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blindalleycomix · 4 years

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Joe has read "Marvel Comics the Untold Story" by Sean Howe This could've been retitled "Why Joe Never Went Pro" but I can see why they didn't call it that.. The following is likely to offend any diehard Marvel fan that may be reading this, just as a heads-up. I think that's enough preamble. This book was a Christmas present (thx ma!) which I was immediately wary of "Untold story? 0 photographs? Can we substitute 'authorized' for 'told'?" But once I begrudgingly started it I was immediately transfixed. There was so much I didn't know, about how things got started way back when (the first "comic books" were reprinted Sunday funnies just repackaged UNTIL-) and I would have to say that the first few chapters were definitely my favorite. I will say as a narrative in & of itself "Marvel Untold" is an engaging read, to the extent I was able to plough through all 432 pages in a couple weeks or so. Some of it was a little bit dry, as a lifelong NOT big Marvel fan, there were plenty of eras I felt at sea in but was guided through fairly efficiently by Mr Howe. This is the product of an insane amount of research, & contained numerous quotes from archival interviews yes, but also living survivors (yes, survivors) the author himself seemed to have cornered somehow. Perhaps by "accidentally" jumping in their same taxi or disguising as a server at their favorite restaurant or who knows. But seriously I was very impressed with his wealth of knowledge, not just on Marvel Comics but comics in general. Probably my biggest caveat is the aforementioned void of photographs & illustrations which sent me googling more than was leisurely. As far as the story of Marvel itself goes: WOW. Where to begin. (well Joe, in the late '30's..) It's ridiculous of me myself to pass judgement on this monolith, this behemoth that chews artists up & spits them in the recycling pile (nowadays) -that has made such an impact on pop culture as we know it today. But what a trail of blood! Holy Moses. I guess as an outside observer reading the history without living it & being a part of it, much less running it, it's easy to point fingers & say "this is where you went wrong" or "this was obviously the wrong guy to run the show while Stan was hot-tubbing it in sunny L.A. (Jim Shooter, I'm looking straight at you)". But they didn't learn from their mistakes, like ever! It was a constant pattern of overexpansion which led to massive layoffs & destroyed lives. All too often quality was sacrificed for quantity, creativity for commerce. I know, "duh". Even as a 14-year-old I couldn't understand why one character needed 5 or more titles! I could go on & on, but you get my drift. It's actually NOT "Marvel sucks" it's more just. I dunno. As a guy that draws comics that I wrote, reading this book, my heart went out to all these artists and writers that "just wanted to tell a story" but came up against humanly impossible deadlines (two issues a month of the same title?!?), who were beholden to the restrictions of basically bean counters! For more than a decade, Marvel was ran by people who "didn't read comics"! Stan left his baby alone in the wilderness with the wolves of Wall Street. Complicated figure, uncle Stan. Ya gotta love 'im, I mean- ya gotta. He was a power house in his day & with Kirby & Ditko changed the world, more or less for the better. He was a firm believer in civil rights & did things in comics that were pretty revolutionary at the time, especially in the mainstream. Although in many cases it was more reactionary to world events (women's lib especially) but nonetheless I do feel his heart was...he fought for what was right & then I dunno. I think he got burned out. He also took a little more credit than he was due, but this is running long. Ultimately his contribution caused generations to read, and draw, and create, and that is always a good thing. Just thought it was funny how for years after Kirby left their policy seemed to be "we need you to draw just like Jack Kirby but we're not gonna pay you nearly as much. Sound good?" Printed in 2012 this book does suffer slightly from being already dated. Which is understandable, it looks like it came out shortly after the first (& best) Avengers movie. I'd be curious to read about how the movies affected the industry if at all, but maybe that'll be in the next book. My guess is, not a whole lot. Kids either read comics or they don't. One last word of praise, since the mcu is so convoluted & vast, I've long contemplated "boning up" on some gold or silver age but was never really sure where to start. This book was helpful in that it explored eras & titles that piqued my interest & may have given me a decent enough starting place, basically '70's Dr Strange. (Not saying "excelsior") I guess recommended? https://ift.tt/2uh6ovY

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