Hardcover 15, 6x21, 7cm 512 pages The comics Marvel era 1961-1978. 40th Ed. - Taschen

In the comics Marvel era, innovations in comics and popular culture redefined the superhero genre. This treasure trove of eyewitness accounts and images reveals how such popular characters as the Hulk and Spider were born - Man - and the legendary artists who brought them to life, from Stan Lee to Jack Kirby.

The genesis of family heroes and mythological universes

It was a time of powerful heroes, misunderstood monsters and villains à la complex psychology. When it published the first issue of Fantastic Four in November 1961, comics giant Marvel ushered in a period of transformation in popular culture. Over the next 20 years, the illustrious Hulk, Spider - Man, Iron Man and X-Men leapt, rocketed and flew between its pages. He pulled Captain America out of the refrigerators of history where he'd been reclusive since the 1940s, and made the Avengers the best superhero team in the world. Daredevil, Doctor Strange and dozens of others were added to his pantheon, along with their own areopagus of malevolent adversaries. Plus 50 years plus later, these exciting characters born in the 1960s and 1970s are plus popular as ever, always ready for a fight, in magazines, toy stores and big-budget movies the world over.

In The Age of comics Marvel 1961-1978, legendary auteur and editor Roy Thomas transports you to the heart of this pivotal stage in the history of comics , an era of triumphant innovation in storytelling and character during which the superhero reinvented itself as a genre. Through hundreds of images and first-hand accounts, the book traces the birth of heroes mythical in their powers and adversaries, but rooted in a world similar to the one readers knew, heroes with their problems, battles to fight and flaws, like anyone else, with whom they could identify. We also see how, in the 1970s, the Marvel idea machine integrated horror, heroic fantasy and martial arts into its stable of titanic demigods, with iconic characters like Man-Thing, Conan and Shang-Chi, proving that their way of storytelling could be successfully duplicated, without capes or skin-tight suits.

We also learn about Marvel's extraordinary architects, whose names are almost as well known as the mortals and immortals to whom they gave life: Stan "The Man " Lee, Jack "King" Kirby and Steve Ditko, while compagnie other genre greats such as John Romita, John Buscema, Marie Severin and Jim Steranko. ensemble compose is an exciting behind-the-scenes exploration of this legendary company, a must-have in the library of every comics fan, vibrating with the energy and thirst for innovation of the era that saw the triumph of Marvel and its heroes.