You don’t have to be a comic book fanatic to love superheroes. And even if you’ve never picked up a comic book in your life, you’ve almost certainly seen a comic book movie. A recent surge in comic book movies has brought us blockbusters such as The Avengers, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and many more. Given the success of this genre of movies, we are honored to interview the man who has been credited with bringing comic books to the big screen, and has been dubbed “The Godfather of comic book movies”, Michael Uslan. Michael is the owner of the Batman series, producer of the Batman movies, and was the first instructor to teach an accredited course on comic book folklore at any university.

Michael Uslan is a film producer with numerous award winning projects to his credit. He is Executive Producer of all of the Batman features from Batman to The Dark Knight Rises and won an Emmy Award for TV’s “Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?” He has been a speaker at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at the Smithsonian Institution.

Michael recently teamed up with Stan Lee and the Smithsonian Institution to create a free online course titled the Rise of Superheroes. Take the course here!

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“When I was in my twenty’s, I bought the rights to Batman from DC Comics with my business partner, I quit my job, gave up all security, and rolled the dice. With Batman in my back pocket I went to Hollywood.”

– Michael Uslan

Quotes from Michael:

[shadowbox]“Figure out, explore, and learn what your passion is in life. When you’re young enough, it’s great to go down wrong turns because you gain something important every time you learn what you don’t love as well as what you do love.”

“I have found that only 10% of people are willing to get up off the couch, be proactive, and make something happen. So if you’re one of the 10%, your chance of success just went from 1 out of 100 to 1 in 10.”

“I designed what would become the worlds first accredited college course on comic books.”

“One day Julie Schwartz, the most important editor in the history of comic books, is walking down the hallway and he says, ‘How’d you like to take a shot at writing Batman?”

“It took 10 years from the time I acquired the rights to Batman before we were able to get the first movie made with Tim Burton, starting Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson.”[/shadowbox]

What we learn in this episode:

• How Michael turned a passion for comic books into a very lucrative career doing what he loved.
• What is the most disturbing comic book of all time?
• What is it like creating and producing the Batman movies?
• Why is the Smithsonian Institution teaming up with Michael Uslan and Stan Lee to create an online course on super hero’s

Resources:

The Rise of Superheroes Course with Stan Lee and Michael Uslan – Free

Trailer – The Rise of Superheroes

The Boy Who Loved Batman: A Memoir

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