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Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story | Sean Howe
An unvarnished, unauthorized, behind-the-scenes account of one of the most dominant pop cultural forces in contemporary America Operating out of a tiny office on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s, a struggling company called Marvel Comics presented a cast of brightly costumed characters distinguished by smart banter and compellingly human flaws. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, Daredevilthese superheroes quickly won children's hearts and sparked the imaginations of pop artists, public intellectuals, and campus radicals. Over the course of a half century, Marvel's epic universe would become the most elaborate fictional narrative in history and serve as a modern American mythology for millions of readers. Throughout this decades-long journey to becoming a multibillion-dollar enterprise, Marvel's identity has continually shifted, careening between scrappy underdog and corporate behemoth. As the company has weathered Wall Street machinations, Hollywood failures, and the collapse of the comic book market, its characters have been passed along among generations of editors, artists, and writersalso known as the celebrated Marvel "Bullpen." Entrusted to carry on tradition, Marvel's contributorsimpoverished child prodigies, hallucinating peaceniks, and mercenary careerists among themstruggled with commercial mandates, a fickle audience, and, over matters of credit and control, one another. For the first time, Marvel Comics reveals the outsized personalities behind the scenes, including Martin Goodman, the self-made publisher who forayed into comics after a get-rich-quick tip in 1939; Stan Lee, the energetic editor who would shepherd the company through thick and thin for decades; and Jack Kirby, the World War II veteran who'd co-created Captain America in 1940 and, twenty years later, developed with Lee the bulk of the company's marquee characters in a three-year frenzy of creativity that would be the grounds for future legal battles and endless debates. Drawing on more than one hundred original interviews with Marvel insiders then and now, Marvel Comics is a story of fertile imaginations, lifelong friendships, action-packed fistfights, reformed criminals, unlikely alliances, and third-act betrayals a narrative of one of the most extraordinary, beloved, and beleaguered pop cultural entities in America's history.
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AdamCaron
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Mehso-so

At comic book, fan should read this. Learn all about where marvel came from and how it started

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britt_brooke
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Probably more than you‘d ever need to know about Marvel, but quite entertaining. SO much drama! Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Marv Wolfman and so many more fought, created, and persevered. This is also a decent history of the comic book industry. I haven‘t read a ton of comics, but enough to appreciate this and the process. Stephen Hoye is a phenomenal narrator!

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alyxyo
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Pickpick

I was worried this would be either a dry slog of a read or graceless propaganda, but it turns out to be a frank and well-balanced account of the Marvel entertainment empire. I'd happily buy a (reasonably-priced secondhand) copy to reread.

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alyxyo
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"In the beginning Marvel created the Bullpen and the Style.

"And the Bullpen was without form, and was void; and darkness was upon the face of the Artists. And the Spirit of Marvel moved upon the face of the Writers.

"And Marvel said, Let there be the Fantastic Four. And there was The Fantastic Four.

"And Marvel saw The Fantastic Four. And it was good."

- Stan Lee

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justenoughtrope

Gonna get to you someday

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maximoffs

So far I've learned that there was A LOT of LSD in the early days of Marvel 😂

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maximoffs
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Interesting that Falcon is based on OJ Simpson!

laurenlovesliterature Falcon must not wear gloves....they don't fit 7y
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xicanti
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1. I dunno if I have a clear favourite. I recently loved WONDER WOMAN, BLACK PANTHER, and SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, and I have a lot of affection for IRON MAN 3, DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, and THE DARK KNIGHT.

2. Magneto. No contest.

3. I read mostly Marvel because of the X-Men (and because of Marvel Unlimited), but I also love a lot of DC (Sandman! Green Arrow!) and Image (Saga! WicDiv!) and manga (Skip Beat! Yotsuba!&!).

#trivialthursday @GarthRanzz

GarthRanzz I used to love the X-Men so much, my second favourite team. But I‘m having trouble getting into the recents books. 7y
xicanti @GarthRanzz I feel like the X-Men had a great resurgence around 2008, but they've struggled since Secret Wars. Both Blue and Gold have been pretty uneven, and I wish the X-editors would quit trying to revive old romances. ALL-NEW WOLVERINE is a forever fave, though, and I'm bummed ICEMAN got cancelled. 7y
GarthRanzz I‘ve been sticking to the colour titles and Astonishing. The latter has been good but I already feel that uneasy feeling of far too many groups. 7y
24 likes3 comments
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shareyourghost
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Whoops! Went birthday shopping for @TobeyTheScavengerMonk and accidentally bought some books for myself. $5 each at Nice Price Books. I got cool stuff for him too, don‘t worry.

