All of the Marvels

A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told

De: Douglas Wolk

Narrado por: Douglas Wolk

Winner of the 2022 Eisner Award for Best Comics-Related Book

A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice

The first-ever full reckoning with Marvel Comics’ interconnected, half-million-page story, a revelatory guide to the “epic of epics”—and to the past sixty years of American culture—from a beloved authority on the subject who read all 27,000+ Marvel superhero comics and lived to tell the tale

“Thorough, fascinating, and joyfully executed, All of the Marvels is essential reading for fans and scholars alike.” —G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel)

“A revelation, a tour both electrifying in its weird charisma and replenishing in its loving specificity . . . a testament, and a tribute.” —Jonathan Lethem

“Brilliant, eccentric, moving and wholly wonderful. . . . Wolk proves to be the perfect guide for this type of adventure: nimble, learned, funny and sincere. . . . All of the Marvels is magnificently marvelous. Wolk’s work will invite many more alliterative superlatives. It deserves them all.” —Junot Díaz, New York Times Book Review

The superhero comic books that Marvel Comics has published since 1961are the longest continuous, self-contained work of fiction ever created. Thousands of writers and artists have contributed to it. Everyone recognizes its protagonists. Eighteen of the hundred highest-grossing movies of all time are based on parts of it. And Douglas Wolk has read the whole thing.

Wolk sees both into the ever-expanding story and through it, as a prism through which to view the landscape of American culture. In his hands, the mammoth Marvel narrative becomes a fun-house-mirror history of the past sixty years—a boisterous, tragicomic, magnificently filigreed epic about power and ethics, set in a world transformed by wonders.

A huge treat for Marvel fans, this book is also a revelation for readers who don’t know Doctor Strange from Doctor Doom. Here, truly, are all of the marvels.

Inspired me to read comics again…

Loved this…deep and thoughtful with insight into the Marvel stories I had not thought about in a long time. This is a fantastic book to understand the story woven by Marvel and all that this can teach us about ourselves.

Solid and fun

We'll written and read. Has pushed me to get back into Marvel comics. Great and well worth my time.

Nerd out!

it's a deep dive and not for nubes. I found it entertaining and made me inspired to reread my old collection

"Some of the Marvels"

I'll start off by saying that overall, I enjoyed this book.. I grew up a fan of Marvel Comics, having read many of the pre-2000s comics Wolk discusses, and somewhat curious about the current (at least as of 2018) state of Marvel Comics.
Douglas Wolk's decision to read "all the Marvels" was a herculean task, and the book describes his efforts to accomplish that, resorting to various media and methods to make his way through the thousands of issues published by Marvel in its 60 year history.
Wolk's tour through Marvel history is framed in an unusual, but effective way. Rather than cover characters, series, themes and events chronologically, Wolk leaps backward and forward through time, touching on particular issues, and occasionally weaving them into the larger framework.
The book's major weakness is what it leaves out. Obviously, the author can't be expected to include every B-Lister or passer-by who made an appearance over the years, and at the beginning of the book, Wolk discusses some of the titles he wouldn't be including in this book (but that he did read), mostly toy tie-ins, Westerns, fantasy and anything not set in the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, while the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man and select others (including, perhaps inexplicably, Shang-Chi) are discussed at length, several other significant series and events aren't discussed at all.
Early on in the book Wolk devotes entirely too much time lamenting those comics fans who are critical of "Legacy Heroes," and spends the better part of the chapter not defending these characters' merits, but rather impugning the motives of the critics. It seemed a little childish, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.
If you're a fan of Marvel Comics, then you might enjoy this thematic interpretation/introduction to Marvel history. I did--it was pretty good. But for anyone not already a fan and a bit of a historian, you probably shouldn't bother.

Flat out AWESOME!

I absolutely loved this book. What a great listen. The writer/narrator is truly passionate about comic books and all things Marvel. When it ended, I really wanted more. As a huge comic book fan myself, I loved getting lost in the Marvel story. This author needs a podcast to keep telling Marvel history as it unfolds.