Description
Winner of the 2022 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book 'Brilliant, eccentric, moving and wholly wonderful ... All of the Marvels is magnificently marvellous. Wolk's work will invite many more alliterative superlatives. It deserves them all' JUNOT DIAZ, New York Times Every schoolchild recognises their protagonists: the Avengers, the X-Men, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. The superhero comics that Marvel has published since 1961 make up the biggest self-contained work of fiction ever created: over half a million pages and counting. Eighteen of the 100 highest-grossing movies of all time are based on it. And not even the people telling the story have read the whole thing - nobody's supposed to. But Douglas Wolk did. In All Of The Marvels, a critic and superfan takes on the epic to end all epics. What he finds is a magic mirror of the past 60 years, from the atomic terrors of the Cold War to the political divides of our present. Wolk teases out Marvel's mixture of progressive visions and painful stereotypes, its regrettable moments as well as its flights of luminous creativity. The result is an irresistible travel guide to the magic mountain at the heart of popular culture.
A revelatory guide to the 'epic of epics' from a beloved authority
About the Author
Douglas Wolk is the author of the Eisner Award-winning Reading Comics and the host of the Marvel-themed podcast The Voice of Latveria. He has written about comic books, graphic novels, pop music and technology for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Pitchfork.
Reviews
A generous, freewheeling book ... Wolk is a capable guide, wry, friendly and astute [who] can elucidate not just the chemistry between writers and artists but also the underrated role of colourers and letterers -- Dorian Lynskey * Spectator *
A fascinating pop culture journey ... Wolk is a knowledgeable, generous guide, lighting the potentially more confusing corners of the Marvel Universe with enthusiasm, humour and humility -- Martin Gray * Scotsman *
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 -- Jonathan Lethem
Brilliant, eccentric, moving and wholly wonderful ... All of the Marvels is magnificently marvelous. Wolk's work will invite many more alliterative superlatives. It deserves them all -- Junot Diaz * New York Times Book Review *
For anyone willing to take [a] step into the inconceivably vast and wonderful world that generations of creators have brought to us, issue by issue, month by month, year by year, All of the Marvels is an indispensable handbook. And for anyone seeking an explanation for the enduring popularity of our modern superhero mythology, Wolk has provided as well-informed and well-argued a thesis as you're likely to find * Forbes *
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 *
[a] love letter to Marvel comics ... Wolk is having fun and it communicates -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland *
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, author * Saga *
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
A genuine pleasure ...the joy of Wolk's writing is that it's so inclusive ... this book makes me want to track down those glorious tales from my youth ... [All of the Marvels] will rekindle a passion for a collection of stories so vast and interlinked, it defies belief -- Roger Crow * On Magazine *
The deepest of delves into the Marvel Universe ... Wolk is a welcoming guide to the hectic and complex narrative arcs of decades of comic books ... equal fun for novices and comic book aficionados * The Bookseller *
Book Information
ISBN 9781788169288
Author Douglas Wolk
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint Profile Books Ltd
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 700g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 154mm * 38mm
A revelatory guide to the 'epic of epics' from a beloved authority
About the Author
Douglas Wolk is the author of the Eisner Award-winning Reading Comics and the host of the Marvel-themed podcast The Voice of Latveria. He has written about comic books, graphic novels, pop music and technology for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Pitchfork.
Reviews
A generous, freewheeling book ... Wolk is a capable guide, wry, friendly and astute [who] can elucidate not just the chemistry between writers and artists but also the underrated role of colourers and letterers -- Dorian Lynskey * Spectator *
A fascinating pop culture journey ... Wolk is a knowledgeable, generous guide, lighting the potentially more confusing corners of the Marvel Universe with enthusiasm, humour and humility -- Martin Gray * Scotsman *
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 -- Jonathan Lethem
Brilliant, eccentric, moving and wholly wonderful ... All of the Marvels is magnificently marvelous. Wolk's work will invite many more alliterative superlatives. It deserves them all -- Junot Diaz * New York Times Book Review *
For anyone willing to take [a] step into the inconceivably vast and wonderful world that generations of creators have brought to us, issue by issue, month by month, year by year, All of the Marvels is an indispensable handbook. And for anyone seeking an explanation for the enduring popularity of our modern superhero mythology, Wolk has provided as well-informed and well-argued a thesis as you're likely to find * Forbes *
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 *
[a] love letter to Marvel comics ... Wolk is having fun and it communicates -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland *
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, author * Saga *
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
A genuine pleasure ...the joy of Wolk's writing is that it's so inclusive ... this book makes me want to track down those glorious tales from my youth ... [All of the Marvels] will rekindle a passion for a collection of stories so vast and interlinked, it defies belief -- Roger Crow * On Magazine *
The deepest of delves into the Marvel Universe ... Wolk is a welcoming guide to the hectic and complex narrative arcs of decades of comic books ... equal fun for novices and comic book aficionados * The Bookseller *
Book Information
ISBN 9781788169288
Author Douglas Wolk
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint Profile Books Ltd
Publisher Profile Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 700g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 154mm * 38mm
