DK Books, out now

A highly detailed chronological look at Marvel’s output from 1939 to 2016…

If you’re one of those people who’s dipped into the Marvel Universe over the years, or been intrigued by the plotlines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then you’ll find much that’s new to enjoy in this guide to the comics. Each year gets its own spread – or spreads, as we hit the birth of the Marvel Universe – with an overview of the year in Marvel, as well as a sidebar that explains what’s going on in the rest of the world. The key comics are discussed, with the authors not afraid to point out where things didn’t quite work out right, or looking at the lessons that the characters or creators learned from the events, rather than simply saying “Daredevil fights the Punisher for the umpteenth time”.

The period between the Second World War’s end and the birth of the Fantastic Four wasn’t necessarily Marvel (or Timely or indeed the untitled comics range)’s finest hour, but there are lots of little things that happened in there that deserve recognition, and they get their due here. Of course, once the superheroes really turn up, then thing become more recognisable, and a lot of memories were brought back by seeing covers from the period when I bought pretty much everything that the company produced. There’s great fun to be had in seeing how many times characters are “killed off” permanently… only to rise a few months (or occasionally years) later. There’s a natural cynicism about such events nowadays, but Marvel have tackled that in many different ways.

The other Marvel output is covered – each of the related movies gets a mention as do the TV series – and it’s interesting to note some of the comments about recent comicbook plotlines that clearly state that they’re getting things ready for upcoming films (Black Panther being a particular case in point). There’s the odd intriguing comment (a reference to a scene from the 1992 Punisher series turning up in “the first Punisher movie”… a neat trick, given that came out three years earlier!) but overall this is the sort of book that’s going to tempt you to spend a lot of money in back issues…

Verdict: Another essential comics guide from DK. 10/10

Paul Simpson