75 Years of Marvel. From the Golden Age to the Silver Screen Hardcover – December 13, 2014

This titanic tome is gorgeous! It's an absolute must-have for anyone interested in the early days of Marvel. Over 200 pages each devoted to Golden Age (with Atlas Era), Silver Age and Bronze Age. The Daily Bugle Table of Contents was a nice touch, with each era broken into two halves, a bit more than 100 per half. The modern era received a scant 60 pages, but it felt about right. There are even a few pages devoted to tying in the Marvel Cinematic era.There are so many great anecdotes and creator as well as collector tidbits sprinkled throughout the fantastic imagery. This is a true labor of love.The good: Seriously, this is a showcase item. It's a conversation starter. Where else can you find intricately detailed Alex Schomburg covers blown up so large? Every page printed with lustrous fidelity on heavy stock. Any imperfections on the source material are captured, giving much of the classic material a time-worn, ancient artifact vibe. I was shocked to see pristine Marvel Mystery 15 original art from Bill Everett!! That was unexpected.The bad: It left me wanting more. Hundreds of covers, interior art, photos, mementos, and still I wanted more. Even though the size can be a bit difficult to deal with, when I finished each section, I had a bit of regret that the era had come to a close. The pacing was great: Roy and his collection of nostalgia editors did a fantastic job of getting an iconic collection of material together. (I know, I know, this was supposed to be the bad, but what can I say... this is near perfect). Okay, there are a few typos here and there. For the number of hardcore editors on this book, I was surprised by the number of minor goofs here and there. Maybe too many cooks in the kitchen?Also, a few of my favorite covers or interiors were shot a bit smaller than I would have liked, such as the Human Torch #12 cover where Torch is melting a guy's flesh to the bone. It's slightly larger than the thumbnail covers on the back of Masterworks volumes. That's offset by full-page or larger details on Marvel Mystery Comics 3 with Sub-Mariner on the conning tower of a sub, or the cover to Human Torch 5 proclaiming the 60-page epic crossover war between Sub-Mariner and Human Torch with the world in the balance. They also have beautiful double-page spreads of Captain America (Avison) and Steranko's quadruple spread from Nick Fury (in gatefold). Each section is offset with an iconic spread printed on reflective cardstock. Gold for Golden Age (Subby vs Torch), Silver (Spider-man meets the FF) and Bronze (Thor, Odin and Hela) and a rainbow iridescent spread of Marvel characters from John Byrne. King-sized Kirby art! Dynamic Ditko art! All the great artists that have walked the Hallowed Halls of Marveldom on display in an amazing volume. I've read through cover to cover twice already. This is a book that's hard to put down (and heavy to hold up too!) Superior quality book that you won't regret owning.

The media could not be loaded.  This may well be the biggest book I have. It comes with its own travel-box and arrived inside a box-within-a-box and plastic-wrapped. In other words, it was treated with great respect.It is difficult to make a movie and turn its pages at the same time, but I showed a random selection of pages. The art is larger than life-size in vibrant colors.There are many fascinating tidbits of fan mail, insider info, bubble-gum cards, and so on.[edit]Some pages seem to be very thick, at first, but I have found that these are between the major sections and are actually double pages with a glossy metallic print which makes the pages stick. These are very impressive.

As long as you have a sturdy coffee table. I was initially disappointed with this book. Such a large tome, but really, there is little text. Little discussion, little insight. Very little gossip. Yes, great reproductions of original art, covers and comic book pages, but I was hoping for something more substantial from Roy. Each chapter was more or less an overview of the period... and then it was "here are some more pictures!".I still give the production 5 stars. Great quality, great visuals...it's just great. I think if you are looking for some insight into the history of the comic book company, perhaps look at Marvel Comics The Untold Story, Tales to Astonish, or even Stan Lee And The Rise and Fall of the American Comic and Joe Simon: My Life in Comics.My only other advice: If you buy the book, get yourself a lectern. It's not a book to read in bed.

This is a Beast of a book (do you see what I did there...Beast...as in X-Men...)This book is a pleasure to sift through. A visual history that mirrors early 20th century American life and world events. It's amazing to see the evolution of heroes and villains throughout history. From clear distinctions of good and evil to having that distinction become blurred and ambiguous. One could also chart the evolution of society. Our fears, our hopes, our reality are all represented through comics. I love the way that the changing American culture is represented and that one notices how comics were always one step ahead in addressing issues like racism, homophobia, income inequality, etc. In a way, comics portrayed a version of the reader that we could aspire to, a better version of our selves.Yes...I enjoyed the book.

