Superheroes are an American popular culture phenomenon that has spread across the globe. Superhero narratives are told in comics, film and TV, as well as in games and various fan-produced materials. In addition to superheroes having spread across different media, they are also published in different parts of the world in several languages, including Finnish. As comics are translated, they are also changed in many other ways as they cross cultural and national borders. In this dissertation, I argue that these changes can be described as transnational adaptation. I understand adaptation as a creative interpretation of and engagement with the work being adapted.

Using concepts and methods from adaptation studies, comics studies, fan studies and transmedia studies, this study analyses different aspects of transnational adaptation in four peer-reviewed research articles. The research material consists of the 1980–1995 volumes of the Hämähäkkimies and Ryhmä-X comic books, the 1966–1969 volumes of the Finnish Batman comic book and an advertising campaign for a Finnish Batman soft drink (1967). In Article 1, I find and name the practices of adaptation used by the Finnish editor of Ryhmä-X and Hämähäkkimies in the 1980s and 1990s. Finding the practices lays the groundwork for the whole thesis, as it shows the local editor’s agency in shaping the comic books for the new Finnish audience. In Article 2, I focus on the comic books’ letters pages, where the local editor’s different roles in the adaptation process become evident. I argue that the editor Mail-Man acted as a gatekeeper of Marvel’s comics in Finland, simultaneously guiding and educating the Finnish readers in fannish activity. Through an analysis of the letters pages, I show how adaptation continues also in the paratextual elements of the comics.

This shows both in the analysis of the letters pages, and in the third article’s analysis of how the comic book event ‘Fatal Attractions’ (1993) was adapted in Finland. The comic book event is a specific publication format typical of the superhero genre in the USA, where stories span over several comic book titles and issues. The Finnish adaptation differs noticeably from the original both in content and in form, as the publishing context in Finland is very different to that in the USA. Finally, in the fourth article I analyse drawings published on the letters pages of Batman and an advertising campaign for the Batman soft drink as adaptations of the character. This case study focused on Batmania in Finland in the 1960s shows how local adaptations expand the transmedia universe of superhero characters.

Building on my discovery of the adaptation practices, the major contribution of this dissertation is that it shows how the entire comic book can been seen as an adaptation, instead of only focusing on the stories as adaptations. My research shows, on the one hand, the significant role of local agents in transnational comics publishing, and on the other hand, the importance of audiences in the adaptation process of superhero comics. My findings regarding how the letters pages became an integral part of the adaptation when the editor used them for facilitating the reading experience and filling in gaps in the stories expand the scope of adaptation studies.