TobeyTheScavengerMonk Sweet! I have almost go you that Marvel Comics: The Untold Story on multiple occasions. I got a non-movie cover Master & Commander for a nickel at the library sale! 7y
12 likes1 comment
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maximoffs

This book is fascinating. In depth and long, but well written so far. Probably going to be a long read for me.

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KimHM
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Mehso-so

I‘m not bailing on this so much as putting it aside for reference purposes. The title is a bit misleading, as it‘s less a “story” than a collection of facts, which is fine—and even necessary—but not enjoyable to read. But when I need to know when Jessica Jones was created, I‘ll check here.

GuiltyFeat Based on the page in the picture, you have a long way to go before you get to Jessica Jones. 7y
KimHM Indeed, @GuiltyFeat. Thus, I relegate this book to the reference shelf. 7y
4 likes2 comments
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LitsyHappenings
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Repost from @TricksyTails :

Well, hot diggity dog! Need any more reason to stockpile those #comics? #Amazon's #DigitalDaySale is LIVE! #KindleBooks are on sale, but more importantly Marvel is 80% off right now! 👏😆📚📚📚

More goodies for #LetsGetGraphicWeeklongMarathon! Woohoo! 🙌

#GraphicNovels #Comics #ComicBooks #ComicBookLovers #LetYourGeekFlagFly #Readathon #LitsyHappenings

TricksyTails Thank you! 👏😊 7y
Clwojick 👏👏👏👏👏 7y
68 likes3 comments
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maximoffs
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This just came in at the library! Could there be a more wheelhouse book?

nosferatoos I LOVED this book 7y
Erie Oh my gosh, I need this book in my life. 😻 7y
maximoffs @nosferatoos its great so far! @erie it's written really well!! 7y
64 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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danimgill
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Mehso-so

Accomplished my first goal for the #readathon, finishing this book!

I don't think I'm a deep enough comics nerd to have been the target audience for this - I admire Sean Howe's incredible efforts in compiling a behind the scenes history of Marvel, but I got a bit lost in the weeds of all the (many) staff turnovers and disputes.

Now off to meet a friend to celebrate #indiebookstoreday! 🎉📚

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danimgill
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The weather continues to be blah as hell here in Boston (I believe that's the technical term) but at least I've got this awesome-covered book about the history of Marvel Comics to start in on today!

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balletbookworm
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Pickpick

A very comprehensive history of Marvel Comics from it's beginnings, thru the downturn in the 1960s when Jack Kirby and Stan Lee laid the foundations for the current Marvel, to the resurgence in the 2000s. I'd heard that Kirby, Ditko, et al got kind of screwed over but WHOA did they get fucked. Definitely a recommend for comics fans (gets a bit dry in places though, despite the juicy insider info).

balletbookworm I wish the book had included some images (maybe as chapter headings) bc I had to Google older comics I wasn't familiar with (Prince Namor? Shanna the She-Devil? Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu?). 8y
balletbookworm Also, Stan Lee? Kind of a dick 8y
SecretLivesOfFictionLovers Oooh I'm intrigued by the Stan Lee thing. May have to get this for my boyfriend for Christmas. An excuse for me to read it too lol! 8y
balletbookworm @SecretLivesOfFictionLovers oh yeah. He is the rah-rah man who really comes off as more concerned about himself than others (which is such a head-scratcher for those of us who know him as the funny old dude in Marvel movie cameos) 8y
35 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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DennisJacobRosenfeld
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The work continues. Research for my Master's Thesis must be the most enjoyable prep work I've ever done for a paper.

SusanInTiburon Not enough color in most theses. You're doing it right. 8y
DennisJacobRosenfeld @SusanInTiburon I'm glad you think so! I feel really good about it. And it will definitely be bursting with color. 8y
7 likes2 comments