I'm not the world's most effusive Marvel fan. I bought this mostly as a companion piece to DC's 75th Anniversary book, written by Paul Levitz. I haven't read the actual words written, so I can't speak to Roy Thomas' work, but the layout was just as beautiful as the DC book. There's a lot of material from the Golden, Silver, and Bronze ages, with PLENTY of original art, famous covers, and artful photos of historical interest, both of creators and products that were produced during the time (including a neat double-page spread of the Marvel plastic cups produced for 7-11 stores in the 70's). If the writing is as informative as the information I gleaned from the pictures (and I have no doubt that it is), then this book is a must-have for long-standing members of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Don't let the price tag scare you off, this book will enhance your library, and members of your community will begin to look to you as a taste-maker.

grande como a marvel um livro sensacional pena que esgotado uma incrivel homenagem uma jornada por eras com historias de humanos deuses e herois criados por geniais artistas homeros de nosso tempo

A must have for all Marvel fans

Libro impresionante. Hasta que no abres la caja no te das cuenta de que tienes un tesoro en tus manos. El tamaño es impresionante y la calidad de las imágenes y del papel es sublime. Cualquier persona que admire el mundo de los comics debería de tener este libro. Traza la historia de Marvel a través de sus personajes principales, no es una enciclopedia, es una crónica visual de su historia. Es alucinante, maravilloso, sublime... No tengo palabras. Uno de los mejores libros que he visto. También tengo el libro de DC Comics, aunque a mí me gusta mucho más es Universo Marvel. Absolutamente recomendable.

An exceptional book. The illustrations are outstanding. A sweeping overview of Marvel's history. It sits proudly beside my giant Taschen DC book. This is a huge and heavy book. A real collector's piece. Taschen is always top notch. Amazon really packed this well too. This has not always been the case but there were no shipping issues at all.

Als ich mir das Werk bestellte, war mir schon klar, daß es recht groß und mächtig ist. Aber als der Postbote fragte, was ich mir denn da bestellt habe, er weiß, daß ich oft Bücher bekomme, bestand er doch darauf (ich kenne ihn recht gut) beim Auspacken dabei zu sein :-)Und er staunte so wie ich doch sehr als wir es aus einem stabilen Tragekarton befreiten und kurz durchblätterten.Die teilweise metallicfarbenen und spiegelnden doppelseitigen Drucke, aber auch die Druckqualität der übrigen Seiten sind von hervorragender Qualität. Und die Beilage in Form einer 1,20 m langen beidseitig bedruckten Zeitleiste der verschiedenen Helden ist schon einen genaueren Blick wert.Doch nun genug geschwärmt und zum Inhalt.Ray Thomas, ein ehemaliger Chefredakteur von Marvel (1972-1974), erzählt uns die Erfolgsgeschichte von Marvel, beginnend im Jahr 1932.Am Anfang waren die Pulps (Der Name „Pulp“ leitet sich vom billigen, holzhaltigen Papier ab, auf dem die Magazine gedruckt wurden und meist als Schundliteratur betitelt wurden) und auch der zweite Vorläufer der Comic-Hefte, die Comic-Strips. Und dann kam dieser Martin (Moses) Goodman und gründete 1932 zusammen mit Lewis Silberkleit eine eigene Vertriebsfirma für Zeitschriften und wurde dann auch noch zum Verleger. Und 1939 entdeckten sie die Comics und das goldene Zeitalter der Comics begann fast zeitgleich mit dem Erfolg von DCs Superman. Jedoch waren die ersten Superhelden mehr von der skrupellosen und etwas blutrünstigen Art, wie z.B. Human Torch oder der Submariner. Über diese beiden und auch ihrer damaligen Mit-Superhelden erfahren wir viele Fakten, die in dieser Fülle und Art vielen Normalos nicht bekannt sein dürften. 1942 erleben wir dann den ersten Auftritt von Captain America, aber auch Auftritte von vielen heute nicht mehr bekannten Superhelden.Nachdem es in den Kriegsjahren 1942-1945 einen richtigen Comicboom gab, versuchte sich Marvel (damals noch unter dem Namen Timely) in humoristischen Comics. Ab 1950 begann man den Anteil der Horror-Comics zu steigern und es begann auch der Krieg Nord-/Südkorea mit Beteilgung der USA und somit auch der Anfang der War-Comics und ab 1961 ging es dann Schlag auf Schlag mit Spider-Man, den Fantastischen Vier, Thor, Hulk und vielen anderen Superhelden, die wir heute noch kennen. Ab 1963 setzte sich auch mehr und mehr der Name Marvel (auch auf den Titelseiten der Hefte) durch, ersetzte den Namen Atlas Comics und es begann ein Jahrzehnt der Meilensteilen.Bemerkenswert ist auch, dass im Anhang weit über 300 Kurzvorstellungen der Künstler verewigt sind, die für Marvel gearbeitet hatten.Das großformatige Buch ist komplett in englisch gehalten, aber es liegt eine sehr gute deutsche Übersetzung in einem kleineren, aber trotzdem bebilderten DIN A4 Heft bei, das auch den nicht englischkundigen Lesern eine große Hilfe ist.Ich bin bei weitem kein Comic-Guru oder eine Comic-Verrückter, aber in diesem Buch stehen viele der Helden meiner Kindheit wieder vor mir und ich bin froh, dass man sich bei Taschen nicht auf die allgegenwärtigen Comic-Verfilmungen gestürzt hat, denn im Vordergrund stehen die Comic-Hefte und das ist schon ein kaum zu bewältigendes Gebiet, das aber hier gebührend behandelt wird.Fazit:Für jeden Marvel-Fan ein absolutes Muss und eine klare Kaufempfehlung.Copyright der Rezension 2016 by Klaus Spangenmacher für comicola.de