A Doctoral Thesis By Caitlin Foster (Titled: Clash of the Industry Titans: Marvel, DC and the Battle for Market Dominance!)
| |
| | |
|
TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #4047 - At the top of this blog post is a scan of the front page of the Doctoral Thesis by Caitlin Foster, at the University of Western Ontario, which was published August of 2013. The title of the thesis is... Clash of the Industry Titans: Marvel, DC and the Battle for Market Dominance. I bring this up because on pages 55 & 56 she quotes me from the chapter I wrote in the 'Gotham City 14 Miles' book that was published in 2010. I was one of the authors of that book that was edited by James Beard. I've blogged about the ongoing process of the book being written, printed & promoted over the years that it took to get all of that process completed! Here are the blog links plus what others wrote about the book and/or me! So what is this thesis about? Here's the abstract: "This thesis examines the corporate structures, marketing strategies and economic shifts that have influenced the recent resurgence of the comic book superhero in popular Hollywood cinema.
Using their original texts and adaptation films, this study will chronologically examine how each company’s brand identities and corporate structures have reacted to and been shaped by the major cultural and industrial shifts of the past century in its attempt to account for the varying success of these companies throughout their histories.
Beginning with the superhero’s first appearance on screen in the 1940s, this study traces the development of Marvel and DC’s distinct brand identities through their major franchises including Superman, Batman, Captain America, X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers. In particular, this thesis links cultural and commercial dominance of Marvel’s independent, vertically integrated corporate structure to its proliferation of blockbuster film adaptations over the past decade." Ok... Now that is a subject that would interest me! So I went on to the Table of Contents:
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 15
Origin Stories: The Birth of the Comic Book Industry in the 1930s-1940s ................................. 15
Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 32
Super-Seal of Approval: DC’s Proliferation of Family Values & The Comics Code of America
....................................................................................................................................................... 32
Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 42
Mighty Marvel: The Emergence of Marvel Comics in the 1960s and 1970s ............................... 42
Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................................... 58
Marvel Rises, Superman Dies: The Transformation of Comic Book Heroism in the Re
agan/Bush Era ............................................................................................................................... 58
Chapter 5 ....................................................................................................................................... 79
The Battle for Market Dominance: Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Rebranding in the
New Millennium ............................................................................................................................. 79
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 100
Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................................................................ 118
Again, the above chapter titles piqued my interest. So I read it. All of it. Pretty darn good reading! My compliments to Caitlin Foster for writing this thesis. And for referencing some of my published material in her thesis! For those of you that wish to read it also, here is the link to the thesis! ~ Michael
 NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 4,000 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog!
BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link! Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!! Note: My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...! If I have it, you'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com! Web Page Note: This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. Note: Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners. Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to my blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to me for possible review, just contact me.  Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there. Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!---------------  In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related. You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also! As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!
|
cool
