A BRIEF HISTORY OF COMIC BOOK MOVIES

A BRIEF HISTORY OF COMIC BOOK MOVIES. Wheeler Winston Dixon and Richard Graham. Palgrave Macmillan; 2017.

This is indeed a very brief overview of comic book and comic strip adaptations that comes off more like a long article than a book. Chapters look at characters from the DC Comic universe, such as Superman and Batman; the characters of the Marvel Universe, such as Iron Man and the Fantastic Four; Japanese anime; and independent films such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The book is breezily written for the most part, makes some good points about these movies, but in some ways comes off like a well-done term paper. There are no photographs. It's strange that the publisher didn't invest in some pictures and thicken the book's page count.

Verdict: Publish or perish? **1/2.