An amazing history of the Marvel universe. ( )

Well written and it's sad to see that people seem not to want comic books like these anymore where we question whether or not that if superheroes were real would we see them as gods and get tired of them like we do with celebrities? The movies seem to disagree, especially the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made us seem them as heroes and not humans. ( )

A look at the Marvel superhero gods through the eyes and lens of a photojournalist. Words by Busiek and art by the unmatched Alex Ross.

What more do you need? Freaking brilliant. ( )

This was a fun read ( )

Marvels is issue 15 (volume 13) in Marvel’s Ultimate Graphic Novels" Collection. The novel collects the “Marvels” mini-series (issues 1 through 4) from January to April 1994. Written by Kurt Busiek and fully painted by Alex Ross, the series was revelatory both in its style and approach, examining key events in the Marvel universe from the everyman perspective of news photographer Phil Sheldon. By retelling events from an everyman perspective, Busiek’s story poured new perspectives onto the superheroes themselves and onto Marvel rich history. The artwork from Alex Ross is simply brilliant, revolutionising what could be done with comic book art – his approach has been much imitated but seldom bettered.

The story itself begins in 1939 with the creation of the robotic, original Human Torch and follows his battles with Namor,the Sub-Mariner, before the advent of the Second World War and the creation of Captain America. Sheldon becomes a war correspondent and witnesses the “Marvels” in action against the Nazis. After the war he marries his sweetheart Doris and by the early 1960s they have two children. Working in New York he is acutely aware of the Fantastic Four and The Avengers but is concerned about the growing fear and hate around mutants and the mutant team, The X-Men. When an anti-mutant mob goes on the rampage he finds that his daughters are sheltering a mutant girl in their basement. Sheldon becomes more preoccupied with the Marvels and begins to put his family in second place in an obsessive pursuit of the strange heroes, but all of this is put into perspective when a world-destroying threat in the fom of Galactus appears. After the Fantastic Four defeat the alien, Sheldon promises to spend more time with his family. By the 1970s he has has written a best-seller called "Marvels" and is becoming more-and-more disgusted by the public dislike of the heroes, particularly J. Jonah Jameson’s rants against Spider-Man. Believing the web-slinger to have been framed for the death of police officer Captain Stacy, he begins investigating the murder and befriends Stacey’s daughter, Gwen. When Gwen is kidnapped by the Green Goblin Sheldon is there at the Brooklyn Bridge and witnesses her death. When forensic reports reveals that Gwen died from the shock of the fall, Sheldon's faith in the Marvels is destoyed - he decides he’s had enough of these heroes and retires. The “Marvels” book is produced to the same high quality standards as the previous – hardback, tightly bound, with beautiful colourful glossy pages. Extras include chapter forewords by Stan Lee and John Romita, Snr, along with those of Busiek and Ross themselves. There is also an overview detailing how Busiek and Ross went about creating the books and an interesting and informative artist workshop with Alex Ross. A brilliant package to complement a brilliant story. ( )