Comic books in films

[garthgantu]

No, not films inspired by, or based on, comic books... films in which comic books have appeared as props...

 

I just watched "Paper Moon" for the first time in 20 years - man, what a fun movie that is - and there's a scene where Addie (Tatum O'Neil) is reading a copy of "New Funnies." Now I doubt that it's a real comic, 'cause even in 1973 a comic from 1936 or so would be hard to come by... but it sure looks like the real deal..!

 

Here are a few other movies I can think of that have comics in them:

"Back to the Future" - not sure if it was the first movie, I want to say it was the third installment; there's a kid reading an EC-esque sci-fi comic in a barn..?

 

"Comic Book Villains" (2002?) - this is something of a cheat, since the whole movie is about old comic books... but it's funny to see "mock-ups" of old Timely, DC, and other Golden Age comics as props.

 

"Detention" (1999) - One of the main characters in this Breakfast Club rip-off is a comic book fanatic...haven't seen the film, myself...

 

"He & She" (1967) - Okay, this was actually a short-lived TV series, starring Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin, about a comic book artist who creates a character called "Jetman" ...the series was about how the comic book was being made into a TV series..!

 

"Blonde Goddess" (1982) - Can't find much info on this, but apparently it's kind of remake of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," with the protagonist employed as a comic book artist, who's being harrassed by a sexy representative of the Comics Code Authority...I'm not making this up!

 

Any other entries?

[supapimp]

breathless - w/ richard gere, seen reading a silver surfer mag

crimson tide - w/ denzel washington and gene hackman, submariners get into heated arguement over which surfer was better, kirby's or moebius.

catch me if you can - W/ leo and tom hanks, leo's character reads flash comics and uses barry allen as an alias

 

that's all for now

[buttock]

Good Idea, this should be interesting.

 

 

"The Lost Boys" - one of the "Coreys" and his buddy worked in a comic shop. I remember a Blackthorne book of some type being featured, and some garbage about Batman #4 being really rare.

 

"Amazing Stories" - the old NBC series (I know, it's not a movie, but...) had an episode about some guy that saved all his stuff from childhood and finally cashed in as an old man. It for sure had a Detective 27 among many other keys. I think Mark Hamill was in that episode as well.

 

"Unbreakable" - with Bruce Willis & Sam Jackson. I think She-Hulk and Thor were featured.

[Zonker]

Chasing Amy - one of the main characters is a comics creator & there's the Inker = Tracer bit. directed by somebody named Kevin Smith, better known (Ha!) as Daredevil/Green Arrow scripter.

[Warlord]

Coyote Ugly -- ASM #129 plays a key role in the movie!

 

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days - a stack of comics get swept off the toilet tank. Looks like an issue of Kull on top of the stack. Later there are references to naming a certain body part "Krull" (and also Princess Sophia!). I think the name Krull was taken from the comic. It was initially used in a phrase like "Krull the Warrior King" or something or other meant to be manly sounding.

 

 

[Drummy]

"The Ice Storm" - Tobey Maguire spins a long analogy about families and Fantastic Four #141 (I think; whatever issue it is when Reed shuts down Franklin's mind when he gets too powerful.) Even a reference to the Negative Zone...Ang Lee must sure like comics!

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

From the imdb:

 

Artists and Models (1955) Starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

 

Eugene is obsessed with pulp fiction comic books and has nightmares because of that. However, Rick soon finds that those nightmares could be excellent material for his own comic books.Rick Todd is a struggling artist who lives with his pal Eugene Fullstack who happens to be a writer of childrens stories. Rick would like to break in the comic book industry but he has one problem, he can't write. However, Eugene's overactive imagination as well as his obsession with comic books causes him to have wild dreams of a super hero named Vincent the Vulture and Rick uses Eugene's dreams to create a comic book featuring Vincent. Living in the same building as the boys is Abigail Parker and her roomate Betsy Sparrowbush. Abigail happens to be the author of Eugene's favorite comic book, Bat Lady, and Betsy is her model

 

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

Noctropolis (1994) - Peter Grey is a guy who owns a bookstore and is a huge fan of the "Darksheer" comic book series. Darksheer is a superhero, and with his partner Stiletto, a former supervillain, is the protector of Noctropolis, a city where it´s always nighttime thanks to a permanent cluod of ashes result of a volcanic environmental catastrophe occurred decades before. One night, a courier brings Peter a package with the last issue of the comic book series and a golden coin, and the package transports Peter into the city of Noctropolis as Darksheer himself. The arrival of Peter as Darksheer occurs at the same time that five of the Darksheer´s arch-villains decide to gang up on him after they´re mysteriously released from incarceration. The real Darksheer had disappeared several weeks before the Peter arrival and nobody knows why. Helped by Stiletto, Peter, the new Darksheer, will must fight with the Darksheer´s enemies, try to stop the evil plans of Flux, the mysterious mastermind who releasing the five supervillains from their imprisionment and, maybe, find a way back to the real world.

