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Marvel: rise of the superheroes
Marvel comics from 1986 -2013 Including major events and crossovers plus story synopsis and covers.
Hardcover
Published September 1, 2016
7 people want to read
About the author
Marvel Comics
9,813 books403 followersMarvel Publishing, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media. Marvel Entertainment, Inc., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, owns Marvel Publishing (since 2009).
Marvel counts among its characters such well-known properties as Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Daredevil, Thor, the Sub-Mariner, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and the Silver Surfer; antagonists such as Dr. Doom, the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Venom, Magneto, Sabretooth, Galactus, the Red Skull, the Kingpin, and Bullseye; and others. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locales set in real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The comic book arm of the company started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel's modern incarnation dates from 1961, with the company later that year launching Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others. Marvel has since become the largest American comic book publisher, surpassing its longtime competitor DC Comics.
On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion.
--from Wikipedia
Note: Although currently owned by the Walt Disney Company, this author is kept separate due to it's long history prior to it's acquisition - over 70 years.
Marvel counts among its characters such well-known properties as Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Daredevil, Thor, the Sub-Mariner, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and the Silver Surfer; antagonists such as Dr. Doom, the Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Venom, Magneto, Sabretooth, Galactus, the Red Skull, the Kingpin, and Bullseye; and others. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locales set in real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The comic book arm of the company started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the early 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel's modern incarnation dates from 1961, with the company later that year launching Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others. Marvel has since become the largest American comic book publisher, surpassing its longtime competitor DC Comics.
On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment for $4.24 billion.
--from Wikipedia
Note: Although currently owned by the Walt Disney Company, this author is kept separate due to it's long history prior to it's acquisition - over 70 years.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 24, 2017
I got this book as my Secret Santa gift in the Office Secret Santa (so thanks to whoever that was) and was rather interested to see what was covered.
Typically I am not a huge Marvel comics fan - I own a handful of X-Men Graphic Novels (a New X-Men title that I got free in a gift bag from London Comic Con, Curse of the Mutants (side note: that storyline gets a mention in this book!) that I got for a quid from a charity shop, and of course the must have duo of The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past - both of which I paid full price for as I knew about them and how key they are to the mythos of the X-Men), and an Avengers Origins compilation (another full price purchase but more on a whim as the film franchises were picking up and I wanted to have a bit more knowledge about them). On the other side (i.e. DC) I own at least 12 Batman Graphic Novels, plus a Superman story. I'm not sure what it is (actually I do... no-one in the Marvel comics universe is as interesting to me as Batman and the Clown Prince are), but when it comes to the comics themselves Marvel has never grabbed me - but their films are some of my absolute favourites.
This book covers Marvel's modern age of comics - starting in the 1980s and ending in mid-2013. A brief mention is given to the earlier years of Marvel but only enough to set the tone, so the reader knows what they were coming from - it would have been nice if this was bookended with a brief summary of the upcoming events in Marvel's future that were known at the time this went to print - even if it was more film orientated (the latter parts of the timeline mention the films so it wouldn't have been that odd to do so).
Each year is taken in turn, with certain key events from each month picked out. At the end of each years' section is a list of events that happened in that year including the 9/11 attack, the London Bombings, US political appointments and major film releases. I found this to be particularly interesting as a number of the events covered I thought were before my life time not during, and it also showed how the comics reflected the landscape of the time.
Although a lot of the Marvel Universe is covered here there are some notable absences such as the Guardians of the Galaxy (granted I only know of them due to their films BUT the book picks up on other lesser known (but perhaps cult) groupings)), and it seems the focus is on the figureheads of Marvel - Spiderman, X-Men and The Avengers. That said The Fantastic Four have a decent showing, as does the Hulk but don't expect to see all that much of Black Panther or Doctor Strange - despite them being on the cover!
I've never particularly cared for Spiderman but I must admit I have had my interest piqued by some of the storylines touched upon here. There are also a number of graphic novels I now really want to read - the apparently non-canon Elektra Lives Again (1991), the Hawkeye series (2012), and the DC v Marvel Crossover event from 1996 amongst others.
The second half of this book is dedicated to comic cover images and I really enjoyed this. I think part of the joy of graphic novels is the artwork that accompanies the story so getting to see so many Marvel comic covers was rather nice.
Overall I think this was a really interesting read, and a must have for Marvel fans. For someone like me who tends to dabble in the universes as opposed to deep diving this is a great reference tool and will act as a very good guide for future reading.
Typically I am not a huge Marvel comics fan - I own a handful of X-Men Graphic Novels (a New X-Men title that I got free in a gift bag from London Comic Con, Curse of the Mutants (side note: that storyline gets a mention in this book!) that I got for a quid from a charity shop, and of course the must have duo of The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past - both of which I paid full price for as I knew about them and how key they are to the mythos of the X-Men), and an Avengers Origins compilation (another full price purchase but more on a whim as the film franchises were picking up and I wanted to have a bit more knowledge about them). On the other side (i.e. DC) I own at least 12 Batman Graphic Novels, plus a Superman story. I'm not sure what it is (actually I do... no-one in the Marvel comics universe is as interesting to me as Batman and the Clown Prince are), but when it comes to the comics themselves Marvel has never grabbed me - but their films are some of my absolute favourites.
This book covers Marvel's modern age of comics - starting in the 1980s and ending in mid-2013. A brief mention is given to the earlier years of Marvel but only enough to set the tone, so the reader knows what they were coming from - it would have been nice if this was bookended with a brief summary of the upcoming events in Marvel's future that were known at the time this went to print - even if it was more film orientated (the latter parts of the timeline mention the films so it wouldn't have been that odd to do so).
Each year is taken in turn, with certain key events from each month picked out. At the end of each years' section is a list of events that happened in that year including the 9/11 attack, the London Bombings, US political appointments and major film releases. I found this to be particularly interesting as a number of the events covered I thought were before my life time not during, and it also showed how the comics reflected the landscape of the time.
Although a lot of the Marvel Universe is covered here there are some notable absences such as the Guardians of the Galaxy (granted I only know of them due to their films BUT the book picks up on other lesser known (but perhaps cult) groupings)), and it seems the focus is on the figureheads of Marvel - Spiderman, X-Men and The Avengers. That said The Fantastic Four have a decent showing, as does the Hulk but don't expect to see all that much of Black Panther or Doctor Strange - despite them being on the cover!
I've never particularly cared for Spiderman but I must admit I have had my interest piqued by some of the storylines touched upon here. There are also a number of graphic novels I now really want to read - the apparently non-canon Elektra Lives Again (1991), the Hawkeye series (2012), and the DC v Marvel Crossover event from 1996 amongst others.
The second half of this book is dedicated to comic cover images and I really enjoyed this. I think part of the joy of graphic novels is the artwork that accompanies the story so getting to see so many Marvel comic covers was rather nice.
Overall I think this was a really interesting read, and a must have for Marvel fans. For someone like me who tends to dabble in the universes as opposed to deep diving this is a great reference tool and will act as a very good guide for future reading.
May 20, 2018
A really nice, big coffee table book which goes into very good detail of the Marvel comics universe.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews