All of the Marvels: An Amazing Voyage into Marvel’s Universe and 27,000 Superhero Comics

Had the Kindle version when it was first released but wanted a paperback copy to keep to hand , it's wonderful and slightly disbelieving that some person has read all marvel 616 universe titles (excluding some franchised ones) how the hell could/would you do it? It's a great book to dip into bit much sense in reading it chronologicaly as the author never read them that way plus it dosent review everyone read , the Hickman books have been overlooked by me I'll put them all on my reading list , plus other facts that will make reading certain books more interesting it sits nicely with Howes all the marvels but both are different , it's certainly going to be a reference book for me

This for me is a thorough and generally accurate view of Marvel Comics' history. Where I disagree with the author is over his opinion of why older readers do not accept newer versions of well known heroes (i.e. Jane Foster as Thor or Miles Morales as Spider-Man). The Author seems to put this down to sexism or racism. I would disagree and argue that older readers reject these newer versions simply because they are not the characters we grew up with and came to know and love. To look for a more sinister reason is simply wrong in my view.

Full of information, my grandson loves it. Ideal for any Marvel fan. Very well presented

Absolutely brilliant book.

I am a lifelong Marvel fan (Fantastic Four 127) to be exact and deep down I have always wanted to do what Douglas Wolk has done and read everything. This is very comprehensive but I personally would have preferred this to be a chronological run-through from the start.rather than selecting certain Seri as a focus. That said this is excellent and I did learn things I never knew before. Very good book

All of the Marvels by Douglas Wolk is a must-read for everyone who loves Marvel Universe and would like to learn more about its history. I read and watched a bit of Marvel, so when I saw the book, I had to read it! I found so much fascinating information and I don't feel bad anymore for not starting 'at the beginning' with the comics, because it's nearly impossible to establish where the beginning really is. The timeline was always quite confusing for me, but after reading All of the Marvels I have much better understanding about how time and events work there. I was happy to see several of my favourite comics described in details on the pages of this book. I admire the author for reading over a half a million pages as a preparation, from well-known and loved stories, to those that have only a few very nerdy fans and no one else has probably heard about them in the XXI century. The research is thorough and we get lots of footnotes, some with lovely fun facts like one of the first published pieces of G.R. (R.) Martin was a fan letter to Marvel! All of the Marvels is a fantastic journey through the Marvel Universe, engaging, informative and captivating. If you want to learn more about the characters whom you love on the big screen or colourful comic book pages - check Douglas' work because it's worth it! And yes, pre-order now! ----- Thank you so much Profile Books for giving me a chance to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

All Of The Marvels seems initially to fit into the “man does a ridiculous project” genre of books, like the Babel Message or even Around Ireland With A Fridge. But the method in the madness moves beyond “someone does something so they can then writer about it” into, “this is the culture – isn’t it?”. Certainly what Douglas Wolk has done here – read every single Marvel comic (with caveats so minor they don’t matter) – is a gargantuan task. There is a reason why there are at least three preamble chapters telling you not to do it, and if you even vaguely try to do it, don’t do it, but if you really, really want to do it – do it your way. Because the artistic value of the project, reading the largest piece of shared Universe fiction where everything happened and everything matters (that week), also involves reading quite a few badly written stories, a fair few terribly drawn comics and plenty of stories who exist to unpick or contradict previous stories. By all means follow your favourite characters over sixty years, aging perhaps ten at best, but be prepared for their personalities, back story and even in some cases powers and parentage to change. It might be the largest piece of shared universe fiction out there, but no-one every promised it would be good or make a whole lot of sense. Wolk can say this, and say this in some cases with glee, because he has read them all. In his generous fashion finds the upside of the project (the good stuff, the great art, the surprising or satisfying stories) outweighs the bad stuff and the bad stuff, well its often interestingly bad. A continuous piece of fiction written and released in multiple books monthly rides the zeitgeist, though it also often rides the coat-tails of the zeitgeist if not the second wave coat-tails (Oh Dazzler – disco was dead and buried before you put your glittery roller skates on). So you can watch US society change, deep buried politic ideas shift. It helps that the carnival barker of Marvel - Stan Lee (whose input Wolk muses upon in many places) talked a good equality talk. But even in some of the most heinously racist portrayals – and Wolk spends a chapter on Shang-Chi and the Fu Manchu connections – you can see things change and arguments happen in the letter pages (again a forerunner of our own hyper-mediated feedback culture). What is great about All Of The Marvels – and it is great – is the sense of sitting with someone telling you how great, and silly, and infuriating, and addictive their hobby is, and it never gets old or boring. Wolk has read all of these comics SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO, and spends much of the book doing deep dives on favourite bits. Most of these coincide with characters who have greater media attention through the films now, they are the big characters, so no-one gets to go in cold. But every time Wolk tells you not to do what he has done, the urge grows greater in the reader. This engaging, funny and warm writer did it, and it didn’t break him (it might have broken him a bit). One of those books that could have been twice as long and still as much fun, I read it in a day – cancelling my plans because it was that much fun. I know Marvel comics pretty well so wasn’t surprised by many of the revelations here, but it was like spending a day chatting about this nonsense. If along the way he makes the case for cultural significance (probably already a given), and artistic value then his job is also done. Treat yourself if you are even vaguely interested in the topic, and perhaps, even if you aren’t.

