Marvel Comics: The Untold Story | 
pickA fascinating look at the endlessly renewing, creative, flawed entity that is Marvel comics.
Howe does a great job of moving the historical account from its first moments, through the decades, hitting on pivotal people, creations and events, offering a lot of context with details of the comic book industry throughout the years, and the company's restructuring along that path, how Marvel shaped and was shaped, 1/?
Okay but Vengeance, Incorporated is amazing
Isn't it nice that the fans were responding favourably to the chemically enhanced creativity by supplying the artists with more mind-altering substances? 🙃🧪
Was this by any chance an LSD or mushroom-induced trance, Steve?! 😵💫🍄
“ritualistic discharge“ is going to stick with me.
so-soAt comic book, fan should read this. Learn all about where marvel came from and how it started
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 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!
pickI 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.
"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
So far I've learned that there was A LOT of LSD in the early days of Marvel 😂
Interesting that Falcon is based on OJ Simpson!
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
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.
This book is fascinating. In depth and long, but well written so far. Probably going to be a long read for me.
so-soI‘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.
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
This just came in at the library! Could there be a more wheelhouse book?
so-soAccomplished 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! 🎉📚
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!
pickA 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).
The work continues. Research for my Master's Thesis must be the most enjoyable prep work I've ever done for a paper.
I appreciate the honesty inherent in acknowledging the 'he said, she said, they said' when speaking of the early years, filtered through acrimony, law suits, careers that went awry. Also the ongoing attention paid to the tension between artists and writers looking for fulfilling, creative work over which they retained creative control and maybe even ownership, which could be 3mo
It's no secret at this point that the artists, for decades, and even to this day, struggle to retain ownership of their work, even creative control, but it turns out the reality is even messier, 3mo
What I 'Marvel' at is honestly how the company stayed in business long enough to become an IP farm for 3mo
Howe doesn't hesitate to lay out the dirty laundry in the text and the footnotes, but it doesn't feel salacious, rather that it is trying to honour the fact that amongst groundbreaking imagination and epic highs and lows of productivity, commercial success and critical acclaim, there was a constantly disorganized or constantly reorganized hierarchy trying to stay one step ahead of eternally toxic office politics and owner 3mo
Aside from the truly wild moments excerpted from the psychedelic 60s, stoned 70s, and coked out 80s, what truly amused me were the times when Howe went direct to reader with the shade, no disgruntled intermediary required. There are evidently comic book moments known as just plain bad, and he does not hold back. 💅🏼
3mo
Now I really, really want to read a history of DC comics. 3mo