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Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art
Marvel Comics will celebrate 75 of years of comics excellence in 2014. DK commemorates this special anniversary with "Marvel Comics Cover Art," a beautiful, large-scale book featuring some of the most impactful, inspiring, and unusual comic cover art to come out of the Marvel vault.
With access to the rarest and most interesting cover art in Marvel's 75-year history, DK brings together an unforgettable gallery spotlighting the most iconic covers along with never-before-seen concept art from all over the world. Featuring the likes of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and The Avengers, as well as the writers and artists who gave them life, including Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, this book brings together the beloved Marvel characters like no other has done before.
Spreads feature blown-up versions of the beautiful comic art capturing every detail while captioning facts and information about each cover's artist, storyline, and history. "Marvel Comics Cover Art" is the only book of its kind to span the breadth of Marvel's cover art and is an imperative addition to any collection.
With access to the rarest and most interesting cover art in Marvel's 75-year history, DK brings together an unforgettable gallery spotlighting the most iconic covers along with never-before-seen concept art from all over the world. Featuring the likes of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and The Avengers, as well as the writers and artists who gave them life, including Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, this book brings together the beloved Marvel characters like no other has done before.
Spreads feature blown-up versions of the beautiful comic art capturing every detail while captioning facts and information about each cover's artist, storyline, and history. "Marvel Comics Cover Art" is the only book of its kind to span the breadth of Marvel's cover art and is an imperative addition to any collection.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 21, 2014
4 people are currently reading
190 people want to read
About the author
Alan Cowsill
47 books2 followersAlan is an award-winning writer and editor who started out selling comics and magazines as a dealer before becoming a full-time creative, giving him a complete understanding of the industry from all sides. He has created stories for most comic companies, and edited hit titles for Marvel, Panini and Eaglemoss. When he’s not working for Bullpen, Alan writes novels and practices Kung Fu and Qigong.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 23, 2023
"The iconography and styles of Marvel covers have been, and are, such strong elements of pop culture throughout the decades . . . they have reflected and shaped the trends in comic books and entertainment at large." -- from the enthusiastic foreword by Marvel illustrator Adi Granov
Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art is a blockbuster of a book, or perhaps it's more accurate to call it an arm-breaker -- this coffee-table tome probably weighs in at five pounds and is roughly the size of an early 21st century DVD player. However, it is all for very good reason - this might be the best collection of Marvel cover artwork ever collected in a single volume. Spanning from 1939 (when the business was initially called Timely Comics) through the scaled-back 50's (Atlas Comics) and then boldly into the revolutionary 60's and beyond (finally rebranded, and now forever to be known as, 'Marvel'), the book presents a chronological trip featuring quintessential characters like the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Captain America, Daredevil, Black Panther and many others. A number of the artists responsible for the eye-catching and attention-getting Marvel look also get their due, like Jack 'King' Kirby, John Romita (plus his namesake son), Steve Ditko, and my personal favorite Jim Steranko (we share the same hometown!), who imbued the agent Nick Fury of SHIELD spy stories with some adventurously trippy and unique compositions in the late 60's.
Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art is a blockbuster of a book, or perhaps it's more accurate to call it an arm-breaker -- this coffee-table tome probably weighs in at five pounds and is roughly the size of an early 21st century DVD player. However, it is all for very good reason - this might be the best collection of Marvel cover artwork ever collected in a single volume. Spanning from 1939 (when the business was initially called Timely Comics) through the scaled-back 50's (Atlas Comics) and then boldly into the revolutionary 60's and beyond (finally rebranded, and now forever to be known as, 'Marvel'), the book presents a chronological trip featuring quintessential characters like the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, X-Men, Captain America, Daredevil, Black Panther and many others. A number of the artists responsible for the eye-catching and attention-getting Marvel look also get their due, like Jack 'King' Kirby, John Romita (plus his namesake son), Steve Ditko, and my personal favorite Jim Steranko (we share the same hometown!), who imbued the agent Nick Fury of SHIELD spy stories with some adventurously trippy and unique compositions in the late 60's.
October 10, 2014
This coffee table book, which could double as an actual coffee table is a lot of fun. Even my wife was interested and she doesn’t usually go in for this stuff.
