say “I’m new here.” I’m Russ’ wife, and I’ve learned a bit about Marvel Comics from my hubby, though I doubt I’ll ever know as much as you all do! (So you’ll have to pardon me if I might sound a little foolish.) But I hope you will indulge me, because I do have a question I want to put to the experts --- and in this case Russ, and Wikipedia, and even the internet in general has not been very helpful or informative.

So here’s my question:

I know that this site is all about the chronology of events WITHIN the Marvel Universe, but I’m wondering about the chronology OUTSIDE the universe. I know a little of the history of how Marvel Comics came from Atlas Comics, and for a long time the characters were only seen within the pages of the comic books. But of course today we have Marvel Comics all over TV and movies, and Russ tells me there are even books, and now even Spider-Man is on Broadway!

So…how did this happen? When did Marvel Comics FIRST jump the page? Which characters jumped first? How was it that someone first got the idea that Marvel characters would work well in other forms of media?

I’m sure much of the recent history of “Marvel Media” can probably be traced fairly well on sites like IMDB, but…how did all this start? Any insight would be greatly appreciated by this student of pop culture!

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:23 am
by Col_Fury
Hi Chrissy!

Off the top of my head, the earliest would be the 15 chapter live action Captain America movie serial, which debuted in theaters on February 5, 1944.

As for how someone thought it might be a good idea to do a Captan America serial, Batman had just had a serial in the summer of 1943 and Superman already had a radio drama that ran from 1940-1951 and a cartoon by Max Fleischer that ran from 1941-1943 (Superman wouldn't get a live action movie serial until 1948).

After all of that, though, once we're talking about "modern" Marvel Comics... the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon? When did the Captain America (Cap throws his mighty shield...)/Hulk (ain't he un-glamor-rays?)/Iron Man (the cool exec with the heart of steel...)/Sub-Mariner/Thor cartoon debut? What was that even called? When did the Fantastic Four cartoon debut?

Great topic!

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:14 am
by Starman
From Wikipedia
The Marvel Super Heroes
September 1, 1966
Heroes:
  • Captain America
  • The Incredible Hulk
  • The Invincible Iron Man
  • The Mighty Thor
  • Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner
Of this tv-series I've only seen Episode 1 of The Incredible Hulk with the origin of the Hulk which was included as a bonus feature on a DVD. It was quite enjoyable, although the animation was crude by today's standards.

Who and how someone first got the idea I don't even dare to speculate, but if anyone is interested of the puplication history of Marvel Comics in Sweden, I can tell a lot.

Welcome to the board, Chrissy!

P.S. Reminds me of when I posted "welcome to the board" to someone on another internet forum, and as that person's native language was Spanish, I used Google Translate or some similar online translation service, and before I had thought it over I posted it on the forum. The translation became something like "welcome to the plank" in Spanish. The other members of that forum laughed their asses off. Damn Google Translate (or whatever translation service I used).
*doh*

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 7:46 pm
by Paul Bourcier
Ah, the Marvel Super-Heroes show. I'm old enough to say that this cartoon series was the first time I experienced Marvel characters in a medium other than comic books. Fond memories, and with theme song lyrics like "all those who chose to oppose the shield must yield," how can you go wrong?

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:04 am
by chrissy
Thanks to all who replied. It makes absolute sense that 1) Marvel would have followed the success that DC had, and 2) the first "modern" efforts would have been cartoons. Tho the 1940's serial "shorts" also makes sense, for that day and age.

Personally, I think this is a fascinating topic that I would like to know much more about, and I would love to see a BOOK detailing the history of Marvel in all forms of media. It would be (obviously) very visual, could be a "coffee table" book, and also a pop culture history book. I'm trying to convince Russ that this could be one of our "Retirement Projects." Just not enough time to do it now, but if someone else were to do this book, I would definitely buy it! :D

Hey! Is anyone aware if such a book already exists?

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:15 pm
by Chris McCarver
I'm not sure that anyone's done a universe-wide tome of Marvel's cross-media ventures, but they came pretty close with the Hulk volume of the multi-volume iteration of the Marvel Encyclopedia, which was a complete departure from Marvel's previous approach to the Encyclopedias (the others were primarily collections of character profiles) inasmuch that more space was devoted to Hulk-related cross-media stuff such as the classic TV show, the movies, and so on.

I'd buy one. :)

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:13 pm
by Ross
I don't think there's one authoritative book focusing on Marvel in other media, but this gets into it a fair amount:

http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Characters ... 0883631091

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 8:14 pm
by chrissy
Ross wrote:I don't think there's one authoritative book focusing on Marvel in other media, but this gets into it a fair amount:

http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Characters ... 0883631091
Thanks for the tip! We actually have this book on the shelf, so I'll take a look at it when I get a chance. Thanks! :)

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 6:11 am
by Paul Bourcier
Christy,
Another book that delves into this subject is Spider-Man: The Icon by Steve Saffel, a huge, heavily illustrated coffee table book published by Titan Books in 2007. I received a copy for Christmas. Lots of Marvel media and merchandise are featured, and it's not just restricted to Spidey.

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:49 pm
by chrissy
Paul Bourcier wrote:Christy,
Another book that delves into this subject is Spider-Man: The Icon by Steve Saffel, a huge, heavily illustrated coffee table book published by Titan Books in 2007. I received a copy for Christmas. Lots of Marvel media and merchandise are featured, and it's not just restricted to Spidey.
Christmas sounds like a great time for a book like this. However, we took a look at this on Amazon, and they have a great price, so what the heck---we're not waiting till Christmas! Just ordered it. Thanks for the info!

Re: MARVEL COMICS "JUMPS THE PAGE"

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 3:52 pm
by lkseitz
Hey, Chrissy. Long time, no see. (We met some time ago when you & Russ came up to Huntsville.) You might want to dig through Russ' collection for issues of Marvel Age, Marvel's comic-book-sized news 'zine of the '80s & '90s. Andy Mangels used to write an irregular column called "Reel Marvel" (I think) that covered some of this. That is, if I recall correctly. It's been a long, long time since I read them.