Marvel Comics

When I was a kid I read both comics from both Marvel and DC, but my heart was always with Marvel. DC seemed like Mr. Rogers—grandfatherly and in a cardigan. Marvel was more like Sesame Street—weird looking young people on a street that I knew was supposed to be New York, even if it looked totally alien to my eyes. Marvel was dynamic in a way that DC couldn’t hope to be. At their best, DC came off like someone’s dad trying to be cool.

So of course I was excited to hear about Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. Here was my opportunity to find out what really went on in the Bullpen, and learn the truth behind all those crazy nicknames.
Sean Howe does a fantastic job of telling the story behind the stories. After a brief overview of Marvel’s WWII era legacy heroes, he begins the story with the dawn of the modern Marvel – in the 1960s with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. From there he goes through the story of the company, ending only around the millennium. All the big name writers and artists seem to be here, as well as many that would otherwise be forgotten.

Readers looking for storyline rehashes will be disappointed. While some major characters and storylines are discussed, it is always from the perspective of business or creative decisions, not from any sort of in-universe perspective. But the real story is intriguing all on its own.

It’s fascinating how many problematic issues surrounding comics were already issues 40 years ago. Intellectual property, creator compensation, gender and race issues, boom and bust sales cycles, exploitative sales and marketing strategies were all being argued many years ago. Howe spotlights many of these issues without bringing his own perspective to the fight. He uses interviews to allow various voices to be heard.

If you are any sort of fan of american comic books then this is a must read.

Starting from the very beginning, before Marvel Comics was Marvel Comics, it takes us all the way up to the present day. And while calling it the Untold Story might be a slight stretch (there are elements that are commonly known) there's a lot of detail in here. A lot of less well known information and a lot of good interview material.

One of the things that stands out to me is just how cyclical the comics industry seems to be. Not just in terms of the never ending cycles of boom and bust, but in other ways too.

Right from the beginning there was friction between the creators and the corporation. Again and again people came in, created something and then were upset to lose control over it.

Time and again an new Editor In Chief came in with grand plans and to regenerate the line... only to over-reach himself. And owner after owner with grand plans of making Marvel a mini-Disney.

Then then there were the creators and editors. Very few of them came off looking very good in truth. Egotism and unprofessionalism almost seems to have been the norm. Editors in shouting matches, writers quitting because their stories were changed. Insults being snuck into issues of comics. Writers becoming proprietory about characters that they knew they didn't own. It leaves you wondering if these were adults or children.

The only reason this isn't a full on five star book is that while the earlier decades are deeply researched with input from lots of key players, the last decade is skimpily covered. Perhaps it's difficult to get people to talk about the current owners and editors?

Even so this is a book that's well worth reading and I'm really hoping that Sean Howe goes on from here to write a history of the entire industry.