My hat goes off to Douglas Wolk - he read all of the Marvel comics and pulled out the threads of themes traced over generations. I could not read it all at once, it took me time to get through this (which is not at all a criticism). I recently got really interested in Marvel comics through the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) when my son took me to see the film "Dr. Strange." I was immediately roped in and had to see everything in the MCU. My son made us watch the films in chronology order (not in filmed order) and I am still hooked today. I also remember buying Shazam (Captain Marvel) comic books when I was in elementary school. I found the characters compelling even then. This book was a labor of love and I am glad to have read it!

Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP The Penguin Press, for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

I have been such a fan of Marvel for so long and was super excited to get a chance to get advanced access to this book.

All fans of Marvel will truly enjoy getting into this one. The author has read every Marvel comic ever produced which is so cool and an incredible feat. Getting his perspective on the Marvel world was fascinating and well worth the time.

I don't think anyone else ever needs to write about superhero comics again. Wolk lays it all out -- the continuity, the fandoms, the navel-gazing -- in clear and entertaining fashion. If it has a flaw, it's that there is so much of it. I admire and wonder at his initiative to take on this ridiculous project.

This is a special edition of Marginalia, one with a guest co-host. When I have ready access to someone who knows so much more about a topic than I do, I ask them to read the book with me and join me for the interview with the author.

Today my co-host is Hugo Phan, my colleague in the digital department in the newsroom. I asked Hugo to join me because our guest today is Douglas Wolk, who wrote the book “All the Marvels” for which he read *all* of the Marvel superhero comics... more than 27 thousand of them.

Here's our conversation.

I have read a lot of Marvel Comics, but by my calculations, I have only read a fifth of what Douglas Wolk read to write this book. I am encourage to fill in my wide reading gap after reading this appreciation of the entirety of Marvel's publishing history.

(A review copy was provided by NetGalley.)

First off, there is some debate online over this book. Having just finished the entire thing, and being a 40 something white cis male who has read comics since I was 9 years old I have one opinion on this book. This is a must own for every fan of comic books that simultaneously embraces and challenges how we all look at the medium.

Douglas Wolk read all 27,000 plus Marvel comics from Fantastic Four #1 (1963) onward. Hundreds of issues of Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers and single issues for random characters no one has ever heard of plus all points in between. Along the way he read the single largest continuous story in human history, one that is still growing. Wolk discovered themes and patterns that the original creators may not have been consciously aware of yet there they are. Waiting to be discovered decades later.

By reading thousands of issues and millions of pages at once Wolk makes points that can't be seen reading 30 pages a month then waiting 30 days for the next issue. Character development, forgotten plots, jokes, references, and more bubble to the surface through this kind of reading. Where a single issue reader sees a puddle, Wolk discovers an ecosystem. This deep dive changed my own mind set to comics: as a fan, a reviewer, and hopefully one day a creator.

This book makes an excellent point that Peter Parker's story is one of finding a father figure. He loses his parents, then Uncle Ben is murdered. He has bonds with adult men who end up being villainous and failing him like Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius. He tries heroic men like Reed Richards and Steve Rogers but is rejected from teams, from families. Even J Jonah Jameson pushes him like a father but ultimately disappoints. Wolk questions what is next for the Spider-Man story after breaking it down into distinct eras. I feel a sequel in 10 years would call this the time when Peter changes from the son to the father himself as he mentors Miles, Gwen, Anya, Cindy, and more.

Every character is someone's favorite, but even then it's a difficult task to read every apperance. However, Wolk sees character development that many of us forgot or never knew. Iceman was recently outed and some fans were in an uproar over this change to a long standing character. Yet Wolk sees examples in The New Defenders, not X-Men titles, which give historical precedent to this revelation. All of which shows not only how interwoven Marvel is, but also the openness and availability of the universe. Any character or plot thread can be picked back up at any time and used again, freshened up, or highlighted from a different angle. Even the nurses from the romance comics that Marvel published pre Fantastic Four return to the universe eventually.

