Marvel Super heroes

série: Etude Comics
dessinateur / scénariste: Sanderson Peter
éditeur: Barnes+Noble EO 2005
genre: Porno
classement: biblio711A
date: 2005
format: cartonné
état: TBE/N
valeur: 10 €
critère: **
remarques: English book describing in details
four classic Marvel super heroes,
the story of Marvel's mightiest


1/ Captain America
the timeless personification of
every American's heroic potential,

it was December 1940 and the 2nd world war
had consumed Europe for nearly two years,
from the very beginning, captain America
incarnated America's democratic ideals
and passion for freedom, debuting only
three years after the first super hero,
Superman, captain America was not the
first costumed, patriotic-themed hero,
but he was and remains the greatest,

captain America is also the most important
creation from the team of writer Joe Simon
and the artist Jack Kirby, at the time
they worked for Timely Comics which had
entered the super hero genre in 1939
with the premier of the "human torch"
and "prince Namor the submariner"
in Marvel Comics No.1,
Timely would eventually become known as
Marvel Comics in the 1960s.

>> p. 12 the origin: professor Reinstein's
super-soldier serum gave puny
Steve Rogers physical strength to match
his patriotic spirit, the government wanted
their super-soldier to become a symbol
of America and so, it created the identity
of "captain America" for him,
he wore the colors of the American flag
and his uniform even had stars and stripes

in the early decades of the super hero
genre, heroes weren often given kid sidekicks
in the belief that children could more easily
identify with characters closer
to their own age
in captain America's case, that sidekick
was Bucky Barnes, camp Lehigh's teenage
"mascot",
it would later be explained that the camp
had adopted Bucky after his father
had been killed in action

there was a third major character in the series,
a figure who symbolized the opposite
of everything captain America,
and the American dream, represented,
this was captain America's eternal nemesis,
the Red Skull, one of comics' greatest
villains, the Red Skull was to Hitler's Germany
what captain America was to America,
the personification of their goals and ideals

the 1940s are now known as the golden
age of comics, their first great period
of popularity, in 1946, Timely first teamed
captain America up with the human Torch,
Sub-mariner and other super heroes
as the "all winners squad"
(in all winners comics No. 19), the forerunner
of Marvel's super hero teams of the 1960s
but after the end of world war II, comics
sales began to decline, comics had to turn
to other genres to survive, then in 1956,
DC comics editor Julius Schwartz successfully
launched a modernized version of one of
his company's golden age heroe: the Flash,
thus began the great super hero revival now
known as the silver age of comics

it was in response to the success of Schwartz's
Justice League comics that Marvel's authors
Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the
"Fantastic Four" in 1961
>> p. 32 the Falcon, the first African-American
super hero produced by a mainstream comics
company, premiered in captain America
No. 117 (1969)


2/ the amazing Spider-Man
how an awkward orphan teenager
became a pop icon

this is Peter Parker, the "amazing spider-man",
the most unlikely of heroes who, nonetheless,
has become not only Marvel Comics' flagship
character, but the star of novels, videogames,
television shows and two block-buster movies
with still more to come

n.b. (block buster = great popular success
with a great budget)

Spider-man debuted in 1962, less than a year
after Stan Lee/ Jack Kirby had launched
Marvel's revolution of super hero comics
with Fantastic Four No. 1

Martin Goodman, Marvel's publisher, disliked
the name, arguing that nobody liked spiders,
Stan Lee had named this new character
after the "Spider", a masked vigilante
who in the 1930s had starred in a series
of pulp novels much like those of this
more celebrated contemporary, the "Shadow",

originally, Stan Lee assigned his top artist,
Jack Kirby, to draw Spiderman,
yet Lee was dissatisfied with the results,
Kirby, co-creator of captain America,
is rightly renowned for drawing
idealized, muscular, heroic figures,
but in this case, Lee wanted something
different, not a powerful, mature adult,
but a young skinny teenager with superpowers,
in this and many other ways, Spider-man
would break the conventional mold
of super heroes, so Lee tapped Steve Ditko
to draw the first Spider-man story

moreover, whereas Kirby's heroes might
soar through the air like the mighty Thor,
Ditko endowed Spider-man with a quirkier
way of moving: he scurried up walls
like a real spider,
in costume, Ditko's Spider-man was both
human and strangely bug-like,
so the amazing Spider-man made his
first appearance on the cover of the
final issue of Amazing Adult Fantasy,
which had changed its name yet again
to Amazing Fantasy for issue No. 15
(August 1962)
>> p. 43 the opening page of the
Spider-man origin story introduced readers
to a very different type of super hero,
this famous opening page of Spider-man
showed the bespectacled protagonist,
Peter Parker, not front and center
but standing in the background,
his dadness palpable, with in the
foreground "cool kids" of Midtown High School
entertaining themselves by mocking
"bookworm" Peter Parker

there was one ability, Peter Parker
did not get from the spider's bite:
the ability to create his own webbing
his true identity hidden by his mask,
the shy introverted Peter Parker
now felt free to indulge a side of his
personality he had long kept buried,
as Spider-man he was brash and extroverted,
he was also self-centered and egotistical,

n.b. in a television appearance,
Spider-man saw a guard pursuing a thief,
with his powers, Spider-man could easily
have stopped the thief, but he couldn't
be bothered and let him escape

