Reviews

Captain American, Spider-Man, Wolverine, the nonviolent Doctor Strange, caster of rhymed spells, the swashbuckling vigilante Daredevil, the Manhattan-based Fantastic Four, Eastern European tyrant Doctor Doom, the rampaging Incredible Hulk and his alter-ego, mild-mannered physicist Bruce Banner, are among the heroes and villains we meet in this lavish, nostalgic survey of Marvel Comics' major characters, story lines and artists. Sanderson, Marvel's former archivist, views these fantasies as a modern-day mythology recasting age-old themes of heroism and human struggle in pop cultural trappings. His entertaining text, decked out with kinetic story-captioned artwork, insets and comic-book lore, interprets these comics as parables of the Cold War, space race, multiple personality disorder, teen angst, love and hate between the sexes‘and as good, old-fashioned storytelling with more than camp appeal for adults. Featuring 400 color illustrations, the book is a visual knockout. BOMC selection. (Nov.)

YA‘Sanderson traces the evolution of the Marvel superheroes from their conception in 1939 to the present day. He discusses their decline in popularity in the early 50s and the resurgence of interest in the 60s when new characters emerged and the settings moved into other dimensions and galaxies. The history and contributions of Marvel artists and writers such as Jack Kirby and Stan Lee are highlighted throughout the text and numerous illustrations. On a fundamental level, the story lines haven't changed significantly, but have become more science-fiction oriented in recent years. The illustrations have changed somewhat more over time, and the newer characters appear more dynamic. For comic-book fans, this survey of the evolution of these popular characters and their fantasy world will be interesting reading.‘Deborah Francis, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA