| Stan
Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe. Published
by Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 200 pages, $50.00.
Surely, an adequate test of whether or not you’ve purchased
a good book is a faint sadness at turning the last page. If
so, then Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe is a good
book.
Written by Roy Thomas, a Marvel scribe and editor for many
years, the book catalogs the major works of Stan Lee at Marvel
in an insightful and entertaining manner.
Highlighting 50 “legendary Marvel moments,” the
book also treats fans to hundreds of full-color cover and
page reproductions dealing with important events in Marvel’s
vast superheroic history.
Making the book even more enticing is the digital playback
device that is attached. Containing 68 voice tracks from Stan
the Man himself, readers can gain special insight from the
uber-imaginative creator. These selected excerpts from an
interview with Lee enhance the printed information and illustrative
glory found within the pages to such a degree as to make this
a must-have for Marvel fans, comic book enthusiasts, pop culture
nuts, or what have you.
If I were to wish one thing about this book, it would be that
it could be thicker, with more pages and more information.
Considering the years Roy Thomas spent behind the scenes at
Marvel, he is in a position to reveal historical tidbits that
many fans-turned-researchers could only dream of. As it is,
he brings to light several items that I never knew, even after
close to 35 years of reading comics. You might be surprised,
as I was, to learn that Marvel’s character the Black
Panther once changed his name for political reasons. Or that
the Comics Code Authority rejected artwork for a particular
Marvel comic due to a puff of smoke in the panel. Interesting
stuff, to be sure.
Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe is highly recommended
for all fans of superhero comics, comic book history or Marvel
Comics in general. Find it at comics shops, bookstores and
online retailers and auctions.
--Mark Allen
Order Michael Vance's history of the American Comics Group
in Alter Ego #s 61 and 62 at www.twomorrows.com.
Interested in the exciting Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection
and Toy and Action Figure Museum? Go to fourcolorcommentary.blogspot.com/
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