Mighty Marvel Calendar Book: A Visual History: The Marvel Comics Calendar Book: 1975-1981

by Chris Ryall

Untitled Calendar Book

272 pages, Hardcover

Published November 12, 2024

Reviews

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

And now for something completely different, Marvel fans. From 1975 to 1981, Marvel created their own yearly calendars, which were published by Simon & Schuster, who had been publishing Stan Lee’s Origin of Marvel Comics series around the same time. This book collects all the art produced for these seven calendars by some of Marvel’s famous artist, including: Jack Kirby, John Buscema, John Byrne, Frank Miller, Walter Simonson, Gil Kane, George Pérez, Gene Colan, Jim Starlin, Sal Buscema, Mike Ploog, and dozens more. And it reproduces each calendar year-by-year at the actual size it was published, a whopping 13 x 13”, and it even has a faux spiral binding across the top of each calendar page. Chris Ryall offers historical info on each year, and former Marvel editor-in-chief and writer Roy Thomas—who did the first calendar under orders from Stan the Man himself—provides the introduction. Unfailingly, I got these each year as a Christmas gift, and in fact, some years even had two of them, one for my art school dorm room, and one for home. I’ve long since parted with my originals, but here they are, all gussied up in a beautiful hardbound collection. Also, as a bonus, Abrams MarvelArts has republished the very first calendar from 1975 because 50 years later, it’s now the calendar for 2025! This book is such a treat and belongs on every Marvel Comics fan’s bookshelf!