Sean Howe spent more than 25 years as a Marvel reader before
devoting an additional three to scads of research (which
included conducting well over 100 original interviews) to what
will likely be considered the definitive history of Marvel for
decades to come. Packed with anecdotes, incidents, and mini-
biographies of creators and executives alike, Marvel Comics: The
Untold Story separates fact from fiction and controversy from
concord in charting the history of the company that has risen
from being a bunch of mid-career creators in an office to a
billion dollar pillar of Disney’s entertainment empire.
Beginning with the heady days of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Steve
Ditko reinvigorating the comics industry with the Fantastic
Four, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, and continuing through the
turbulence of Jim Shooter’s reign as editor-in-chief and the
transformation of the publishing company from a self-contained
corporate unit to a marginally profitable Disney subsidiary,
Howe’s book takes Marvel’s story right up to