Some readers today complain that comics are too political now. Yet these readers must have skipped Marvel comics of the 1970s with the Avengers, Black Panther, Captain America, and more looking at race relations, Vietnam, and other issues of the day. Wolk makes an excellent point for Dark Reign as a premonition for where the world was heading and I now need to re-read that entire series along with a few thousand others that come alive as this book breaks these tales apart to see what they're truly about.

This book also will go a long way to break the stigma that comics still have. Every year there's still a "biff bam pow, comics aren't for kids" article. While there are mature titles that have been spotlighted over the last 40 years, there is an argument within All of the Marvels that these stories have always been for kids and adults. Using characters who can fly through the air to bring us down to earth. Exploring the human condition through mutants, aliens, and robots.

It is also a self aware story that knows not everyone, or really any one, can read all of the story. While at the comic shop readers constantly drop and pick up books, Wolk makes a point for a few major eras of Marvel Comics. These almost generational markers show shifts in audience, creators, and world affairs. Cold War era comics and post 9/11 ones may feature some of the same characters but everything else in the real and fictional worlds has changed, and those changes are reflected. Stan Lee said Marvel is the world outside your window but Wolk through All of the Marvels makes an argument that it's actually the mirror.

For comics research and education purposes I would consider this a must have in your personal library.

I love Marvel which is why I was attracted to this book and I'm glad I was given the chance to review it. This was a very informative and interesting book and covered a lot of different topics within Marvel. It was well researched and I would recommend it if you love Marvel.

A great look at the entire Marvel oeuvre, even if the era that I grew up reading is largely discounted as artistically fallow. Organized by theme/characters rather than chronologically, which make it more coherent in any given chapter but difficult to follow between chapters. Definitely worth a read if you love comic books.

I enjoyed reading All of the Marvels book. The book takes a deep dive into all things Marvel. This a great read for fans of Marvel and comic book lovers in general.

All of the Marvels by Douglas Wolk was a super interesting look at the history of Marvel comics and I am sorely tempted to repeat Wolk's experiment and read every Marvel comic for myself.

“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 sixty 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”

This will be a quick review because I just want people to read this.

Do you have a friend that knows what seems like anything and everything about comic books (Marvel specifically)? If not, let Douglas Wolk be that friend for you. If so, read this book and you’ll be able to have fun discourse with your fellow nerd. If you’re looking for critical analysis of Marvel comics you may be disappointed but otherwise enjoy the adventure.

eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book. Douglas Wolk decided he would read all the marvels comics staring in the 60's and this book is detailing how they made him feel. I would definitely recommend to a fan of comics.

Pop culture critic, writer, and teacher Douglas Wolk read more than 27,000 Marvel comics so we won't need to. All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told is Wolk's summation of this quest to read "the longest continuous, self-contained work of fiction ever created: over half a million pages to date, and still growing."

Across 21 chapters, Wolk serves as our guide to Marvel with selected titles or events explored in depth, warts and all. Obviously with this great an undertaking, Wolk had rules and guidelines about what he would and wouldn't read. His three rules about what got left out where anything not published between 1961 and 2017. Second, Marvel had to own the characters, so no Star Wars, G.I. Joe or Transformers. And third did it makes sense for Spider-Man to be there? This ruled out a lot of alternate versions, westerns, war comics, and titles aimed at specific audiences like the MAX imprint. (Paraphrased from Chapter 1).

While clearly a fan, Wolk doesn't avoid being critical of Marvel. Across the chapters he discusses the creation process and lack of crediting for much of it, biased or stereotypical depictions, cultural appropriation, the lack of non white creators, or just general criticisms about poor writing or art. Part of Wolk's guide is to help a reader have a fuller idea of some of the characters, not necessarily chronological.

I am several years removed from actively reading comics, so it was nice to have a summary of some of the major events and titles of the past decade. Fans of the Marvel films would also greatly benefit from this work as it offers copious reading lists to sample the larger body of work without necessarily being overwhelmed by volume.

A fun read for any Marvel fan! It's a smart, enjoyable read. It's impressive how Wolk contained 27,000 comics in one book. As someone who has always wanted to get into comics, I feel more prepared after reading this book.

