Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked (2003) (TV)

Director:

Steve Kroopnick

Writer:

James Grant Goldin (writer)

Release Date:

July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A history of superheroes in comic books, from the first appearance of Superman in the 1930s to today's morally-conflicted, violent anti-heroes.

Plot Keywords:

Comic Book | Marvel Comics | Censorship | Anti Hero | Superhero

Cast

Peta Wilson	...	Host
Denny O'Neil	...	Himself
Jim Steranko	...	Himself
Michael Chabon	...	Himself
Will Eisner	...	Himself
Mike Richardson	...	Himself
Kevin Smith	...	Himself
Frank Miller	...	Himself
Bradford Wright	...	Himself
Paul Levitz	...	Himself
Stan Lee	...	Himself
Joe Quesada	...	Himself
Avi Arad	...	Himself
Neil Gaiman	...	Himself
Keith David	...	Narrator (voice)

Runtime:

Denmark:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:G

Company:

Triage Entertainment

Movie Connections:

References Superman II (1980)

Interesting and insightful, explores some of the deeper issues.

As a documentary, this feature is not unique, in terms of direction or the issues explored. Its fairly linear and standard stuff by all measures. However, it manages to get together a large variety of legends and popular figures from the comic book world including Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Will Eisner, Joe Quesada and many others for some interesting insights into the industry itself.

Its also nicely narrated by Keith David (the voice of Spawn from the TV series), and presented (during the bookends) by Peta Wilson, so all of that gives it a nice insider feel. As expected, it starts from the 30's, exploring the so called, Golden Age of comics, through their heightened popularity during World War 2, their decline in the post war period, their renewal during the Silver Age, with the launch of Marvel, all the way to present day creation of Image comics.

I guess most major milestones were neatly looked into, including the creation of DC Comics, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, the revolution that Watchmen and Dark Knight returns brought in the 80's and how comic book as a medium has struggled and coped with the changing attitudes of its readers. A little more could have been done to sustain interest for non comic fans interested in watching this, since watching comic panes buzz by for 90 minutes does little to captivate, but for any fan of superhero comics, this is a must watch. Highly recommended.