From the Big Screen to Newsstands & Local Comic Shops

Movies are big business. So it makes sense to translate them to the comic book page for fans to continue to enjoy long after the projector and theater has gone dark (figuratively speaking of course!).

Dell was the first company to publish the first ongoing comic book series to adapt movies. Dell, of course, was the giant of early comic books for decades. In 1937, Dell published an adaptation by Norman Fallon of Romance of the Rockies, a western by Monogram Pictures, in The Comics #6. Throughout 1938, Dell adapted a number of westerns from the short westerns by small studios. These films were generally less than a hour long and thus easily adapted to just a handful of panel-crammed pages.

Comics have been adapting movies in one form or another ever since.

Below are “official adaptations” of some of the most popular films in the history of cinema. These are typically one-shots, but some are published as a mini-series, and others launch on-going series, as in the case of Marvel’s Star Wars (July 1977). the first six issues of which adapt George Lucas’ blockbuster ground-breaking film and issues 39-44 adapt the film’s sequel, The Empire Strikes Back.

We hope you enjoy.

Sources: CBR.com (“Marvel or DC: What is the First Comic Book to Adapt Movies?“)