Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop!

This is one of at least three 75yr celebratory documentaries about Marvel and the first one I've seen. It stands at only 40 minutes and therein lies the problem.

It takes a look back at Marvels humble beginnings, where Stan Lee & Jack Kirby came in, the shifts in popularity and the bankruptcy that caused the distribution of characters.

Truth is telling a story like this that dates back all the way to WW2 cannot be summed up in 40 minutes and that makes the whole thing feel extremely rushed.

This is prime material for a documentary, but not to be compacted into little more than half an hour.

There are some good interviews with both people from the industry, cast and crew of the modern Marvel cinematic universe and lots of celebrity fans but even they are little more than sound bites.

Great content but just not enough of it.

The Good:

Good selection of interviewees

Emily VanCamps

Fairly eye opening

The Bad:

Far too short

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Hearing them say that the thing Marvel do best is get the best directors during this James Gunn debacle is quite interesting

Well, I have been watching the Marvel movies, of course, as they are fairly good entertainment, and of course I am familiar with Marvel comics from my childhood and up to now in my mid-forties; I am actually still purchasing and reading Marvel titles such as "Star Wars" and "Aliens", but not superhero titles.

So as I stumbled upon the 2014 documentary titled "Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop!" here in 2022, I found the time to sit down and watch it, out of curiosity about knowing a bit more about the Marvel brand as a company and what lies behind it.

And I will say that writer Laura Shields and director Zak Knutson did put together a good documentary, despite it being 42 minutes only. I was adequately entertained by "Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop!", and it is actually a documentary well-worth watching, regardless of you having an interest in Marvel due to the comic books, the TV series, the movies, the art, etc.

There are good interviews with various important people that are or were a part of the Marvel story.

My rating of "Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop!" lands on a six out of ten stars.

75 years cannot be condensed into 45 minutes, and this is evidence of that. Everything is rushed through and skimmed over, in one long infomercial about Marvel. Some really key figures in Marvel's history are interviewed, alongside needless celebrities speaking the obvious. It's a good surface level timeline of Marvel's history, which does its job, but is now dated and not interesting enough to watch now.

This consists of interviews with the cast and crew(as well as famous fans), all of whom have something compelling to add within their area of expertise(and there is a very clear love of what they're working on), clips from the MCU films and behind-the-scenes footage.

It's 41 and a half minutes long. This is found on Disney+. It doesn't spoil the movies.

They talk about the history of Marvel Comics and Studios. Why Guardians of the Galaxy was chosen for adaptation. Turning from stuff like romance(!) to superheroes. Stan Lee's humble beginnings and influence. Affecting people's perception of WWII, creating Captain America in response to the Nazis. Depicting him punching Hitler on the cover. The troops loving to read about Steve Rogers. Seduction of the Innocent, the Comics Code Authority, and how it negatively affected the industry. Creating the Fantastic Four. How the Hulk was inspired by Frankenstein's Monster, and came out of the Nuclear Age. Spider-Man being the first teenage superhero, the first one with real life problems. Drawing frames like they were storyboards, and as if the character was coming at the reader. Writing stories about big political issues of the day, including trying to inspire better treatment of minorities. The soapbox. Shows, both animated and live action. The gritty 1980s. Bankruptcy. Making Iron Man 1, and how risky it was, how little people thought of it before it came out. Becoming part of the House of Mouse. The Netflix shows. We get a very brief preview of the then-unreleased Agent Carter.

I recommend this to any fan of the property. 8/10

Watched this on the DVR a couple of days ago. Host Emily VanCamp helps chronicle the comic company's beginnings to when it was originally called Timely Comics back in the late '30s when the Sub-Mariner and The Human Torch were created to the Marvel Age which started with The Fantastic Four in '61 to the creation of the Marvel Studios series of current superhero movies. Yes, Stan Lee talks here and there are plenty of mentions of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.. Yes, the movies made by the studio are mentioned and clips of them are shown. And, yes, there's a preview clip of "Agent Carter" at the end. As a long-time comic fan, I was stoked watching this! So on that note, Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop! did the job it was meant to do.