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“Sean Howe’s history of Marvel makes a compulsively readable, riotous, and heartbreaking version of my favorite story, that of how a bunch of weirdos changed the world. That it’s all true is just frosting on the cake.”
— Jonathan Lethem, New York Times bestselling author
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“Exhaustively researched and artfully assembled, Marvel Comics is a historical exploration, a labor of love, and a living illustration of how the weirdest corners of the counterculture can sometimes become the culture-at-large.”
— Chuck Klosterman, New York Times bestselling author
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“Page after page, Sean Howe’s Marvel Comics manages to be enchantingly told, emotionally suspenseful, and totally revelatory.”
— Sloane Crosley, New York Times bestselling author
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“A warts-and-all, nail-biting mini-epic about the low-paid, unsung ‘funnybook men’ who were unwittingly creating twenty-first century pop culture. If you thought the fisticuffs were bare and bloody on the four-color page, wait ‘til you hear about what went down in the Marvel bullpen.”
— Patton Oswalt
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“Sean Howe has collected the history with a fanboy’s dedication to continuity and detail. As with every two-bit, four-color superhuman donning tights to fight crime, there’s an origin tale, and Marvel Comics: The Untold Story lays it out.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“Marvel Comics is a meticulous chronicle of the real secret origins of the superhero, a tragic love story about the relationship between a long parade of passionate, talented superhero devotees and the company that didn’t love them back.”
— Los Angeles Times
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“A superpowered must-read for anyone hooked on comics, as well as a gripping story for someone merely enlightened by a genre that’s always had to fight for respect. It’s much more about ordinary, flawed humans than super men and women, and therein lies its excellence.”
— USA Today
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“A vivid account...Comics have proven an enduring art form, gaining new fans without losing the old ones. Howe’s exhaustively researched love letter to Marvel should find grateful readers among both groups.”
— Boston Globe
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“Fascinating, compelling reading...Exhaustively researched...What ultimately propels you to keep turning the pages of this fat, enjoyable book are the endless anecdotes about how the Marvel universe was shaped.”
— Miami Herald
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“Howe offers vivid reporting and enticing detail...The result is a book both authoritative and charmingly readable.”
— Wall Street Journal
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“It’s about time somebody wrote Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, and it looks like Sean Howe was the right guy for the job. Howe’s clear-eyed history...is as full of colorful characters, tragic reversals, and unlikely plot twists as any book in the Marvel canon.”
— Newsday
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“A jittery, hilarious, anecdotal, and exhaustive history of the company...If you’re a comics fan, this is essential reading. If you’re not, then it’s merely fascinating. Howe has written a biographical history of modern America’s id.”
— GQ
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“Exhaustively researched and extraordinarily compelling...A quasi-Shakespearean portrayal of Marvel as it moves from spirited upstart to ruthless corporate colossus.”
— Salon
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“Howe, a widely published critic with a real knack...for reporting, gets farther inside the company than anyone else has...An essential read for anyone who loves comics.”
— Daily Beast
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“Howe paints an indelible portrait of the crass, juvenile, soulful business that captured the world’s imagination.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“An impeccably researched, authoritative history of Marvel Comics.”
— Kirkus Reviews