All of the Marvels

influence are pervasive.

The Marvel story is a mountain, smack in the middle of contemporary culture. The mountain wasn't always there. At first, there was a little subterranean wonder in that spot, a cave that was rumored to have monsters inside it; colorful adventurers had once tested their skills there, and lovers met at its mouth. Then, in the 1960s, it started bulging up above the surface of the earth, and it never stopped growing.

It's not the kind of mountain whose face you can climb. It doesn't seem hazardous (and it isn't), but those who try to follow what appear to be direct trails to its summit find that it's grown higher every time they look up. The way to experience what the mountain has to offer is to go inside it and explore its innumerable bioluminescent caverns and twisty passageways; some of them lead to stunning vantage points onto the landscape that surrounds it.

There is no clear pathway into the mountain from the outside. Parts of it are abandoned and choked with cobwebs. Other parts are tedious, gruesome, ludicrous, infuriating. And yet people emerge from it all the time, gasping and cheering, telling one another about the marvels they've seen, then rushing back in for more.

Marvel Comics, as an artistic and commercial project, began in the early 1960s, initially as the work of a handful of experienced comics professionals-artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, editor/writer Stan Lee, and a few others. The superhero stories that had dominated American comic books in the late Ô30s and early Ô40s had mostly fallen out of style at that point, but instead of returning to that faltering genre as it had been, Kirby, Ditko, and Lee combined it with aspects of the genres that had supplanted it: the uncanny horror of the monster and sci-fi stories Ditko and Kirby had been drawing more recently; the focus on the emotion of the romance anthologies Kirby had helped to invent in 1947; the gently jabbing wit of

artists but also the underrated role of colorers and letterers; and he tracks the evolution of Marvel s abiding themes with the right mix of respect and amusement. The Spectator (UK)

All of the Marvels, a masterful tour of the last six decades of Marvel Comics, evokes much of the childlike wonder and alacrity of combing the spinner racks, eager to turn your afternoon over to another escapist fantasy. . . . All of the basics are covered here, including Spider-Man, Thor, and the X-Men, and Wolk writes beautifully about them. . . . A kinetic, enjoyable reading experience. AIPT

Wolk gets into a number of fascinating discussions about the very notion of reading the entire output of Marvel Comics . . . you feel like you're reading along with a friend and it makes the whole endeavor so much more interesting and appealing. . . . This is a great, fun book about comics that I highly recommend you pick up. Brian Cronin, Comic Book Resources

Wolk is the perfect tour guide for this Marvel Comics journey and paints a vivid picture of the intricately connected Marvel Universe. . . . Chapter after chapter, he brilliantly provides overviews of some of Marvel s most iconic characters. . . . The novelty of Wolk s work is his ability to take a character and jump between decades to different series, showing how both ardent true believers and comic novices can take pleasure in their stories. . . . For those looking for a map to navigate the web of Marvel Comics, All of the Marvels is a delightful and gratifying outline that will please comic fans of all calibers. Samuel Gelman, Comic Book Resources
 
The way Wolk makes sense of, finds beauty in, and connects all the different stories and details is masterful. . . . A must-read for all Marvel fans, from devotees to newbies, All of the Marvels is a colorful and heartfelt journey through the Marvel Universe, and highlights just what makes this epic feat of storytelling so special. Hypable

Wolk s light and humorous style appeals. . . . [All of the Marvels] will likely become a bible for serious comics fans and a useful introduction and reference guide for all others. Highly recommended. Library Journal (starred review)

Wolk pulls off an extraordinary feat in this tour-de-force, distilling over 60 years of Marvel Comics stories into a fascinating guide that will resonate with true believers and neophytes alike. . . . Comics fans will be riveted. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A simultaneously wide-ranging and engagingly specific guide to the sprawling realm of comics culture. Kirkus

Wolk hasn t just read the entire Marvel catalog an extraordinary feat all on its own he s managed to extract thematic and narrative threads from the longest-running continuous narrative in human history and to identify key pillars upon which to build his exploration of what the Marvel universe is, and what's so damn interesting about it. No prior knowledge or familiarity with Marvel (or comics, even!) is expected or required, which means this is it, the book we ve been waiting for, the long-desired guidebook for newcomers and lifelong fans alike. If someone is curious about getting into Marvel comics and doesn't know where to start? Start here. Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel, Avengers Assemble)

Some of us are haunted by the memory of a childhood glimpse of some vast evocative dream; others exasperated by the slick iconography that has taken over our screens, wallets, and eyeballs. If you re like me, it s both. For all of us, Douglas Wolk s naked dive into the Marvel source code is a revelation, a tour both electrifying in its weird charisma, and replenishing in its loving specificity. As an account of how a motley gang of accidental collaborators created a vernacular mythology out of the dodgiest of commercial occasions, it s also a testament, and a tribute. Like Greil Marcus in Mystery Train or Manny Farber in Negative Space, Wolk pushes aside paraphrase to free up an encounter with what s been there all along, homegrown art. Jonathan Lethem

Over the past sixty years, Marvel has published a lot of comics a stack nearly twenty stories high! Douglas Wolk has read his way to the top of Excelsior Towers, and in All of the Marvels he shares with us the view of the entire Marvel Universe. Whether a die-hard fan or a comic book novice, you ll find this entertaining and engaging book endlessly rewarding, as Wolk highlights the culture in this form of popular culture. James Kakalios, physics professor, University of Minnesota and author of The Physics of Superheroes


Thorough, fascinating and joyfully executed, All of the Marvels is essential reading for fans and scholars alike. A magisterial work of pop culture research. G. Willow Wilson, author of Ms. Marvel

What sounds like a madman s quest turns out to be a deeply emotional hero s journey. The best work yet from the best writer about the medium of comics. Brian K. Vaughan (Saga)