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All of the marvels : a journey to the ends of the biggest story ever told / Douglas Wolk.

Wolk, Douglas, (author.).

Summary:
"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 60 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. The superhero comic books that Marvel Comics has published since 1961 are, as Douglas Wolk notes, the longest continuous, self-contained work of fiction ever created: over half a million pages to date, and growing. The Marvel story is a gigantic mountain, smack in the middle of contemporary culture. Thousands of writers and artists have contributed to it. Every schoolchild recognizes its protagonists: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men. 18 of the 100 highest-grossing movies of all time are directly based on parts of it. And not even the people telling the story have read the whole thing--nobody's supposed to. So, of course, that's what Wolk did: he read all 27,000 comics that make up the Marvel universe thus far, from Alpha Flight to Omega the Unknown. And then he made sense of it: seeing into the ever-expanding story, in its parts and as a coherent whole, and seeing through it, as a prism through which to view the landscape of American culture. In Wolk's hands, the mammoth Marvel narrative becomes a funhouse-mirror history of the past 60 years, from the atomic night-terrors of the Cold War to the technocracy and political division of the present day--a boisterous, tragicomic, magnificently filigreed epic about power and ethics, set in a world transformed by wonders. As a work of cultural exegesis, this is sneakily significant, even a landmark; it's also ludicrously fun. Looking over close to sixty years of Marvel's comics, Wolk sees fascinating patterns -- the rise and fall of particular cultural aspirations, and of the storytelling modes that conveyed them. He observes the Marvel story's progressive visions and its painful stereotypes, its patches of woeful hackwork and stretches of luminous creativity, and the way they all feed into a potent cosmology that echoes our deepest hopes and fears. This is a huge treat for Marvel fans, but it's also a revelation for readers who don't know Doctor Strange from Doctor Doom. Here, truly, are all of the marvels"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780735222168
  • Physical Description: 367 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
  • Publisher: New York : Penguin Press, 2021.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Subject: Marvel Comics Group > History.
Comic books, strips, etc. > United States > History and criticism.
Comic books, strips, etc. > Publishing > United States > History.
Literature and society > United States > History.

Available copies

  • 17 of 17 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 1 current hold with 17 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Abington Community Library 741.5 WOLK (Text) 50687011748913 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Albright Memorial Library 741.5 WOLK (Text) 50686016103199 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Altoona Area Public Library 741.5973 WOL (Text) 33240004942366 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Emmaus Public Library 741.5973 WOLK (Text) 36446002049842 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Highland Community Library 741.5 WOL (Text) 35610000981923 HGHM Non-Fiction Available -
Indian Valley Public Library 741.5973 Wolk Lit Crit (Text) 39427103617106 Fiction Room: Lit Crit Available -
Lower Macungie Library 741.5973 WOL (Text) 33400001528929 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Martin Library Adults 741.5 WOL Arts Literature (Text) 33454005817374 2nd Floor Available -
Pottsville Free Public Library 741.5 W834 (Text)
Bookplate: Presented by Virginia Liddle Fessler in memory of S. David Liddle
30003009070325 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Spring Township Library 741.5973 WOL (Text) 33249024575940 Non-fiction Available -


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