Lee and Ditko's experiment proved successful,
and though Amazing Fantasy was no more,
the Amazing Spider-man was awarded his
own comic book (March 1963),
in issue 2 (May 1963), Lee and Ditko
introduced the first great Spider-man
villain, the "Vulture": an elderly man
with a bald, wizened head who wore
a winged costume that enabled him to fly,
only one issue later (July 1963)
came an even greater creation,
"doctor Octopus", yet another example
of 1960s preoccupations with the dangers
of atomic radiation,
dr Octopus was a sqat, ugly man with
thick glasses and a Moe Howard haircut,
but he was also a genius in nuclear physics,
he had invented a harness which he wore
around his waist that had four robotic arms

yet Steve Ditko wearied of his collaboration
with Stan Lee, preferring to work on his own,
quit both Spider-man and Marvel
with issue No. 38 (July 1966),
this collaboration had lasted a mere four years,
Ditko's unique artistic style was irreplaceable
so Stan Lee turned to a very different
artist to succeed Ditko: John Romita whose
style was much handsomer than Ditko's
thin plain version
>> p. 61 the final page of "Spider-Man no more"
in issue No. 50 (1967) when Peter Parker
threw his costume in a trashcan
and abandoned his super hero identity


3/ the incredible Hulk
the original antihero

after Spider-man, the best-known Marvel
super hero is not a hero at all,
not in conventional terms, instead
he is an antihero, a monster who embodies
not our highest ideals but our darker impulses,
the personification of rage and violence
what must have surprised readers of the time
was that one of the new heroes was himself
a monster, Ben Grimm had been transformed
by cosmic radiation into the "Thing",
a superhumanly strong creature with first
an orange, rocklike hide,

the Thing's monstrous appearance was
the visual counterpart to Grimm's violent
temper, as if the beast within Ben Grimm
was now manifest to the world,
but the Thing was also a tragic figure,
and this too was new for super hero comics
the title character of the incredible Hulk
whose first issue was dated May 1962
was another man turned into a monster

n.b we have to make a difference
a) the Thing with the orange rocklike
hide alias Ben Grimm was
a member of the Fantastic Four while
b) the Hulk with the green-skinned
appearance alias Bruce Banner was
a fictional separate hero created
by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Lee and Kirby also co-created a team
of mutants, the X-Men, it is the origin
of the Hulk, however that most directly
reflects the threat of nuclear Armageddon,
dr. Banner, a nuclear physicist, during
an experiment made by himself,
was irradiated by gamma rays and began
to transform into the monster Hulk

for issue No. 5 Lee and Kirby co-created
one of the Hulk's leading foes:
Tyrannus, the last emperor of ancient Rome
who had discovered an underground fountain
of youth that had sustained his life
for centuries

unfortunately, issue No. 6 (March 1963)
was the last in the Hulk's original series:
the Incredible Hulk was cancelled due
to poor sales,
still, Lee and Kirby would not give up
on their creation, the same month they put
the Hulk in the first issue of their
brand new comic book:
the Avengers, this series being created
to bring together several of the stars
of Marvel's growing line of super hero comics,
four new heroes were battling within the Avengers:
the mighty Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp

in 1964, Stan Lee gave the Hulk his own
series again, this time as the second feature
of Tales to Astonish, the Hulk sought solitude
and peace, but neither the military
nor his various enemies would grant him his wish,
general "Thunderbolt" Ross, on the other hand,
became the Hulk's implacable enemy

in a combination of machismo and childishness,
the Hulk boasted that he was "the strongest one
that lives" and he was probably right,
the Hulk was larger and stronger than
Spider-Man or the Thing and was at least
a match for Marvel's strongest hero:
the mighty Thor,
moreover, it was eventually established
that the angrier the Hulk got, the stronger
he became, to this day there is no known
upper limit to Hulk's strength

with Marvel's growing success and changes
in its distribution system, the company was
able to begin expanding its line of comics,
and so with issue No. 101 (April 1968),
Tales to Astonish was renamed the
Incredible Hulk

Roy Thomas succeeded Stan Lee as the
Hulk's writer and made major contributions
to the character's story, in issue
No. 123 (January 1970), Thomas had
Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four
succeed in curing Banner who quickly
proposed to the long-suffering Betty Ross,
daughter of the general of the same name,
who always defended the Hulk, to marry him,
but in the next issue, their wedding
ceremony was interrupted by the Leader,
one of Hulk's enemies, who irradiated
Banner again, causing him to transform back
into the savage Hulk
>> p. 86 in 1980, the Hulk's popularity
as a television character inspired Stan Lee
and John Buscema to invent the savage She-Hulk,
who however did not become as successful
as the savage He-Hulk
>> p. 92 during his run as writer of the
Incredible Hulk, Peter David's sharp dialogue
explored new depths of the Hulk's psyche (1987)