 

I've never heard of that one... but I did see this one...

 

Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) - In mid-1970s Savannah, two bright but rebellious boys, Francis Doyle and Tim Sullivan, fight boredom, hormones and harsh teachers as they struggle to find something meaningful beyond the walls of their parish school. Francis, an exceptional artist whose imaginative forays into a fictional universe of good and evil fill his notebooks with comic-book imagery, creates a netherworld of superhero alter egos for the two boys. When the ultra-strict Sister Assumpta seizes their artwork one day, the boys embark upon an obsessed trail of revenge that ultimately changes their lives. Animated sequences by Todd McFarlane.

 

 

 

[CosmicBob]

Chasing Amy - one of the main characters is a comics creator & there's the Inker = Tracer bit. directed by somebody named Kevin Smith, better known (Ha!) as Daredevil/Green Arrow scripter.

 

Just about any Kevin Smith movie has comic books somewhere in it. Especially Mallrats (Stan Lee even has a cameo).

[Ares]

Noctropolis (1994) - Peter Grey is a guy who owns a bookstore and is a huge fan of the "Darksheer" comic book series. Darksheer is a superhero, and with his partner Stiletto, a former supervillain, is the protector of Noctropolis, a city where it´s always nighttime thanks to a permanent cluod of ashes result of a volcanic environmental catastrophe occurred decades before. One night, a courier brings Peter a package with the last issue of the comic book series and a golden coin, and the package transports Peter into the city of Noctropolis as Darksheer himself. The arrival of Peter as Darksheer occurs at the same time that five of the Darksheer´s arch-villains decide to gang up on him after they´re mysteriously released from incarceration. The real Darksheer had disappeared several weeks before the Peter arrival and nobody knows why. Helped by Stiletto, Peter, the new Darksheer, will must fight with the Darksheer´s enemies, try to stop the evil plans of Flux, the mysterious mastermind who releasing the five supervillains from their imprisionment and, maybe, find a way back to the real world.

 

 

Noctropolis was a PC game not a movie.

 

I had it anf played through it twice!

[Bugaboo-migration]

It's not a movie, but I saw an episode of Mash a couple of weeks ago. Radar is asleep on his cot and is clutching onto an Avengers comic. Not sure what issue it was, but I believe it had a white cover and had 4? superhero heads featured at the top under the title. One of them was definetely The Vision, so it had to be after #57.

 

This was a definite prop timeline goof, since the Korean war took place in the decade before the Avengers comic run even started.

[nearmint]

There's an episode of the George Reeves Superman series from the 50's where Clark and Lois walk by a newsstand covered with DC Comics. I had it on videotape years ago, and used to freeze frame the shot and see which books I could identify.

[Bugaboo-migration]

That's pretty cool. If we could get that frame posted here in the forum, everyone could play "guess the books".

[MikeS]

The Iron Giant animated movie from a couple of years ago did have a "shot" of a Spirit and a Superman comic book if I recall correctly.

[Kevin Boyd]

Definitely a Superman comic as the Giant "relates" to Superman and tries to emulate him in the film.

 

Thanks for the clarificaton on Noctropolis guys.

 

Kev

[Mister_Comics]

At the beginning of the first SUPERMAN MOVIE a kid is reading the first ACTION comic. I don't think its the actual comic. Probably a prop.

 

In ERNEST GOES TO CAMP one of the tough kids, is holding a OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. Can't tell what issue though.

 

On one of the episodes of SMALLVILLE Lex has a collection of comics framed and hanging on a wall in the background. Looked like a made-up comic for the show.

 

In MONKEY BONE Brandon Fraser draws the comic MONKEY BONE. Another made-up comic.

 

Makes me wonder how many real comics actually are in films. Probably most are props.

[supapimp]

does anybody remember the TV show with a young jerry o'connell (sp?) from jerry maguire and tomcats....but he was reading a JIM 83 in the preshow credits.

[Ares]

does anybody remember the TV show with a young jerry o'connell (sp?) from jerry maguire and tomcats....but he was reading a JIM 83 in the preshow credits.

I think it was called my secret Identity!