I felt this rambled on too much. While I admire how the author read so many comics, he went more on the route of talking about particular issues/volumes. I would've preferred it a bit more cut down and abstract to the overall universe

5 stars = Outstanding!

This. Was. Amazing! I felt seen and understood by the author - I have struggled to find my way into Marvel comics because I could never seem to find "the beginning." I don't like to pick up book series in the middle, and I feel the same way about comics. The author's response to readers like me is essentially "I get it, but comics don't work this way." And then the rest of the book proceeds to show readers how to find their way into the middle. He operates from the mindset that this non-linear world and reading experience is a feature rather than a bug. I would definitely read this again - and likely use it to make a list of comics I want to read so I can dig into the Marvel stories I always craved but wasn't sure how to find. Highly recommend this one!

[There are a few references to the MCU, but this is really focused on the 60 years of comics.]

There’s a certain flavor of nonfiction – I call it stunt nonfiction, but your mileage may vary – that is built around a particular gimmick. It’s tough to articulate what it is specifically, considering how many different ways one might partake, but generally, you know it if you see it.

Maybe it’s a book about making every recipe in a single cookbook or committing to saying “yes” to everything. Maybe it’s about taking the field with a professional football team as a rank amateur or tracking down everyone you find in a random pack of baseball cards. Maybe it’s about trying to follow the Bible or Oprah as closely and as literally as possible for one year.

Or maybe, if you’re Douglas Wolk, it’s about reading every single Marvel comic and considering it as one expansive story.

That’s what Wolk did with his new book “All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told.” In an effort to demonstrate the comprehensive nature of the Marvel meta-arc over the course of the decades, Wolk read every single comic Marvel published from 1961 (considered to be the start of the true Marvel Age) through 2017, when he first decided to undertake the massive project.

In all, he would read over 27,000 comics from those 50-plus years, hitting every major milestone in the history of the Marvel Universe. We’re talking about well over a half-million pages in total. And in doing so, he began to see the sprawling Proustian epic buried within that incredible page count, as well as a variety of entry points for those who are perhaps too intimidated by the vast and convoluted history of Marvel Comics – a history that manages to extend far beyond the massive-in-its-own-right Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As Wolk sees it, the Marvel Comics output over this stretch is nothing less than the single longest, continuous, self-contained work of fiction ever created.

Think about it. From almost the very beginning, there has been an interconnectedness to Marvel’s various titles. Events that took place in “The Amazing Spider-Man” might impact an altogether different storyline in, say, “Daredevil.” Happenings in “The Incredible Hulk” or “Thor” could well influence what happens in “The Avengers.” And don’t even get me started on company-wide crossovers, when characters are plucked from every corner of the Marvel Universe and brought together for an extended narrative.

Of course, it wasn’t always so clear-cut; the early days and early attempts at cross-continuity were haphazard and a bit messy. But even then, the events of one title inevitably affected others.

And here is Wolk, doing his best to read every single word.

Reflected in the pages of Marvel Comics, you’ll find reflections of almost every single significant development in American culture. They might be outsized, funhouse mirror reflections – but they are reflections. Whether we’re talking about Cold War paranoia or the burgeoning counterculture or the rise of jingoism or the ubiquity of technology, it was reflected in Marvel Comics. From the coded inclusivity baked into the X-Men or the duty/honor dichotomy broken down in the ebbs and flows of Captain America, it’s all there, waiting, for anyone who cares to look.

Now, Wolk is adamant that he A) greatly enjoyed this undertaking and B) would never under any circumstances recommend that anyone else do it. It’s worth noting that he didn’t read them all in order, and with good reason – there are periods of clunkiness throughout, along with some oversimplification that borders on the cornball (particularly in the earlier years).

He discusses titles and crossover arcs, of course, and their connections to the world we live in. But even as he examines the broader body of work as a singular work of cultural value, he also approaches it as a fan. He explores favorite storylines and characters and creators; we get plenty of Stan Lee, obviously, but despite the mythology surrounding Stan the Man later in life, there were a LOT of people behind Marvel’s success, spanning multiple generations. Artists and writers like Steve Ditko, Jim Shooter, Chris Claremont, Todd Macfarlane … the list goes on and on.

