The narrative arc of Marvel’s 85-year history sees its own multiverses. From being a dark object of desire for marginal teenagers (or so the cliché goes) to changing the film industry, we do not know if for the better, with its franchises and everlasting sagas of superheroes that leave no room for the rest of the films, such is its success and roller. Now an exhibition at Ifema (Madrid), with more than 200 unique and original pieces, tells its story, a journey to also understand the 20th and 21st centuries. For the whole family, starting this Friday, for only 16.90 euros for adults. In 1939, in a small publishing house on 42nd Street in New York, Martin Goodman created Timely Comics. Superhero comics, children of cartoon strips and pulp novel illustrations, were in fashion, and, together with a small team of creatives, this publisher launched ‘Marvel Comics #1’, with art by Frank R. Paul . There Human Torch and Namor the Underwater Man debuted. And, you know, then Thor, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, the X-Men would come… and if football has La Masía, superheroes would have Marvel. And Florentino Pérez as Magneto. Or Superman, if you prefer. Since 2018 around the world, especially in the United States and Canada, this exhibition created by Semmel Exhibitions shows in Spain original sketches of your favorite superheroes, spectacular dresses for which they have even won an Oscar in costumes and immersive games for the little ones ( and for everyone) with which to disseminate the adventures of authors like Stan Lee or Jack Kirby, and recognize in the process that their stories contain modern fables and tales, where they can also transmit values, ideology and other market products. Do you know that Marvel created Captain America a year before the United States entered action in World War II, an anti-fascist superhero? «Throughout these more than 80 years, their characters have evolved in many aspects like society. On gender issues, mental health… because, in the end, they also talk about our vulnerability,” says Juan Sanguino, moderator of the presentation and film journalist. “Heroism, generosity or kindness are the values of Marvel,” adds Patrick Reed, curator of the exhibition, but above all, he emphasizes “the value of creativity. Because all these characters were created by some people. And among them a genius, Stan Lee, whose real name was Stanley Martin Lieber, but who used the pseudonym that would make him eternal to protect his future as a serious novelist. What a joke destiny is. When he joined Timely Comics at the age of 17, then Marvel under his command, he erased the pencil lines from the inked pages and took care of the coffee. He would end up being an editor for three decades. And he collaborated with this exhibition and even wrote its prologue. It was the last thing he wrote, as he died on November 12, 2018. Above is Iron Man’s armor for the movies, below is a sketch of Wolverine and to the right is a sculpture of Hulk that can be seen in the exhibition ‘Marvel: Universe of Superheroes ‘Sold OutBefore his creative punch to the table, the comics business looked dilapidated and publisher Goodman reduced his staff by 80%. He did maintain a small business run by Lee, who was also discouraged and was betting on leaving. But his wife told him that one last time. And for this ‘last dance’, the screenwriter recruited Jack Kirby and, in November 1961, the first issue of The Fantastic Four was published, which gave the medium a new level of realism: the superheroes argued, reconciled… Never They had seemed so real (and dysfunctional). And in just two years, the couple brought us Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, The a lonely teenager, who is bullied, worried about his Aunt May… Indeed, Spiderman. Indeed, people with problems. This is how Marvel was born, after previously being Atlas and Timely Comics. Are comics art? «We are getting to that point, but in the 20th century all popular art was entertainment. Pop, comics… are art forms with an energy and vitality that was identified with many generations. But they had to entertain and they were done very quickly, one a month. And as also happened to video games or role-playing, before it was comics that were the target of society. In 1954, they were put on trial before the Senate Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee in the United States. And the process did not go well: Fredric Wertham’s testimony was forceful in a climate of panic among parents because their children were not learning to read “real books.” And what did this psychiatrist say? That children were greatly affected by the society around them. And that exposure to violent images encouraged them to be violent. Wertham was not conservative, but progressive. He fought against racial segregation because it diminished children’s learning ability. And with the comics, he ended up receding decades later, but he personified the villain and was parodied by authors such as Daniel Clowes. The domination of cinema And, finally, the cinematographic emporium. And another key date, May 2, 2008 with the world premiere of ‘Iron Man’, the first installment of the Marvel cinematic universe. And from there to the 20 trailers that the logistics of this exhibition have required and that there are giant sculptures sprinkled around iconic places in Madrid, such as a two-meter Captain America shield in Cibeles. And that Inmaculada Sánchez-Cervera, from the Mayor’s Office of Madrid, stated at a press conference that “in everyone’s life there is something Marvel” and acknowledged that she was angry that Spiderman chose Venice instead of our capital. “Madrid is a brutal set.” And two reflections for dessert: «It has gone from comics to a mass phenomenon. It is a milestone in the history of cinema that has changed the business model. Generation Z is surprised when a movie starts and ends, and this has to be understood,” says Sanguino. Some sagas and episodic franchises that have had a luxury ‘bad guy’: Martin Scorsese, who even stated that “Marvel movies are not cinema, they are theme parks.” Then, in ‘The New York Times’, he argued: «There are now two separate fields: audiovisual entertainment and cinema. And I fear that the financial dominance of one is used to marginalize and belittle the other. Now films are made after market research, audience testing, examining, modifying, revising and re-modifying until they are ready for consumption. “For me, for the filmmakers I came to love and respect, cinema was about revelation: aesthetic, emotional and spiritual.”
#Marvel #geeks #conquered #world