The title explains it all. You have pretty much the run of the best comic covers since Marvel was Timely Comics back in World War II through the present. Anyone who was an innovator is included here: Jack Kirby (hell, yes!), the Romitas, John Byrne, John Buscema, Jim Steranko, Steve Ditko, George Perez, Gil Kane, Wally Wood, Neal Adams, etc. Even Jim Lee and Todd MacFarlane get a few highlighted covers.
Rob Liefield – nowhere to be seen. Heh.
Recommended for those who want a nice overview of the history of Marvel Comics.
The title explains it all. You have pretty much the run of the best comic covers since Marvel was Timely Comics back in World War II through the present. Anyone who was an innovator is included here: Jack Kirby (hell, yes!), the Romitas, John Byrne, John Buscema, Jim Steranko, Steve Ditko, George Perez, Gil Kane, Wally Wood, Neal Adams, etc. Even Jim Lee and Todd MacFarlane get a few highlighted covers.
Rob Liefield – nowhere to be seen. Heh.
Recommended for those who want a nice overview of the history of Marvel Comics.
October 28, 2023
This was okay. It's a selection of covers from over 75 years of Marvel history in a coffee table book. A lot of the same covers are also featured in the Les Daniels Marvel coffee table book from the 1990s. Some of the covers are iconic and some are included for reasons known only to the author. I guess I was hoping for more.
November 21, 2018
Alright I’ll make this a super fast review.
It’s fun seeing all these various Marvel covers ranging from classic golden age covers to random modern issues of Amazing Spider-Man plus a bit about the art style and the cover’s design so I really enjoyed this book.
I however did not like the weird formatting (you’d have to see it to understand what I’m talking about) and it often even says what happened in the comic’s story even for recent comics so yeah, some unwanted spoilers due to that (though oddly enough despite just putting this down I don’t remember any of them so lucky me I guess).
Anyway, if you’re interested in Marvel comic books or comic book art in general this is a pretty interesting, cool book.
I’d recommend it.
4/5
It’s fun seeing all these various Marvel covers ranging from classic golden age covers to random modern issues of Amazing Spider-Man plus a bit about the art style and the cover’s design so I really enjoyed this book.
I however did not like the weird formatting (you’d have to see it to understand what I’m talking about) and it often even says what happened in the comic’s story even for recent comics so yeah, some unwanted spoilers due to that (though oddly enough despite just putting this down I don’t remember any of them so lucky me I guess).
Anyway, if you’re interested in Marvel comic books or comic book art in general this is a pretty interesting, cool book.
I’d recommend it.
4/5
January 2, 2016
316 paginas que encierran 75 años de portadas Marvel, que sirven de historia del proceso, del arte, de la evolución de los comics en todas las epocas, de la dorada, a la de bvonce, el paso por la oscura y la moderna, todo en la evolución del arte y los diseños, hay cientos de grandes portadas y tal vez lo ultimo que se le puede tomar a mal es tener tantas portadas de Greg Land.
April 1, 2017
There's more than 500 covers in this large-format collection with wonderfully on-point paragraphs for each one putting them into context. Sectional spreads focus on some of the biggest cover artists and show the process from initial sketch to finished product. This was a gift to me from my wife and it's an absolute treasure for anyone the slightest bit interested in comic book art. I followed only a few of these superhero series growing up, so there was certainly a sentimental/nostalgia factor to reading through this, but there's also a kind of historical timeline showing how comics dealt with changing gender roles, war-time anxiety, censorship, and reaching for more developed and adult story lines and subject matter.
Favorite artists found and discovered in this collection (links to their work):
Jack Kirby | Esad Ribic | Terry Dodson | Mike Del Mundo | Mr Garcin | John Romita Jr | Todd McFarlane | Arthur Suydam | Gabriele Dell'Otto | Jae Lee
A few favorite covers from this collection:
Favorite artists found and discovered in this collection (links to their work):
Jack Kirby | Esad Ribic | Terry Dodson | Mike Del Mundo | Mr Garcin | John Romita Jr | Todd McFarlane | Arthur Suydam | Gabriele Dell'Otto | Jae Lee
A few favorite covers from this collection:
August 25, 2014
Posted at welcometolevelseven.com
Writer Alan Cowsill should add curator to his resume. Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Comic Art is more than a book, it is a mobile art museum. Between the book’s two covers is a treasure chest of art developed by some of Marvel’s finest artists from the Golden to the Modern age.
Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Comic Art by Alan Cowsill collects Marvel’s finest covers in an over-sized 300 plus page book. The text puts on displays hundreds of Marvel covers, with typically one or two covers being highlighted on a page. Occasionally, 3 or more covers will share a page when linked by a theme or story arc. Covers are organized by title and theme, so Avengers covers reside next to other Avengers covers. Cowsill provides a brief caption highlighting the historical or artistic attributes of the cover. The captions help explain historical trends such as the growth of variant and special covers. On a few occasions, Cowsill offers a description of significant cover artists like Jack Kirby and John Byrne. The book also explains how covers are developed using Nova #1 and Black Panther #1 as examples. The title is broken into four sections; The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, and The Modern Age. Despite being an art book with brief captions, readers will find they cannot rush through the pages but instead will spend hours enjoying the visuals.
The book is designed to show off the included covers and the covers are the star. The pages are large, giving the maximum space to display the art. The captions are helpful but not overly wordy to only highlight not steal the focus from the covers. The text comes with a sturdy slipcover to protect the book, though honestly, the book’s front cover with a partial print of Marvel Comics #1 and the back cover with the fan chosen The Infinity Gauntlet #1 are eye-catching in their own right. Every aspect of this book shows that the artists’ reign in this large book, with writers as secondary contributors. And as a bonus the publisher has included prints of Amazing Fantasy #15 and Iron Man #1 from the 2005 run that could be framed and displayed. No one needs to worry about cutting up a copy to have prints for display.
The text has really helped me to appreciate and find covers I had not been exposed to yet. For example, I have enjoyed Jim Steranko’s covers from Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and loved that issue #6 which I own is included. But I am now in love with his March 1969 Captain America 111 cover. And I was thrilled that Cowsill included Dikto’s original and unedited Amazing Fantasy #15. I did question the inclusion of seven David Aja Hawkeye covers, but the Aja art is spectacular. And this choice shows that Cowsill wanted to display strong and interesting art.
I honestly can only provide two criticisms of Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art. First, the book gives over half of its pages to The Modern Age, and personally I would like to have seen more covers from The Golden to Bronze Ages. But I cannot argue with the choices of the curator as there have been many more covers produced in The Modern Age based solely on the number of titles, artists and variations printed. Second, I would love a short conclusion where Cowsill would have provided a concluding word on this large book for his readers.
Marvel fans will love this book. Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will enjoy that Cowsill points out covers that helped inspire the movies. Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art by Alan Cowsill is a large, in-depth and artful text. The biggest problem is the size of one’s comic wish list after finishing the last page.
Review Copy Provided by Publisher
Writer Alan Cowsill should add curator to his resume. Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Comic Art is more than a book, it is a mobile art museum. Between the book’s two covers is a treasure chest of art developed by some of Marvel’s finest artists from the Golden to the Modern age.
Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Comic Art by Alan Cowsill collects Marvel’s finest covers in an over-sized 300 plus page book. The text puts on displays hundreds of Marvel covers, with typically one or two covers being highlighted on a page. Occasionally, 3 or more covers will share a page when linked by a theme or story arc. Covers are organized by title and theme, so Avengers covers reside next to other Avengers covers. Cowsill provides a brief caption highlighting the historical or artistic attributes of the cover. The captions help explain historical trends such as the growth of variant and special covers. On a few occasions, Cowsill offers a description of significant cover artists like Jack Kirby and John Byrne. The book also explains how covers are developed using Nova #1 and Black Panther #1 as examples. The title is broken into four sections; The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, and The Modern Age. Despite being an art book with brief captions, readers will find they cannot rush through the pages but instead will spend hours enjoying the visuals.
