I'm a big fan of watching things in order. When making my friends watch Buffy and Angel, I would provide them with a list of how to watch them properly so they could experience all of the crossovers in the right order. When I decided to watch Doctor Who, I didn't want to start with the 2005 revival, I wanted to go all the way back and start with the 1963 episodes. I haven't seen the new Godzilla vs. Kong film, because a part of me wants to go back and watch all of the Godzilla and King Kong movies in order before doing so. Some might call this completist obsession a quirk, but it's an education — I just love seeing how something grows, changes, and develops over time.

This dovetails nicely into my passion for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has spent over a decade building a world where comic book superheroes both known and under-appreciated can literally collide. While my Marvel viewing habits have made me a true believer, early last year, I found myself giving a second look at The CW's DC/Arrowverse content, which I learned had retroactively incorporated older DC properties like Smallville, 1990's The Flash, and 1989's Batman.

That little tidbit made me curious: When exactly did comic book film and tv adaptations begin?

I proceeded to answer my question in the most complicated way possible.