{"id":19704,"date":"2012-06-15T06:48:02","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T11:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=19704"},"modified":"2012-09-10T21:51:35","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T01:51:35","slug":"history-of-the-comic-book-film-lets-go-to-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2012\/06\/15\/history-of-the-comic-book-film-lets-go-to-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORY OF THE COMIC BOOK FILM: Let’s Go To Europe!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today\u2019s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. This time, we begin our four week \u201cvacation\u201d overseas with the most notable one-off comic films Europe has to offer.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Comic books are a uniquely American art form, but this doesn\u2019t mean that they aren\u2019t popular in other parts of the world. Europe and Asia have come to embrace the comic medium over the decades. As a matter of fact, they have been quicker to see the artistic merits of comic books than we here in the United States were. While Americans were considering comic books cheap entertainment for kids and emotionally stunted adults, people overseas were using the medium to expose on sexuality, politics and philosophy. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>To cover every foreign comic book film would take up too many weeks in this here rundown, so we will be covering some of the films that have the most name value here in the States, either in their comic book form or in their film adaptation. This means that there will be a lot of great comic book films left out in these four weeks. And for that I apologize. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our tour of Europe begins in Italy with one of the most influential Italian comic book heroes\u2014Diabolik. Diabolik was created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani in the 1962 paperback graphic novel, Il Re del Terrore<\/em> (\u201cThe King of Terror\u201d). He is a highly-skilled thief who steals only from other criminals and is aided and abetted by his partner and lover Eva Kant. The character has influenced such comic writers as Mark Millar and Grant Morrison, who have created characters in their work influenced by Diabolik. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 1968, Dino De Laurentiis brought Diabolik to the big screen in Danger: Diabolik<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n