The book is designed to show off the included covers and the covers are the star. The pages are large, giving the maximum space to display the art. The captions are helpful but not overly wordy to only highlight not steal the focus from the covers. The text comes with a sturdy slipcover to protect the book, though honestly, the book’s front cover with a partial print of Marvel Comics #1 and the back cover with the fan chosen The Infinity Gauntlet #1 are eye-catching in their own right. Every aspect of this book shows that the artists’ reign in this large book, with writers as secondary contributors. And as a bonus the publisher has included prints of Amazing Fantasy #15 and Iron Man #1 from the 2005 run that could be framed and displayed. No one needs to worry about cutting up a copy to have prints for display.
The text has really helped me to appreciate and find covers I had not been exposed to yet. For example, I have enjoyed Jim Steranko’s covers from Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and loved that issue #6 which I own is included. But I am now in love with his March 1969 Captain America 111 cover. And I was thrilled that Cowsill included Dikto’s original and unedited Amazing Fantasy #15. I did question the inclusion of seven David Aja Hawkeye covers, but the Aja art is spectacular. And this choice shows that Cowsill wanted to display strong and interesting art.
I honestly can only provide two criticisms of Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art. First, the book gives over half of its pages to The Modern Age, and personally I would like to have seen more covers from The Golden to Bronze Ages. But I cannot argue with the choices of the curator as there have been many more covers produced in The Modern Age based solely on the number of titles, artists and variations printed. Second, I would love a short conclusion where Cowsill would have provided a concluding word on this large book for his readers.
Marvel fans will love this book. Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will enjoy that Cowsill points out covers that helped inspire the movies. Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art by Alan Cowsill is a large, in-depth and artful text. The biggest problem is the size of one’s comic wish list after finishing the last page.
Review Copy Provided by Publisher
August 27, 2014
A spectacular, oversized hardcover that celebrates Marvel's 75 years in publishing with some of the most iconic artwork featured in Marvel Comics over the last 75 years, including some alternate/never used pieces as well as preliminary sketches and profiles of many of the key artists in Marvel's history.
Marvel/Timely of the Golden Age is represented but the majority of the art is from the Silver Age on up. Every major milestone is included up to the relaunch of Marvel, with many full page covers guaranteed to leave you drooling with art by Kane, Buscema, Romita (both Sr. and Jr) Byrne, Adams (Art and Neil) while not ignoring the great artists working today.
I'm sure that every Marvel fan who reads this will have their own opinion about covers that should have been included, and every cool issue cannot be represented or the book would be, like, 1,000,000 pages long (I would not complain). It's hard to argue with what DK has incorporated. Still, it would have been nice to see the Amazing Spider-man black cover, the 1st issue of the Punisher ongoing, and other key issues that I feel are missing.
Marvel/Timely of the Golden Age is represented but the majority of the art is from the Silver Age on up. Every major milestone is included up to the relaunch of Marvel, with many full page covers guaranteed to leave you drooling with art by Kane, Buscema, Romita (both Sr. and Jr) Byrne, Adams (Art and Neil) while not ignoring the great artists working today.
I'm sure that every Marvel fan who reads this will have their own opinion about covers that should have been included, and every cool issue cannot be represented or the book would be, like, 1,000,000 pages long (I would not complain). It's hard to argue with what DK has incorporated. Still, it would have been nice to see the Amazing Spider-man black cover, the 1st issue of the Punisher ongoing, and other key issues that I feel are missing.
January 19, 2023
4 / 5 for 'Marvel Comics: 75 Years Of Cover Art' by Alan Cowsill
A beautifully presented gallery of comic covers from Marvel's history. Each cover has a small box of text giving background details, with the history divided into Marvel's different ages. The covers are beautifully presented and the associated info is almost perfect, with only one factual inaccuracy throughout the whole book.
