PREVIEW: Fifth Week Bonus #11: The Rocketeer, The Shadow, and The Phantom -- Pulp Hero Films of the 1990s

In the wake of Tim Burton's 1989 version of Batman, Hollywood tried to recapture its blockbuster success by fast-tracking a number of movies featuring other masked heroes. It may seem strange today, however, that so many of those heroes were pulp and pulp-inspired adventurers in period 1920s/30s settings. The films that followed--The Rocketeer (1991), The Shadow (1994), and The Phantom (1996)--were neither financial hits nor critical darlings, but they each have their fans. In this preview episode, we theorize about why studios in the 1990s thought this was the way to go. If this discussion whets your appetite, you can find a full-length bonus episode where we talk about each film in depth on patreon.com/ironageofcomics