4/ Wolverine
Marvel's popular mutant with
the mysterious past

it has been claimed that no super hero
created at any comics company or in any
medium has matched the enduring popularity
and iconic power of the great characters
created at Marvel in the 1960s,
there is one clear exception to the rule,
who first appeared in the mid-1970s
and has since become one of the most
famous super heroes in comics,
television and the movies:
Wolverine, the mutant with the invincible
slashing claws made of adamantium steel

whereas the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man
and the Hulk gained their superpowers
through inadvertent exposure to radiation,
the X-Men were mutants born with the genetic
potential for superpowers, which usually
emerged in adolescence in the Marvel universe,
mutants were not ordinary human beings,
who acquired superpowers by chance,
they were members of a newly evolving
superhuman race
the founder of the X-Men was professor
Charles Xavier, a man who was confined
to a wheelchair and yet had the most
powerful mind on earth, he was a genius
who possessed great telepathic powers
than anyone in the planet

n.b. the X-Men are mutants, a subspecies
of humans who are born with superhuman
abilities, the X-Men fight for peace
and equality between normal humans and
mutants in a world where antimutant bigotry
is fierce and widespread,
they are led by Charles Xavier, also known
as Professor X, a powerful mutant telepath
who can control and read minds,
their archenemy is Magneto, a powerful mutant
with the ability to generate and control
magnetic fields, professor X and Magneto
have opposing views and philosophies
regarding the relationship between
mutants and humans, while professor X
works towards peace and understanding
between mutants and humans, Magneto
views humans as a threat and believes
in taking an aggressive approach against
them, though he has found himself working
alongside the X-Men from time to time

Wolverine was introduced in Incredible Hulk
No. 180 (October 1974),
Marvel's art director John Romita senior created
the character's visual appearance and costume,
but it was regular Hulk artist Herb Trimpe
who drew the two-part story,
in that story Hulk was fighting the Wolverine
but afterwards they became allies

>> p. 102 when the X-Men stormed back
into the Marvel universe in Giant-Size-X-Men
(issue 1 1975), Wolverine came with them
>> p. 111 Frank Miller's covers for
issues 2-4 of the Wolferine mini-series
(early 1980s)
>> p. 112 Magneto's ability to manipulate
metal makes him a particularly dangerous
enemy to adamantium-laced Wolverine
who nearly died following this confrontation
in X-Men 2nd series no. 25 (1993)

note: at the end of the book there is
an useful index stating names of
super heroes and the issues in which
they would appear


>> a very interesting study book on comics,
restricted to 4 super heroes, but very well
formulated with superb illustrations

n.b. superhero Batman is not mentioned here
because he is not a Marvel superhero, but
was created by Bob Kane for D.C. Comics
(Detective Comics)


Information
a) Wolverine abilities:
superhuman senses, agility, reflexes
and animal-like attributes,
extended longevity via regenerative
healing factor, adamantium-plated skeleton
with retractable bone claws

Wolverine (born James Howlett, commonly known
as Logan and sometimes as Weapon X)
is a fictional character appearing
in American comic books published by Marvel Comics,
mostly in association with the X-Men, he is a mutant
who possesses animal-keen senses,
enhanced physical capabilities,
powerful regenerative ability known as
a healing factor and three retractable
bone claws in each hand
Wolverine has been depicted variously
as a member of the X-Men,
Alpha Flight, and the Avengers.

the character appeared in the last panel
of the Incredible Hulk #180
before having a larger role in #181
(cover-dated Nov. 1974),
he was created by writer Len Wein
and Marvel art director John Romita senior
who designed the character, and was
first drawn for publication by Herb Trimpe

Wolverine then joined a revamped version
of the superhero team the X-Men,
where eventually writer Chris Claremont
and artist-writer John Byrne would play
significant roles in the character's
development,
artist Frank Miller collaborated with Claremont
and helped to revise the character
with a four-part eponymous limited series,
called mini-series from September to December 1982
which debuted Wolverine's catchphrase:
"I'm the best there is at what I do,
but what I do best isn't very nice"

b) editor's commentary at the back of the book:
superhuman strength, spider-sense, the ability
to leap more than a mile, retractable
adamantium claws, in the Marvel universe,
superpowers turn normal people into superhumans,
but it is the way they use these abilities
that defines them as super heroes
packed with scintillating stories and
full-color illustrations
from the decades-long history of
captain America, the Incredible Hulk,
the Amazing Spider-Man and Wolverine,
Classic Marvel Super Heroes
brings together Marvel's mightiest,
Captain America's half-century as the
incarnation of his nation's ideals,
Hulk's emergence as the first popular
super hero antihero, Spider-Man's
transformation from an awkward teenager
into a cultural icon and Wolverine's
evolution into the most popular
of Marvel's mutants,
it's all in this exciting look at how
the artists and writers of Marvel Comics
have redefined the super hero genre

Peter Sanderson joined the staff of Marvel
Comics as an editor and later became
the company's archivist, he is
the author of Marvel Universe,
and the ultimate guide to the X-Men
and was a principal writer of the
official handbook of the Marvel Universe
couvertures:
Copyright 2008 - 2025 G. Rudolf