The Mighty MARVEL Universe has never been so well visited in this latest “Updated and Expanded” Edition of MARVEL: YEAR BY YEAR A Visual History just released by DK Book Publishing.
Looking at the world of comic book publishing, it’s hard to imagine at time when Marvel Comics wasn’t innovating and changing the way readers digested these fantastic stories, with heroes and villains engaged in combat and bestowed with incredible powers! There’s an entire generation that has never known that before their larger than life, blockbuster film versions were killing it on the big screen, the Marvel Super Heroes were even far more as engaging in the two-dimensional realm as monthly books collectors and enthusiast fawned over with undying devotion.
Marvel Comics has had (and continues to evolve) one of the greatest histories and is worth diving into and visiting especially given that it’s been well chronicled in a sleeve-cased, hardback “Updated and Expanded” and released by DK Publishing. Perhaps the most definitive guide to the Marvel Saga Marvel: Year By Year – A Visual History is now available and is a must-have for fans, and a sure-fire hit for the uninitiated soon-to-be devotee who is just familiarizing themselves with the Marvel Universe.
Literally breaking down the historical narrative of Marvel Comics by year beginning with 1939 the year that marked the appearance of the publishing giant’s first super-powered heroes. Marvel Comics #1 hit newsstands in October and debuted the original Human Torch, the first mutant Namor, the Submariner and the first Angel. All appeared in the anthology produced by then Timely Publications, which would morph into Marvel Comics. Even then with the introductions of the Torch and Namor, a narrative was developing of the superhero as the “outsider”.
The cover art for the latest edition of MARVEL YEAR BY YEAR is an homage to the imprint’s diversity in character development of the years.
The encyclopedic tome details the rise of the “Marvel Age” which introduced many of Stan Lee’s most innovative creations including the Fantastic Four and the various members of what would become the founding members of the Avengers including Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the eventual modern era appearance of Captain America. The 1960s also saw the introduction of Spider-Man. This marked the beginning of what would become the most popular characters, and best selling, for Marvel Comics.
The eventual introduction and rise of additional characters including the X-Men is detailed from the mighty mutants inception, to their rise as the best-selling book, and the deconstruction of Xavier’s dream, as the X-Men fracture and evolve further into the New Mutants, X-Factor and Wolverine as the break-out hero of the line. Year By Year gives unprecedented detail to all the major storylines throughout Marvel’s history, and marks the debut of titular characters like Cloak and Dagger (in 1982) and the more obscure like Beta Ray Bill (in 1983).
Sidebar bullet points also detail the comparable “real life” events in history that may have also impacted the overall direction of major storylines. Even the cover art by Dan Panosian brilliantly breaks down the various eras of Marvel Comics history, spotlighting the diversifying headliners that have defined each era from the publishing giant’s “Golden Age” (1939 – 1948) to it’s defining “Modern Age” to the twenty-first century evolution that has brought us to Marvel NOW and Beyond!
Marvel: Year By Year — A Visual History Updated and Expanded with a foreword by Stan Lee and published by DK Publishing.
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