There was this Marvel Comics history book in the bookstore last night, and now I can't find it online.

It's big, encyclopedic, and has a box-style cover. It gives a year-by-year history of Marvel Comics going all the way back to the Golden Age, including all the non-superhero comics.

Has anybody seen it, and what was it called?

The Marvel Vault?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0762428449/?tag=imwan-20

This one?



http://www.amazon.com/dp/0756641233/?tag=imwan-20

That's it. The year by year history. Thanks.

It was awesome, by the way. Chock full of covers and pages from every single year. Little blurbs with history, etc. The hard core fans will know most of it, but it was just organized in such a visually interesting way.

Heh. I got a call about that Chronicles book the other day. My mother is on holiday, and saw it in a bookstore, and wanted to know if I wanted it.

I passed, as I like to look at things like that first, see if there's any new stuff in there.

I sat down with it and turned every page. I may or may not get it, but it was cool. Each year had a page, and it told what books came out or went away (and the month), with covers. What characters were introduced, etc.

I'll probably get this for Christmas from a well meaning sibling.
I'm "the comics guy" in the family and I keep getting all the Marvel big ticket books as gifts for birthdays etc.,
but none of the DC equivelents, which I'd prefer.
But I love 'em anyway; both the books and the family.
I guess my family's choices are a tribute to Marvel's accomplishments in the area of public concioueness.

I was kind of annoyed when I paged through this at the bookstore. It's weird to me, first of all, that in each individual year in the book (each one comprises about six pages), they covered material cover-dated from Jan. to Dec. This doesn't really tell you what actually came out, because for a long time, Marvel Comics were dated three months ahead ... then later, four months ahead, and then finally two.

I also was annoyed that some of the little bullet-points were discussed in terms of hindsight, with ret-cons being incorporated. (So, for example, in 1964, when discussing the debut of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, the author mentions that they are "unbeknownst to them" the son and daughter of Magneto. Why would it be saying that in a 1964 chapter, years before that ret-con? Annoying.)

Also, it took only about three minutes of skimming to discover a glaring error. (Remember when the Abomination first appeared and fought the Hulk? Did you know it happened in Amazing Spider-Man #47?)

All in all, pretty disappointed by the book. After discovering all these things I didn't like, I leaned forward and put it back on the shelf.

Ocean is one of the sad boys. It's time he moved on.

The sad boys are the ones who screwed the book up, microbrain.

Does the book mark the date of the fans turned pro, because that's what's really bothering you.

I don't mind the retcon stuff. Including it makes sense, especially if it is the "they don't know yet" blah blah blah. But i can understand that complaint

the doing it by cover date rather than month doesn't matter to me since the same books will be together.