Marvel: The Avengers Vault

by Peter David

Captain America, The Mighty Thor, The Invincible Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk! These are the Marvel Avengers that have captured our hearts and imaginations as heroes likely and unlikely, and too magnificent to be true.

Learn the history of these fictional icons with Marvel's The Avengers Vault , a guided tour through the union of “earth’s mightiest heroes and heroines,” led by award-winning author and Avengers insider, Peter A. David. The book includes a thorough overview of each of the four most prominent Avengers and introduces a myriad of other characters from the Winter Solider to Fandral the Dashing, Hogun the Grim, Edwin Jarvis, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and many more.

Covering everything from the release of the first Avengers comic in 1963 to the blockbuster movies of today, Marvel's The Avengers Vault even contains removable reproductions that include Captain America’s Sentinels of Liberty membership card, specialty original art by Jack Kirby, early drawings of Iron Man, and a complete Marvel mini-book. A treasure trove of Avenger moments and memorabilia, this set is perfect for avid comic enthusiasts and newbies alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, Comics

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2015

About the author

Peter Allen David (aka David Peters), often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.

His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.

David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.

David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award, and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[Quinn Lavender · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coffee table-sized book with a brief but detailed history of the 4 most popular Avengers: Thor, Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man (no love for actual original Avengers Ant-Man or Wasp).

The author switches pretty seamlessly between straight-up history and comedic/snarky commentary. It's a nice mixture. The book doesn't take itself too seriously, which is nice, given that it's a history of comic book characters.

What makes it a "vault" is it has reproductions of various Avengers-related materials (artist's renderings, posters) stashed in pockets inside the book. They're a nice touch, but I'm not sure what to do with them.

In all, a very enjoyable read.

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the decades, the membership in the Avengers supergroup has changed considerably, but this book concentrates on the major four: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk (though he's villain as much as hero), with chapters on each. Poor old Giant Man and the Wasp get no respect, despite being two original members. But Peter - with his usual wit - delivers a good precis of the series, accompanied by some rare artwork reproductions. As a result, it's a lot of fun.

[Bart Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a detailed history of The Avengers, just some of the main characters. Overall, the book was a nice read, and the inserts were interesting.

[Hendi Basuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A visual history of Marvel's greatest super hero team

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great incorporation of graphics and history of some of the original Avengers. David does an impressive job of summing up a rather confusing amount of changes made to each character throughout time. The text is humorous and at times a bit snarky (if he didn't have such an impressive number of comics with his name on them, you'd think he hated comics or something) regarding all of the transformations and weird happenings of the Marvel universe. Each character chapter also includes enclosed replicas of artwork, which is very neat. While I personally would have liked to get more information on some of the female Avengers, such as Wasp, one of the founding members, this is less a criticism of the actual book and more a criticism of female representation in comics. Female origins come up in some chapters such as Black Widow (that's pretty much it), but understandably it is difficult to dedicate a whole chapter to a character who never had a self titled comic series. Overall an interesting read with plenty of great art and quite a bit of information.

[Meg MacPherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 While I like the in-depth of the four main members (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Hulk) but I would have liked more about some of the other avengers that joined throughout the years rather than a list.

[iTZKooPA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great intro into the long, ever-changing history of the group.

Read my full breakdown:
http://lorehound.com/news/the-novel-p...

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've loved Marvel ever since the first Xmen movie! This is so cool. Lots of great inside information to satisfy your nerdy desires.