MARVEL COMICS: THE UNTOLD STORY
Go to SEANHOWE.COM to purchase a copy, or to read a chapter for free.
"A WILD-RIDE ACCOUNT" —The Hollywood Reporter
"EPIC" —The New York Times
"INDISPENSABLE" —Los Angeles Times
"DEFINITIVE" —The Wall Street Journal
"SCINTILLATING" —Publishers Weekly
“FASCINATING” —GQ
"AUTHORITATIVE" —Kirkus Reviews
"GRIPPING" —Rolling Stone
"PRICELESS" —Booklist
"A MUST FOR ANY SUPERHERO OR POP-CULTURE FAN" —NY Post
"ESSENTIAL" —The Daily Beast
"A SUPERPOWERED MUST-READ" —USA Today
"REVELATORY" —The Miami Herald
"AS FULL OF COLORFUL CHARACTERS, TRAGIC REVERSALS AND UNLIKELY PLOT TWISTS AS ANY BOOK IN THE MARVEL CANON" —Newsday
twitter.com/seanhowe:
This image captures a big moment: for the very first time, two Marvel heroes meet.
From Marvel Mystery Comics #8, 1940.
Was this a fictional universe at all? Wasn’t that the Manhattan skyline behind the Torch? Wasn’t that the Hudson River that the Sub-Mariner was diving into? Superman and Batman had smiled together on a few carefree covers, but every kid knew that they were fully tethered to their respective Metropolis and Gotham City, and that never the twain would meet. Who cared if the Acme Skyscraper fell, or the First National Bank had to give up its cash? Timely’s New York City, on the other hand, was rife with Real Stuff to Destroy. In Marvel Mystery Comics #8 and #9, which hit newsstands in the spring of 1940, Namor wreaks havoc on the Holland Tunnel, the Empire State Building, the Bronx Zoo, and the George Washington Bridge (“Hah! Another man-made monument!” he shouts, breathlessly aroused at the potential carnage) before the Human Torch finally confronts him, and the battle rages to the Statue of Liberty and Radio City Music Hall. Was it possible that they’d turn a corner and meet the Angel? Or, better yet, show up at the reader’s home?
(Text from Marvel Comics: The Untold Story)
Fred Hembeck’s eulogy for Jack Kirby, 1994.
Rich enthusiasts of jazz, beware!
From Human Torch #32, 1948. Art by Mike Sekowsky.
Marvel Mystery Comics #48. Art by Harry Sahle.
Or maybe Bil Keane.
This page was published days, if not hours, before Nazi Germany invaded Poland and World War II was set into motion.
It couldn’t be more unassuming, could it? A fairly primitive drawing of three middle-aged men, sitting at a boardroom, cigarette smoke hovering above ashtrays. They’re slightly curious, leaning in to hear a story, but there’s hardly a sense of mystery. They didn’t even close the curtains all the way.
And thus the Marvel Universe quietly begins…this is the first panel in the first story of Marvel Comics #1, 1939.
Professor Horton’s “difficult problem,” of course, is that the “synthetic man” he’s created bursts into flame upon contact with oxygen. His figure becomes a wall of fire, becomes something like…a human torch.
“Boy oh boy!” Vintage display card for Marvel Mystery Comics.
What’s a super-sleeping pill between friends?
Art by Dick Ayers, circa 1954. Published in Marvel Super-Heroes #16, 1968.
Paintings by Ray Lago for Timely Presents: The Human Torch and Timely Presents: All-Winners, 1999.
These are terrific, affordable (cheap, even!) reprints of landmark 1940s comics: Human Torch Comics #5 and All-Winners Comics #19.
