Marvel: The Characters and Their Universe

Comic book superheroes are the mythological giants of 20th-century popular culture. Marvel has dominated the field for 60 years with the larger-than-life, yet very human, heroics of Captain America, Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, X-Men, Spider-Man, and the Incredible Hulk. Michael Mallory examines the characters' origins and subsequent evolution through interviews with such legendary cartoonists as Joe Simon, Roy Thomas, and Stan Lee, as well as with the animators who translated the Marvel exploits into other media -- TV, film, toys, video games, and theme park attractions. This collector's dream is illustrated with fabulous reproductions of comic art and hundreds of photographs from film and TV, many of which have never before been published.