FREE MARVEL COMICS: THE UNTOLD STORY PDF Sean Howe | 496 pages | 04 Feb 2013 | HarperCollins Publishers Inc | 9780061992100 | English | New York, United States Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview Marvel Comics: The Untold Story a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Marvel Comics by Sean Howe. An unvarnished, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, behind-the-scenes account of one of the most dominant pop cultural forces in contemporary America Operating out of a tiny office on Madison Avenue in the early s, a struggling company called Marvel Comics presented a cast of brightly costumed characters distinguished by smart banter and compellingly human flaws. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Fo An unvarnished, unauthorized, behind-the-scenes account of one of the most dominant pop cultural forces in Marvel Comics: The Untold Story America Operating out of a tiny office on Madison Avenue in the early s, a struggling company called Marvel Comics presented a cast of brightly costumed characters distinguished by smart banter and compellingly human flaws. Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, the Avengers, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men, Daredevil—these superheroes quickly won children's hearts and sparked the imaginations of pop artists, public intellectuals, and campus radicals. Over the course of a half century, Marvel's epic universe would become the most elaborate fictional narrative in history and serve as a modern American mythology for Marvel Comics: The Untold Story of readers. Throughout this decades-long journey to becoming a multibillion-dollar enterprise, Marvel's identity has continually shifted, careening between scrappy underdog and corporate behemoth. As the company has weathered Wall Street machinations, Hollywood failures, and the collapse of the comic book market, its characters have been passed along among generations of editors, artists, and writers—also known as the celebrated Marvel "Bullpen. For the first time, Marvel Comics reveals the outsized personalities behind the scenes, including Martin Goodman, the self-made publisher who forayed into comics after a get-rich-quick tip in ; Stan Lee, the energetic editor who would shepherd the company through thick and thin for decades; and Jack Kirby, the World War II veteran who'd co-created Captain America in and, twenty years later, developed with Lee the bulk of the company's marquee characters Marvel Comics: The Untold Story a three-year frenzy of creativity that would be the grounds for future legal battles and endless debates. Drawing on more than one hundred original interviews with Marvel insiders then and now, Marvel Comics is a story of fertile imaginations, lifelong friendships, action-packed fistfights, reformed criminals, unlikely alliances, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story third-act betrayals— a narrative of one of the most extraordinary, beloved, and beleaguered pop cultural entities in Marvel Comics: The Untold Story history. Get A Copy. Marvel Comics: The Untold Storypages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Marvel Comicsplease sign up. Jason Good question. But you need to find the answer within yourself. See 1 question about Marvel Comics…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Feb 10, Kemper rated it really Marvel Comics: The Untold Story it Shelves: bidnessnon-fictioncomicshistory Super-heroes have gotten darker and more violent over the years, but compared to some of the people in charge of Marvel during that time Wolverine and the Punisher seem about as threatening as a glass of non-fat milk. Killers with razor sharp unbreakable claws and large guns are no match for the carnage a corporate Marvel Comics: The Untold Story worried about the stock price can Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. Sean Howe gives a comprehensive history of how the pulp publishing company founded by a Depression-era hobo named Martin Goodman eve Super-heroes have gotten darker and more violent over the years, but compared to some of the people in charge of Marvel during that time Wolverine and the Punisher seem about as threatening as a glass of Marvel Comics: The Untold Story milk. Then it details the many trials, tribulations and triumphs the company would have as its characters became iconic parts of pop culture. In reality during these early years, Lee worked with a small staff in cramped offices while Jack Kirby drew in the basement of his home, and things were never as merry as Stan portrayed them to the fans. After Goodman sold the company Marvel would be bought and sold to various corporations Marvel Comics: The Untold Story business people most of who had no interest in doing anything other than squeezing every dime possible out of the characters while denying any kind of ownership or royalties to the people who created them. The stories of how creators were screwed out of rights have become legendary, and the constant law suits and bickering over who actually created the characters have become so common place as to not even be newsworthy any more. A fun fact that Marvel Comics: The Untold Story learned in this is that at one time Marvel put a boilerplate waiver on the backs of paychecks so that signing it to get the money became a forfeiture of potential royalties. The battles over the rights between the company and the creative people would pale in comparison to the many financial and legal fiascos Marvel would get into over the years due to the many buy-outs and chronic mismanagement. Howe does a nice job of showing how all the behind the scenes turmoil impacted the stories being churned out. The Marvel Comics: The Untold Story Wars mini-series started out as a promotional tie-in for a new line of toys, but became the prototype for the crossovers that are all too frequent events today. With the sale to Disney and huge success of movies like The Avengersyou might think this story has a happy ending, but Marvel still faces challenges today. In the digital age, the idea of buying pricey paper comics that can be read in minutes is a tough sell, and many question whether the money made in movies and merchandising has made the comic book obsolete. Aging fan boys grumble over the constant character deaths and crossovers, yet those remain the top selling books. Balancing the continuity demanded by long-time fans while still being accessible to new readers has become a nearly impossible task. Dan and I have some great ideas on how to resolve this issue if anyone from DC or Marvel reads this and would like to pay us a consulting fee. Many of these individual stories have been told before, but Howe gives not only a history, but a detailed picture of the ways that all the creative, business and legal issues have had a profound impact on the characters and the industry. View all 13 comments. Feb 16, Dan Schwent rated it really liked it Shelves: comics-to-uploadbookscomics, confession-time. Marvel Comics: The Untold Story is the story of Marvel Comics, from its beginnings in the late thirties until fairly recently, with all the highs and lows in between. Confession Time: For most of my life, I've been a comic book fan. I've got around of them in boxes in my nerd cave and have numerous super hero shirts. Marvel Comics: The Untold Story was a very gripping read for me. I read the sanitized version of some of the events in Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comi Marvel Comics: The Untold Story is the story of Marvel Comics, from its beginnings in the late thirties until fairly recently, with all the highs and lows in between. I read the sanitized version of some of the events in Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics but I wasn't completely prepared for some of the things I learned. The story starts with Martin Goodman cashing in on the comic book craze but really gets interesting when he hires his nephew, a kid named Stan Lee, to do some editing. Once Joe Simon and Jack Kirby create Captain America, things kick into high gear until the 50's, when Seduction of the Innocent nearly kills the industry. Things circle the drain until a fateful golf game with the head of DC comics prompts Goodman to order Lee to create a team of superheroes. The Fantastic Four is created and the Marvel Age of comics kicks into full swing. The book covers a lot of behind the scenes info, like creators getting fucked out of royalties and original art. Anyone who's into comics has probably heard about that. The things I didn't know about, like a bunch of guys being into drugs, DC and Marvel negotiating for Marvel to license some DC characters, and what a tyrant Jim Shooter was, were much more interesting. It must have been maddening to work with Shooter after Secret Wars. While it might be boring for some, I found the inner workings of Marvel when it was being bought and sold several times in rapid succession to be fascinating. Marvel Comics: The Untold Story could people be handed the golden ticket only to wipe their asses with it? Jim Shooter seemed like a dictator but I think Tom DeFalco's throw everything against the wall and see what sticks strategy played a bigger part to the near death experience the comics industry suffered in the 90's.