''The Men in Black'' is an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

created and written by

Lowell Cunningham Lowell Cunningham (born c. 1958/1959) is an American comic book author. He is best known for creating the comic book '' The Men in Black'', which later became the basis for a media franchise. Early life Lowell Cunningham was raised in Franklin, T ...

, illustrated by Sandy Carruthers, and originally published by

Aircel Comics Aircel Comics (Aircel Publishing) was a comic book publisher founded by Barry Blair, in Ottawa, Ontario in 1985. In 1988, it merged with American publisher Eternity Comics, itself an imprint of Malibu Comics, and in the late 1980s was taken over b ...

. Aircel would later be bought out by

Malibu Comics Malibu Comics Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Malibu Graphics) was an American comic book publisher active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, best known for its Ultraverse line of superhero titles. Notable titles published by Malibu included ' ...

, which itself was bought out by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

. Three issues were published in 1990, with another three the following year. It was adapted into the film ''

Men in Black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are purported men dressed in black suits who claim to be quasi- government agents, who harass, threaten, or sometimes even assassinate unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesses ...

'', which was a critical and commercial success, leading to three sequels and various

spin-offs Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

, as well as a number of

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prop ...

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

comics from Marvel. Cunningham had the idea for the comic once a friend of his introduced him to the concept of government "men in black" upon seeing a black van riding the streets."Metamorphosis of 'Men in Black'", ''Men in Black'' Blu-Ray

Publication history

The first series consisted of three issues and was published in 1990 by

cover-date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

d January to March 1990. After Aircel was acquired by

, a second series appeared, ''The Men in Black Book II'' #1-3 (May–July 1991). Malibu was purchased by

in 1994, and when the feature film ''

'' was released, Marvel published a number of one-shots in 1997, including a reboot of the original comic line, a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, a movie adaptation, and a reprint of the first issue of the original Aircel miniseries. The first series was collected into a trade paperback (June 1990, ).''The Men in Black''
(trade paperback) at the Grand Comics Database.

Plot

The Men in Black is an international

intelligence organization An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, Intelligence analysis, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objective ...

which oversees and investigates both good and evil paranormal activity on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's sur ...

. Their remit includes

alien life Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

, demons, mutants,

zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...

werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

legendary creature A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), but may be featured in historical accoun ...

s and other paranormal beings. In order to keep their investigations secret, much of the global population are unaware of their activities, and are liable to be neuralyzed to blank their memory of any interaction with the agents or phenomena connected to them. Notable members include Zed, Jay,

Kay The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own ...

and Ecks. Ecks later becomes a rogue agent after learning that the MIB seeks to keep the supernatural hidden in order to manipulate and reshape the world in their own image. An agent may use any means necessary, including death and destruction, to accomplish a mission. Agents sever all ties with their former lives, and (thanks to the neuralyzer) as far as the world is concerned, they do not exist.

Adaptations

Beginning with the release of the film ''

'' in 1997, the comic book has been adapted across a wide variety of media, spawning an entire franchise. Starring

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968), also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor and rapper. He began his acting career starring as a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh ...

and

Tommy Lee Jones Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' T ...

, the film proved a huge box office success for

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

and Amblin Entertainment, resulting in two sequels: ''

Men in Black II ''Men in Black II'' (stylized as ''MIIB'') is a 2002 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld from a screenplay by Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro. It is the second film in the original trilogy and a sequel to ''M ...

'' and '' Men in Black 3''. The popularity of the films subsequently led to many tie-ins and spin-offs, including an

animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

, novelizations, soundtracks of each film, video games, and a theme park attraction. A spin-off was released in 2019, titled '' Men in Black: International''. It continues the universe of the first three films, instead of adapting the original material from the comic book. Despite sharing the same basic premise, the various adaptations differ greatly from the original comics. Some of these differences include: * The secret organization exclusively polices extraterrestrial activity on Earth, omitting the other paranormal elements. * The agency uses memory erasure, rather than killing witnesses. * The agency's main goal is to maintain order on Earth, rather than to direct it. * Zed physically appears, rather than being an unseen character. * Ecks is absent in the film, and is replaced by Dr. Laurel Weaver (later Agent L). * Agent J is an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

man, instead of a blonde-haired

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

man. * The tone of the series was lightened, exchanging the comics' dark and bleak approach for comedy.

References

External links

* *
''The Men in Black''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on February 17, 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Men In Black Men in Black (comics) 1990 comics debuts 1990 comics endings 1991 comics debuts 1991 comics endings Aircel Comics titles Malibu Comics titles Marvel Comics titles American comics adapted into films Fictional agencies Science fiction comics Spy comics Fictional secret agents and spies Comics characters introduced in 1990 Comics about extraterrestrial life Fictional government investigations of the paranormal