This book IS great, and I really did enjoy it, but it loses one star for one reasonably big negative - the first half of the book is devoted to the Golden, Silver and Bronze ages (the 1930s to the 1980s), and the second half of the book...IN ITS ENTIRETY...is devoted to the Modern age (1980s to 2020s). Whoever made this terrible decision needs firing. The Golden Age is where everything started and then the Silver Age is undoubtedly THE most important part of Marvel's history; during the 1960s, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko...and (begrudgingly) to a far lesser extent Stan Lee, created all of the most important characters and concepts which we are still reading about and watching now, 60 years later! How this absolute goldmine period of cover excellence could be given such a small section is beyond me...especially to focus on an 'Age' which includes some of Marvel's crappest works - the 1990s and the 2000s. Okay, I know things like this are subjective, but come on - nobody can even begin to compare the importance of 1960s Marvel with 1990s-2000s Marvel. A genuine travesty!
Other than that, it's a good book with beautiful artwork and excellent info. Just a shame that the 1960s was such a massive missed opportunity.
4 / 5
A beautifully presented gallery of comic covers from Marvel's history. Each cover has a small box of text giving background details, with the history divided into Marvel's different ages. The covers are beautifully presented and the associated info is almost perfect, with only one factual inaccuracy throughout the whole book.
This book IS great, and I really did enjoy it, but it loses one star for one reasonably big negative - the first half of the book is devoted to the Golden, Silver and Bronze ages (the 1930s to the 1980s), and the second half of the book...IN ITS ENTIRETY...is devoted to the Modern age (1980s to 2020s). Whoever made this terrible decision needs firing. The Golden Age is where everything started and then the Silver Age is undoubtedly THE most important part of Marvel's history; during the 1960s, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko...and (begrudgingly) to a far lesser extent Stan Lee, created all of the most important characters and concepts which we are still reading about and watching now, 60 years later! How this absolute goldmine period of cover excellence could be given such a small section is beyond me...especially to focus on an 'Age' which includes some of Marvel's crappest works - the 1990s and the 2000s. Okay, I know things like this are subjective, but come on - nobody can even begin to compare the importance of 1960s Marvel with 1990s-2000s Marvel. A genuine travesty!
Other than that, it's a good book with beautiful artwork and excellent info. Just a shame that the 1960s was such a massive missed opportunity.
4 / 5
February 13, 2025
I was a bit disappointed with some of the choices, for example the inclusion of multiple Greg Land covers (one of the ones that is obviously traced and which he has gone on to trace for reuse). Overall the choices for the covers are alright but there were a number that I expected to see that were missing, as well as lesser quality covers when an artist had produced better and more well remembered/regarded work in the same time period.
There's also the fact that the 'Modern Age' section is much larger than the previous ones and is clearly the one given the most thought, the 'Golden Age' only gets a handful of pages in comparison. I noticed a couple obvious mistakes such as labelling Greg Land work as Greg Horn or citing a Daredevil cover from the 90s as being from the 80s and I imagine if I checked them I might find more.
There's also the fact that the 'Modern Age' section is much larger than the previous ones and is clearly the one given the most thought, the 'Golden Age' only gets a handful of pages in comparison. I noticed a couple obvious mistakes such as labelling Greg Land work as Greg Horn or citing a Daredevil cover from the 90s as being from the 80s and I imagine if I checked them I might find more.
May 13, 2017
I'm not a comic expert, only a modest fan. When I was young (ahem!) I enjoyed a lot of Marvel comics, but at the present my first priority is science fiction literature. However, recently I renewed a bit my interest and I read some comics that I borrow from the library, as you could see in my bookshelf.
I love sci-fi covers. I would not stop to seeing them. And those in this book too. They are evocative, wonderful, and they suggest pure Sense of Wonder. Also I enjoyed because it shows me a general idea about seventy-five years of Marvel history through more than five hundred great covers.
I regret I could not show here some of the contents, but I find this review:
https://youtu.be/wDtHSKBQPTE
I love sci-fi covers. I would not stop to seeing them. And those in this book too. They are evocative, wonderful, and they suggest pure Sense of Wonder. Also I enjoyed because it shows me a general idea about seventy-five years of Marvel history through more than five hundred great covers.
I regret I could not show here some of the contents, but I find this review:
https://youtu.be/wDtHSKBQPTE
August 25, 2018
Some great art, but wow, what a lot of dudes. Not only artists/writers, but series and characters featured on the covers. Really missed the boat on the great female character-led series in the 2000s and 20010s.
