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From Stories to Worlds: The Continuity of Marvel Superheroes from Comics to Cinema

This paper investigates the narrative strategies used by the publishers of American superhero comics, particularly the development of ‘continuity’ - i.e. an on-going history for a fictional world presented in a line of publications over a period of decades – and how one particular publisher, Marvel Comics, developed this strategy during the so-called ‘Silver Age’ of superhero comics of the 1950s and ‘60s, establishing such fictive histories as a convention of both the superhero genre and of the comic book industry and later translated the practice to the production of superhero movies released by their film wing, Marvel Studios.

This paper discusses the topic from a perspective of cultural history and also of narrative theory, drawing for the latter on the work of the literary theorists Lubomir Dolezel and David A. Brewer and from my own doctoral thesis. To my knowledge, neither Dolezel or Brewer's work has been used in this way before, so the piece does constitute an original contribution to the fields of both narratology and cultural studies. In addition I develop on the existing work of comics scholars Matthew Pustz,Gerard Jones and Will Jacobs. My focus on Roy Thomas is also, as far as I have been able to establish, unprecedented in the academic discussion of superhero comics, again providing original research in this field.

The paper is, therefore, a cross disciplinary work which applies theories and concepts originating in the study of literature to other forms of the production of fiction, providing an original contribution to the field of narratology generally and to media studies specifically.

The paper has been published in the Spring/Summer issue of the peer reviewed on-line critical journal Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media.

The piece's originality lies in application of Dolezel and Brewer’s theories of narrative to non-literary works and its discussion of both recent (Marvel Studios output since 2008) and forthcoming works (the imminent Marvel Television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. due for broadcast on September 24th 2013).