The Avengers

Illustrated throughout, The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents specially curated cartoon anthologies of the world's greatest superheroes 
 
Starting in 1961, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and their collaborators transformed the superhero genre with a series of new creations, including the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, and the Invincible Iron Man. In 1963, Lee and Kirby brought these characters together for the first time in a new magazine called The Avengers - adding a resurrected Captain America shortly after, and other heroes over time. This unique collection gathers key issues from the first few years of the series. 
 
A foreword by Leigh Bardugo, and a comprehensive introduction and notes by José Alaniz offer further insight into the enduring significance of The Avengers and classic Marvel comics. This Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art.

Stan Lee (1922- 2018) and artist Jack Kirby made comic book history in 1961 with The Fantastic Four #1. Lee oversaw the adventures of many super hero creations for over a decade before handing over the editorial reins at Marvel to others. For the remainder of his long life, he continued to serve as a creative figurehead at Marvel and an ambassador for the comics medium.

Starting in 1961, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and their collaborators transformed the superhero genre with a series of new creations, including the Incredible Hulk, the Mighty Thor, and the Invincible Iron Man. In 1963, Lee and Kirby brought these characters together for the first time in a new magazine called The Avengers - adding a resurrected Captain America shortly after, and other heroes over time. This unique collection gathers key issues from the first few years of the series. 
 
A foreword by Leigh Bardugo, and a comprehensive introduction and notes by José Alaniz offer further insight into the enduring significance of The Avengers and classic Marvel comics. This Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art throughout.

Fantastic Four

Illustrated throughout, The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents specially curated cartoon anthologies of the world's greatest superheroes 
 
Throughout the 1960s, the Fantastic Four was both the flagship title and the creative laboratory of the Marvel Universe. In each issue, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced dozens of new characters and concepts, all while expanding the emotional bandwidth and visual vocabulary of the superhero genre. Collected here are the very best stories and most historic moments. A foreword by Jerry Craft and a comprehensive introduction and notes by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of the Fantastic Four and classic Marvel comics. 
 
This Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art.

Throughout the 1960s, the Fantastic Four was both the flagship title and the creative laboratory of the Marvel Universe. In each issue, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced dozens of new characters and concepts, all while expanding the emotional bandwidth and visual vocabulary of the superhero genre. Collected here are the very best stories and most historic moments. A foreword by Jerry Craft and a comprehensive introduction and notes by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of the Fantastic Four and classic Marvel comics. 
 
This Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art throughout.

The Amazing Spider-Man

Stan Lee (Author) Stan Lee (1922- 2018) and artist Jack Kirby made comic book history in 1961 with The Fantastic Four #1. Lee oversaw the adventures of many super hero creations for over a decade before handing over the editorial reins at Marvel to others. For the remainder of his long life, he continued to serve as a creative figurehead at Marvel and an ambassador for the comics medium. Steve Ditko (Author) Steve Ditko (1927- 2018) was recruited in 1958 to join Stan Lee's Atlas Comics, which was later transformed into Marvel. In 1962, Ditko and Lee brought to life the Amazing Spider-Man, changing the industry forever. Ditko left Marvel in 1966 for Charlton Comics and DC Comics. He returned to 
Marvel during the late 1970s and remained there for much of the 1980s. Jason Reynolds (Foreword By) Jason Reynolds is an award- winning and number one New York Times bestselling author. Reynolds' many books include Miles Morales: Spider- Man; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor; and Look Both Ways, which was a National Book Award Finalist. His latest book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, is a collaboration with Ibram X. Kendi. Reynolds is the 2020- 2021 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on the faculty of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Lesley University and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at jasonwritesbooks.com. Ben Saunders (Introducer) Ben Saunders is a professor of English at the University of Ore­gon. He is the author of Desiring Donne: Poetry, Sexuality, Inter­pretation and Do the Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes, as well as numerous critical essays on subjects ranging from the writings of Shakespeare to the recordings of Little Richard. He has also curated several museum exhibitions of comics art, in­cluding the record-breaking multimedia touring show Marvel: Uni­verse of Super Heroes-a retrospective exploring the artistic and cultural impact of Marvel Comics from 1939 to the present.

It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few. 
 
This anthology contains twelve key stories from the first two years of Spider-Man's publication history (from 1962 to 1964). These influential adventures not only transformed the super hero fantasy into an allegory for the pain of adolescence but also brought a new ethical complexity to the genre-by insisting that with great power there must also come great responsibility. 
 
A foreword by Jason Reynolds and scholarly introductions and apparatus by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of The Amazing Spider-Man and classic Marvel comics. 
 
The Penguin Classics black spine paperback features full-colour art throughout.

Captain America

The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel's transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy. 
 
A Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Edition 
 
It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few. 
 
Drawing upon multiple comic book series, this collection includes Captain America's very first appearances from 1941 alongside key examples of his first solo stories of the 1960s, in which Steve Rogers, the newly resurrected hero of World War II, searches to find his place in a new and unfamiliar world. As the contents reveal, the transformations of this American icon thus mark parallel transformations in the nation itself. 
 