February 18, 2020
One of the best purchases I've ever made, this over-sized hard-cover book features many high quality reproductions of covers. The paper is thick, high quality. Great book for the Marvelite in your life :)
July 10, 2023
A fun review of Marvel comics history. I loved pointing out the ones I used to own. The book includes spotlights on important artists like Jack Kirby, John Byrne and Frank Miller. A must for comic book geeks, especially fans of Marvel comics, shows and movies.
September 9, 2018
A beautiful book of Marvelous art.
January 21, 2021
Enjoyable but not really worth the price point even as a die hard Marvel fan.
May 23, 2021
Best
November 7, 2019
Está bueno, interesante, lo recomiendo ._.
August 26, 2015
Fan Expo? Well, the term Comic Con might be more familiar to you, but Fan Expo Canada is currently the 3rd largest pop culture event in North America! And its happening Sept 3-6 in Toronto this year. You might be saying to yourself - Luanne are you going? Umm, no, not my thing (although Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead is going be there....) But boy, oh boy is it up my husband's alley!
DK Canada is also going to be there - and in anticipation, they've put together a great selection of books in their Fan Expo Boutique.
"Want to find out more about the Avengers impressive roster of members? (Was Ant-Man ever a member?) Do you feel the urge to brush up on your Star Wars backstory in anticipation of the upcoming Star Wars The Force Awakens? (who did R4-P17 belong to?) Each of the titles here are perfect for fans who want to discover more about their favourite heroes, villains, TV shows and films! Fully illustrated with fantastic archival photographs and illustrations and expertly annotated text, these are books to fuel any fan's love."
And fans are going to love Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art. My husband did!
The book is arranged chronologically, starting with covers and superheros from 1938 right through to 2013. Each entry has a full colour picture of the comic cover, accompanied by a blurb detailing the year, the artist and the significance of each. (Note: not every cover is a full page - some are two up.) I loved comics when I was younger as, I had access to a young uncle's collection from the 1950's. I must admit - I ended up picking up the book a number of times and flipping through, and then I just went back and started at the beginning. It's absolutely fascinating to see the evolution of cover art from pre-war years to the current movie craze.
Many I recognized, but there were some I'd never heard of - how about Patsy Walker who evolved into Hellcat? Or Millie the Model - I'd love to own this one. My husband was all over the ones he remembers - The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X-Men and a host of others. And some were new to him - Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy!? (I was called over many times to 'see')
DK books are always quality - thick glossy stock, vivid, true colours, great information - and addicting. Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art is, well, simply marvelous. It's a great coffee table book - and everyone who has visited in the last few weeks has picked it and found something they just have to comment on.
75 Years of Cover Art comes in a tough protective sleeve and also has two prints included that could be framed. Hubby's rating - five star. (And I thought it was pretty great too!)
DK Canada is also going to be there - and in anticipation, they've put together a great selection of books in their Fan Expo Boutique.
"Want to find out more about the Avengers impressive roster of members? (Was Ant-Man ever a member?) Do you feel the urge to brush up on your Star Wars backstory in anticipation of the upcoming Star Wars The Force Awakens? (who did R4-P17 belong to?) Each of the titles here are perfect for fans who want to discover more about their favourite heroes, villains, TV shows and films! Fully illustrated with fantastic archival photographs and illustrations and expertly annotated text, these are books to fuel any fan's love."
And fans are going to love Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art. My husband did!
The book is arranged chronologically, starting with covers and superheros from 1938 right through to 2013. Each entry has a full colour picture of the comic cover, accompanied by a blurb detailing the year, the artist and the significance of each. (Note: not every cover is a full page - some are two up.) I loved comics when I was younger as, I had access to a young uncle's collection from the 1950's. I must admit - I ended up picking up the book a number of times and flipping through, and then I just went back and started at the beginning. It's absolutely fascinating to see the evolution of cover art from pre-war years to the current movie craze.
Many I recognized, but there were some I'd never heard of - how about Patsy Walker who evolved into Hellcat? Or Millie the Model - I'd love to own this one. My husband was all over the ones he remembers - The Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X-Men and a host of others. And some were new to him - Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy!? (I was called over many times to 'see')
DK books are always quality - thick glossy stock, vivid, true colours, great information - and addicting. Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art is, well, simply marvelous. It's a great coffee table book - and everyone who has visited in the last few weeks has picked it and found something they just have to comment on.
