Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle (2013)

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Wonderful documentary about the history of superheroes. Or the history of comic books. It’s a little confused on that point. But Excelsior!

What’s more:

This great documentary aired last year on PBS. It’s a well-researched and well-presented history of superheroes. Or comic books. One of those. The two are inextricably linked, so it’s not really a problem.

It’s pretty straightforward stuff. All the talking heads you’d expect, and the overall story stuff won’t come as a surprise to most. There are some great nuggets here that make it very worthwhile for longtime fans, but this is basically a primer for newcomers.

It’s basically an opportunity for a big-time respectable institution to say, “Hey, there’s something of merit in these funny books.” If there is a criticism to be made here it would probably be that comics don’t need your validation, PBS. Deciding that comics/heroes have value and may not be trifle isn’t exactly a new insight. But these are minor quibbles.

Liev Schreiber does a good job hosting/narrating, and the gorgeous photography of classic comic panels really makes the visuals pop. There are WAY too many clips from Marvel films, but there’s lots of great archival stuff, too.

The best thing I can say about Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle is that it made me desperately want to go hit a comic shop after watching it. And that’s exactly what I did…

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

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