{"id":25619,"date":"2012-12-28T06:01:49","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T11:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=25619"},"modified":"2013-01-03T23:43:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-04T04:43:01","slug":"history-of-the-comic-book-film-a-stab-in-the-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/28\/history-of-the-comic-book-film-a-stab-in-the-dark\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORY OF THE COMIC BOOK FILM: A Stab In The Dark"},"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\u2019ll talk about how Blade was the true start of Marvel\u2019s dominance of the comic book film.<\/em><\/p>\n

One way to look at it, he could be the answer to \u201cWhat if Shaft <\/b>hunted vampires?\u201d Or it could have very well been a counterpoint to Blacula<\/b>, which hit theaters the year before. You can make any theory you want, but it seems like Blade\u2019s first appearance in 1973\u2019s Tomb of Dracula<\/em> #10 played off the popular Blaxploitation trend of the day. It is ironic that a character inspired by a film genre would be the adaptation that would jump-start Marvel\u2019s mastery of the film box office.<\/p>\n

\"blade\"<\/a>The comic book Blade was created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan to be an adversary of Dracula. He was the son of a woman who was attacked by a vampire while giving birth to Blade. This bite passed on certain abilities to Blade, such as not being susceptible to vampires yet being attuned to their genetic makeup, therefore able to track them. Other than that, he was a highly-trained martial artist and fighter with no superpowers.<\/p>\n

Before the film came out, Blade typically made only a supporting character in other character\u2019s books, only having one, ten-issue series to his name. Not really the first character you\u2019d expect to be made into a movie, considering Marvel\u2019s most popular titles (X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four) either were stuck in development Hell or adapted with less than stellar results.<\/p>\n

\"Blade<\/a>But Blade being the first of this new era of Marvel Comics films was probably the best thing to happen to the genre. Being that the character was so low on the totem pole, there were less preconceived notions about the concept, and, therefore, more freedom. It was brought to the screen by three people with respect for the comic book medium\u2014writer David S. Goyer (a man who has written for comic books), Wesley Snipes (who has been attached to every African-American comic book character being brought to the big screen, from Luke Cage to Black Panther) and Stephen Norrington (who would go on to direct League of Extraordinary Gentlemen <\/b>and would be attached at various times to the Ghost Rider <\/b>film and The Crow <\/b>reboot). These men would set the template of how to make a successful comic book film.<\/p>\n