75 Years of Cover Art comes in a tough protective sleeve and also has two prints included that could be framed. Hubby's rating - five star. (And I thought it was pretty great too!)
February 16, 2015
This was OK. Kinda cool. There are some obvious choices. There are some really cool covers. There's also a few that I found questionable, where I wasn't sure why they were included, since they didn't actually look all that great. There were some that, while I understood why they were included, I was still annoyed, because ugh. Some Greg Land covers, for instance, or a few '90s covers with anatomically impossible women (Jim Lee being a major culprit). So, yeah, some choices I didn't like. There were also some glaring omissions - the lack of any covers from the previous volume of Captain Marvel annoyed me. There were a few covers that deserved to be in there. Interestingly, Rob Liefeld didn't have any covers included, despite having been a hugely important artist in the '90s. I'm not saying I mind - his work was hideous, and I have no idea how anyone ever actually thought it was great - I just find it interesting. Also, a couple of the covers were actually misattributed. For example, the famous Phoenix Endsong cover that Greg Land traced from a Pamela Anderson photo, was attributed to Greg Horn. Now, Greg Horn is another artist whose work I generally find sexualizes women to an annoying degree, so hey, confusing one crap artist with another is understandable, but just the same, Greg Land's name was on the damned cover. I don't like when books like this have errors in them. Regardless, overall, I found it an OK book.
April 20, 2015
I saw this book at the library and had to give it a try. The cover featured the original Human Torch, not Wolverine and the Hulk. I learned a little, still found it hard not to wonder what it would be like to have unlimited funds to keep up with all the Marvel titles over the years. I have since been to a bookstore and realize they are showing the cardboard box picture and that is why the library book seemed to have a different cover. If you go out and buy this, you will have a sturdy enclosure to protect your book!
March 30, 2016
What a fantastic book. I love comic book cover art, and this book is jam packed with it. The book itself is very high quality. Huge size, slipcase, and it comes with two prints included. The contents of the book are even better. Marvel covers from the past 75 years including amazing artists like Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko, David Aja and numerous others. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the modern era because it included many covers that I own and consider some of my favorites. Each cover printed also has some commentary with it, letting you know why it was chosen.
January 22, 2015
This is a fantastic, huge coffee table sized book in a very nice slipcase, it covers all the years of marvel comic covers. I remember having a few of them in the 70's, albeit a year later than the American comics as marvel UK was a year behind the Americans. They are reproduced very nicely with lots of information about the artistry behind them and the artists. An essential read if you are a Marvel fan. A top book, well made....
January 8, 2015
This book is every Marvel fanboy's dream. It collects the best covers of Marvel's comics for the past 75 years, and it also includes commentaries on the covers. Alan Cowsill also provides a crash course on Marvel history, as he gives insights on the comic and the creators themselves. I noticed that the author gives Ed McGuiness credit for a Captain America cover by Steve Epting, but since that is the only mistake I found I am willing to ignore it. Overall the book was great and fun to read.
July 22, 2015
Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art is a large, oversized coffee table book. It nicely presents cover art in chronological order, from the golden age, silver age, bronze age, and modern age of comics.
I was disappointed that there weren't more full-page pictures. You'd think that would be the point in making a book this size in the first place. Nice overall. Three and a half stars.
I was disappointed that there weren't more full-page pictures. You'd think that would be the point in making a book this size in the first place. Nice overall. Three and a half stars.
Read
September 16, 2014"This book is a must for any comic book fan, comic illustrator or pop art enthusiast."
Read more here.
Read more here.
December 23, 2014
Very nice to page through. I was more interested in the years prior to 1990.
January 10, 2016
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13801764
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13801764
November 19, 2016
The perfectly oversized archive of comic art that every true believer needs in their library. More cool stuff to feast your eyes on than your brain can process at one sitting. Infinitely repeatable.
May 3, 2015
A fantastic overview 75 years of Marvel Comics greatest covers.
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