Comic Book Movies explores how this genre serves as a source for modern-day myths, sometimes even incorporating ancient mythic figures like Thor and Wonder Woman’s Amazons, while engaging with the questions that haunt a post-9/11 world: How do we define heroism and morality today? How far are we willing to go when fighting terror? How can we resist a dystopian state?

Film scholar Blair Davis also considers how the genre’s visual style is equally important as its weighty themes, and he details how advances in digital effects have allowed filmmakers to incorporate elements of comic book art in innovative ways. As he reveals, comic book movies have inspired just as many innovations to Hollywood’s business model, with film franchises and transmedia storytelling helping to ensure that the genre will continue its reign over popular culture for years to come.  

BLAIR DAVIS is an associate professor of media and cinema studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of several books, including Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page (Rutgers University Press). 

"Blair Davis challenges the notion of 'the comic book movie' as a label that shuts down rather than opens up discussion of  films derived from comic book sources. His book successfully argues for other ways of seeing these films."

"Blair Davis's Comic Book Movies combines academic insight with the expertise of a lifelong fan. He writes with clarity, energy, and enthusiasm, condensing debates about politics and aesthetics into an accessible guide that both explains what a comic book movie is, and questions what we think we know about this most popular of contemporary genres."

"This is a well-researched, delightful book to read. It will appeal to general audiences as well as upper-division classes in media history."