Customer Reviews

Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is great. It goes into, although briefly the rise of marvel comics. The meat and potatoes of this book though is the study of the marvel characters. Captain America, Spider-man, The Incredible Hulk, and the X-Men are looked into in depth. Other characters in the marvel universe are also explored but not in the length of the others mentioned. Whats great about this book is that it looks at the characters major story lines and their origins but also their representations in other mediums. WOndering about Captain America in the movies or on t.v.? Then this is the book for you. There is also another great book titled "marvel universe." That book looks at the characters in the comics only. So if you want just a study of the comics go with "Marvel Universe." If you want a book that looks at everything invovled with the character go with this one. Or buy both, they are fantastic books. So buy both! I did.

I put off buying Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe because of the price. I finally decided to give in to the temptation, and WOW, am I glad I did! I had an absolute BLAST reading this book.

The book is beautifully designed; It looks, smells, and feels GREAT. It's so attractive that at times I actually hated to open it for fear of getting it dirty. The cover art by Kaare Andrews is just gorgeous. Content-wise, Author Michael Mallory does a nice job of covering the history of the Marvel Bullpen and it's major players (Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko), and the Marvel Universe and it's major characters (Captain America, The Hulk, Spider-Man, and The X-Men each get extensive chapters of their own, The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Daredevil, The Silver Surfer, et al, all share smaller chapters). The chapters are lavishly illustrated, and filled with beautiful art from the Comics, Movies, TV shows, and video games that the characters have appeared in. I'm a REAL Marvel Comic afficionado, and not only did I NOT find too many mistakes in the book (A few, but nothing major...), but I actually learned a lot; My favorite tidbit- Captain America co-creator Joe Simon hails from my adopted hometown of Rochester, New York.

Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe is a luxury item, to be sure, but one I'm glad I splurged on. I guarantee any Marvel Zombie will love it.

This book, while lacking a little in historical content compared to Marvel: Five Fabulous Decadess of the World's Greatest Comics, exceels in Character content on primary Marvel heros. The art work, photos, and some updated material is nice (eventhough, in the age of comic movies, it is now behgind, but that cannot be helped).

Chapters on Captian America, Spider-man, and the Fantastic Four are very nice, but it does not do justice to other marvel heros such as the second tier group like the Punisher or Daredevil.

All in all, this book functions well as a coffee table book, of which it is intended. I ama Marvel and DC fan, and find this book to be a nice collection.

Marvel has led the way for our superheroes for a long long time! Now you can know each & every one of them, the Super & the not so super alike, all in one place. If you are a true fan then this is a not to miss collection! God bless Stan Lee.

This book is great. Full color, large pictures and information from the past to present on most Marvel Heroes. What is great is that you can be entertained and kept interested while reading about charactors you might not have had any interest in before.

Page 22, caption under picture of Jack Kirby...

"Perhaps Marvel's most important artist. Jack "King" Kirby

PERHAPS!?!?!?!?!?

I understand this book is about the characters mainly and not the creators... but any writer who proclaims "PERHAPS" doesn't know what he's talking about.

On page 55 Kirby is mentioned as "being brought in" along with a letterer on the creation of Captain America. ARE YOU KIDDING?

The author has no trouble giving all due credit to Stan Lee, but avoids Kirby as much as possible. (And I'm a HUGE Stan Lee fan, LOVE HIM!!!! But fair is fair.)

Don't buy this book. There are so many more worthy efforts in this area.

Sorry.