(Here’s where I note that I’m a Ditko guy, though I also have a lot of love for the transformational work that Chris Claremont did with the X-Men, steering them into a realm that left them both philosophically complex and wildly popular.)

I won’t go into the nuts-and-bolts of Wolk’s thorough and thoughtful breakdown of the various eras in Marvel Comics history; honestly, while you might be able to quibble a bit with beginnings and endings, his demarcations are pretty solid; his analysis of the various foci definitely tracks.

It’s wild to consider that the comic books I so loved as a kid – I started on current titles, but I also worked my way backward by way of abandoned collections from older relatives and the cheap paperbacks that brought together essential classic storylines – have become the subject of genuine scholarly interest. This kind of pop historical deconstruction would have blown the mind of young Allen, although I’d wager that that kid wouldn’t have been totally surprised. After all, I loved them and thought they had something to say – why wouldn’t other people?

Part literary criticism, part wanton fanboying, part nostalgia trip, “All of the Marvels” is one fantastic read for anyone who loves comic books. Is it a stunt? Sure is – and a hell of a good one. Just an incredible idea. Spectacular. Mighty. It is smart and funny, rife with sharp analysis and engaging ideas. In short, it treats this body of work with genuine respect – respect it absolutely deserves.

Make mine Marvel. Excelsior!

The description of Wolk’s book overpromises what the book delivers. I was expecting more of a synthesized sweep of the Marvel Universe story, but what we get are more of the highlights by diving briefly into individual issues of individual characters. This reads at times like a transcript of a conversation in a comics shop. I wonder why anyone not already conversant in at least part of the Marvel oeuvre would want to read this. Still, as a Marvel geek, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is the book I wish I had when I was looking at dipping my toes into comic books. As anyone who has been in that situation knows, it can be quite daunting to "find the beginning" but Wolk's book argues that you shouldn't in fact start "at the beginning" you should instead find the best starting point for you. He argues that there are three chronologies in the Marvel story: publishing order, the order of the in-universe timeline, and the order you as the reader go through the story, which acknowledges that there is no "right" way to read the stories.

It seems pretty clear that he is aware a good chunk of his audience are going to be comic book newbies who are coming from the Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptations as there are a lot of references to the MCU throughout. That being said, if you are coming from the MCU you might be disappointed at the lack of page time of some of your favorite characters, such as Captain America or Iron Man.

This majority of this book focuses on chapters that individually focus on certain characters (The Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Shang Chi, the X-Men, Thor, Black Panther) with a couple of chapters on comic book events. In each of these sections, Wolk highlights specific issues for that character, whether that be because it's a good starting point or because it was a significant event for the character or because it had a line/image that was called out to in later comics or adaptions.

I had mixed feelings about this format because while I loved seeing how each comic he highlighted fit into the larger narrative and loved getting ideas of where to start for new characters, sometimes the name dropping got a little tedious or confusing. Though I did love how much effort he seemed to put into acknowledging every artist that worked on each comic. I also loved the last few chapters on comic book events, as they are something I've found overwhelming in the past when it seemed like each event dominoed into the next event.

Another thing I really loved while reading was how Wolk did not shy away from acknowledging some of the problematic elements (the yellow coloring for Asian characters in Shang Chi, the complete lack of women both on page and in the artist room, etc.). Then throughout the book he comments on some of the progress being made it making a more diverse group of heroes (and artists) while still recognizing that Marvel could be doing better.

Overall, as someone who has tried to get into Marvel comics a couple of times but never got very far because I got overwhelmed, I am so glad I read this because it gave me a much better sense of where/how to start. So in that respect, I highly recommend to anyone else in the same situation. I do wonder how my enjoyment might have changed though, if I was a superfan like Wolk.

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

"All of the Marvels" is an exploration into a ton of Marvel comics and their legacies.

I like that Wolk goes on to explore the cultural impact some of the comics had at the time, though the book is more focused on the specific issues of comics and what transpired.

I think I'll try reading this another time, but I am not a fan of the rambling writing style at the moment. Still a pretty interesting look into Marvel's history.