Marvel Comics: The Untold Story
Howe’s in-depth account of Marvel’s business history, revered personalities, and pop-culturally ingrained characters boasts exhaustively researched and intricately integrated information. And loads of it, as this isn’t just one story—it’s a bunch of knotted tales strung together. It’s Stan Lee and Jack Kirby creating a pantheon of modern American superheroes. It’s the rote staff changes and personnel quirks that made Marvel the company it was. It’s the siren call of Hollywood cash that made it the company it is today. It’s a look at the American comic-book industry as a whole over the last half-century. It’s a priceless collection of anecdotes about the artists and writers reflecting and filtering the eras they worked in. The most timely strand threads through issues of creators’ rights and intellectual property, an argument that’s heating up today’s comics climate. Casual fans may find more than they bargained for, but for the Marvel faithful, this is the definitive book on the company responsible for aligning the cosmos in their favorite fictional universe. --Ian Chipman