Auf den ersten Blick ist dies ein typisches "Ich habe was originelles gemacht und schreibe darüber"-Buch, aber der Autor ist kein Comedian oder Reiseschriftsteller, sondern tatsächlich Comicfan und entsprechend war das Projekt alle "Superhelden"-Comics zu lesen, keine Aufgabe, für die er sich besonders lang machen müsste. Schwieriger ist es schon zu definieren, was das Buch ist: Er selber schreibt von einem Fremdenführer für den Marvel-Canon, aber ich weiß nicht ob das passt. Er gibt auf jeden Fall einen interessanten Einblick über die Entstehung und vor allem den storytechnischen Verlauf der wichtigsten Reihen. Schwieriger wird es mit dem Zusammenhängen zwischen diesen durch Events, da wird es doch z.T. recht sprunghaft. Und alle Reihen kann er sowieso nicht besprechen. Dazwischen gibt es immer wieder interessante Nebenaspekte wie z.B. das wiederkehrende Problem, dass die Zeit im Comicbuchuniversum anders verläuft, da Ereignisse über Wochen passieren und Charaktere nicht altern (etwas was auch das MCU gelegentlich zu schaffen macht). Ich habe mich sehr unterhalten gefühlt, nach der Lektüre und habe ein paar Einblicke gewonnen, in Storylines die ich nicht kannte. Aber ich bin mit Sicherheit jetzt kein Experte für irgendwas Marvel und das war auch nicht das Ziel: Der Autor wollte seine Liebe zu Comics teilen und das hat er auf jeden Fall getan.

This is great if you happen to be the target audience, as I am. This guy read all of the Marvel comic books which are somehow tied together to form the Marvel Universe. (It excludes ones like Millie the Model although it references her.) He started at 1961 and continued through about 2015. This is useful for someone like me who stopped reading comics years ago but am curious about anything good which I may have missed. And he fills in information based on reading that most people will not have done. Plus, he draws together some very interesting threads. At one point, Marvel was publishing comics for girls. Millie the Model was one. (I remember that particular one from my own childhood - the popular girls at school read that and only let their friends read their copies at lunch. I was peeved at not being allowed to borrow any. I didn't care about the girls, I just wanted to read comics.) Another comic of that era (1961, ff) was Linda Carter, Student Nurse. He spends a whole chapter on this. The comic was just what you expect: a gushy girly comic where the novice nurse finds romance and job satisfaction. The kicker is that this character, Linda Carter, was brought back THIRTY YEARS LATER as the Night Nurse, the woman who runs a clandestine clinic to patch up super-heroes injured in battle. It makes perfect sense that such a role would exist in a world where super-heroes exist. After all, hospitals have to report all gunshot wounds and they wouldn't be big on keeping secret identities secret. So it was just genius to transport this character who started as an upbeat student nurse dedicated to helping people into an older, seasoned nurse who just does that. Wolk sees these comics as one gigantic continuing story and in his synthesis, points out how various comics fulfill it. I can't do it justice by trying to describe it. If Marvel comics are your thing, you definitely want to read this.

It's a concise psuedo autobiography of a person who has read everything about marvel

I thought it would be in comics💭 but it's in paragraph... But also it's good... Book seen to be big but it contains a lot of information... Amazon books are best I love it a lot Thank you AMAZON

When I say this is a well researched book, I mean the author read a mountain of comics. So cool to review characters and story lines. He also explains some of the underlining themes while exposing the behind the scene stories. Fun read.