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Neon Knight Forever
The Legacy of Joel Schumacher’s Batman Duology
Neon Knight Forever
The Legacy of Joel Schumacher’s Batman Duology
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Description
Neon Knight Forever is a detailed study of one of the most misunderstood superhero series that dares to ask the most heretical question for all Bat-fans: what if Batman & Robin is actually a valuable achievement in big-budget superhero cinema?
The Batman franchise has remained one of the most lucrative and varied lines of superhero-based titles outside its original comic book, with adaptations from filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton, and Zack Snyder. However, among the many facets of Batman, there is one which remains on the margins of Bat-history, being treated as the most obscure or misconceived: the Batman duology directed by Joel Schumacher between 1995 and 1997, a creation which is seen by many fans as the "wrong" approach to the Batman mythos. Neon Knight Forever accounts for the initial rejection of Schumacher's version and explores modern attempts to rehabilitate Schumacher's vision of the infamous Neon Knight. Through discussing the formal foundations underlying both Batman Forever and Batman & Robin and featuring claims from the Schumacher online fandom, Zaglewski embraces the adaptation as a valuable addition to the Batman universe.
Table of Contents
Introduction: 'Can I persuade you to take a sandwich with you, sir?'
1. Neon Knight Begins: The Not-So-Dark Knight as an Element in Batman's Transmedia Multiverse
1.1. Into the Bat-verse: From the Multiverse of Stories to the Multiverse of Readings
1.2. Camp Knight, Dad Knight or Cute Knight? Exploring the Foundations of the Neon Knight
2. The Neon Knight Unchained: Questionable Choices and the Ice-Catching Spectacle in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin
2.1. Who's Afraid of the Big, Black Bat? Joel Schumacher as a Cinematic Trespasser
2.2. Tim Burton's Noir-tmare before Christmas vs. Joel Schumacher's Camp Noir: Embracing a Living Comic Book as a Visual Thriller
2.3. The Lite Knight Rises: The Troubling Case of the Plastic Figures, Virtual Grappling Hooks, and Rubber Nipples
3. The Neon Knight Triumphant: Modern Perception of Joel Schumacher's Batman Duology
3.1. 'It's So Bad, It's Almost Good': Fandom's Online Discourse Following Joel Schumacher's Passing
3.2. Schumacher was right': Social Media Appreciation for the Neon Knight
Closing Remarks or 'We're going to need a bigger cave'
Bibliography
Index
Product details

Published | 16 Nov 2023 |
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Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 160 |
ISBN | 9798765100578 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Audiences and critics have often dismissed the Schumacher Batman films as inferior. In Neon Knight Forever, Zaglewski takes a much-needed scholarly approach to the films and their legacy and makes a convincing case for reexamining our perspective.
Erica McCrystal, Assistant Professor of Education and English, Centenary University, USA
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Neon Knight Forever provides a fascinating look at the other side of the Dark Knight. Through his close analysis, Zaglewski reveals the importance of Schumacher's much derided Batman films. He demonstrates why it is so important to consider what the variations of cultural icons contribute to the characters and reveals about our shifting social values.
Jeffrey A. Brown, Chair and Professor, Department of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University, USA
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Neon Knight Forever makes a passionate and well researched argument to re-evaluate colorful milestones in the contemporary superhero movie, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Through a focus on transmedia franchising, fan communities, and critical reception, the book provides a rounded analysis of the Joel Schumacher's Batman films that are often unfairly dismissed by superhero fans and scholars. Neon Knight Forever makes an important contribution to scholarship on superheroes and comic-book movies.
Liam Burke, Associate Professor of Cinema and Screen Studies, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, and author of The Comic Book Film Adaptation and Superhero Movies (2015)
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An eloquent book … it has given me much to think about and I urge anyone with a passing interest in Batman Forever and/or Batman & Robin to buy a copy.
Neil Rickatson, 1995Batman.com

ONLINE RESOURCES
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