A foreword by Gene Luen Yang and scholarly introductions and apparatus by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of Captain America and classic Marvel comics. 
 
The Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art throughout.

Jack Kirby (Author) Born to Jewish-Austrian parents on New York's Lower East Side, Jack Kirby (1917-1994) came of age at the birth of the American comic book industry. Horrified by the rise of Nazism, Kirby co-created the patriotic hero Captain America with Joe Simon in 1940. In 1958, Kirby began his collaboration with Stan Lee. They co-created the foundational text of the modern Marvel Universe – The Fantastic Four – and introduced new characters, including the Avengers, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, the Silver Surfer, and the X-Men. Today, Kirby is regarded as one of the most important and influential creators in the history of American comics. Joe Simon (Author) While sharing a studio with Jack Kirby, artist Joe Simon co-created Captain America, a stirring symbol of American idealism and pride during the war-torn 1940s. Simon and Kirby would go on to form one of the most productive partnerships of the early American comic book industry. The two men co-created comics in every genre-crime, war, horror, science fiction, Western, humor, and romance-for numerous different publishers between 1940 and 1954. Noted characters and series included the Sandman and the Newsboy Legion for DC Comics, Young Romance for Crestwood, and Boys' Ranch for Harvey. Simon also wrote two autobiographies-The Comic Book Makers (1990), coauthored with his son, Jim Simon, and Joe Simon: My Life in Comics (2011)- essential reading for any historian of comic book history and culture. Stan Lee (Author) Stan Lee (1922- 2018) and artist Jack Kirby made comic book history in 1961 with The Fantastic Four #1. Lee oversaw the adventures of many super hero creations for over a decade before handing over the editorial reins at Marvel to others. For the remainder of his long life, he continued to serve as a creative figurehead at Marvel and an ambassador for the comics medium. Jim Steranko (Author) Jim Steranko rocked the comic book world in the late 1960s with a revolutionary approach to design and narrative, influenced by the contemporary worlds of both commercial and fine art. Ster­anko produced very little comics work after the 1970s, but his illus­trations would grace the covers of numerous science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as film posters and record album sleeves. He has also produced character designs for a number of filmmakers, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Francis Ford Cop­pola. His two- volume History of Comics was one of the first modern works of comics scholarship, and his film industry magazine Prevue enjoyed an impressive twenty- five- year run. Steranko was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2006. John Romita Sr. (Author) John Romita Sr. was born in Brooklyn in 1930 and attended Manhattan's School of Industrial Art before entering the comic book industry in 1949. He drew many comics for Marvel (then known as Timely or Atlas) during the early 1950s before moving to DC Comics in 1958, where he established a reputation as a master of romance comics. In 1965 he returned to Marvel, inking Don Heck's pencils on an issue of the Avengers. After a short stint pen­ciling Daredevil, Romita Sr. was tapped by Stan Lee to take over The Amazing Spider-Man when original artist Steve Ditko left the book. Romita Sr. brought a new emotional warmth to the series, while his slick, clean craftsmanship took the title to even greater commercial heights. His renditions of the title character, as well as supporting cast members such as Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Wat­son, were considered definitive by a generation of fans. In the 1970s, Stan Lee appointed Romita Sr. as art director for the company; while in this position, he helped design numerous characters (in­cluding the Punisher, Wolverine, and Luke Cage). He was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2002. Gene Luen Yang (Foreword By) Gene Luen Yang is the author of the half-million-copy New York Times bestselling graphic novel and National Book Award finalist American Born Chinese, which features the character of Monkey King throughout. Ben Saunders (Introducer) Ben Saunders is a professor of English at the University of Ore­gon. He is the author of Desiring Donne: Poetry, Sexuality, Inter­pretation and Do the Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes, as well as numerous critical essays on subjects ranging from the writings of Shakespeare to the recordings of Little Richard. He has also curated several museum exhibitions of comics art, in­cluding the record-breaking multimedia touring show Marvel: Uni­verse of Super Heroes-a retrospective exploring the artistic and cultural impact of Marvel Comics from 1939 to the present.

It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few. 
 
Drawing upon multiple comic book series, this collection includes Captain America's very first appearances from 1941 alongside key examples of his first solo stories of the 1960s, in which Steve Rogers, the newly resurrected hero of World War II, searches to find his place in a new and unfamiliar world. As the contents reveal, the transformations of this American icon thus mark parallel transformations in the nation itself. 
 
A foreword by Gene Luen Yang and scholarly introductions and apparatus by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of Captain America and classic Marvel comics. 
 
The Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art throughout.

Black Panther

The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection presents the origin stories, seminal tales, and characters of the Marvel Universe to explore Marvel's transformative and timeless influence on an entire genre of fantasy. 
 
A Penguin Classics Marvel Collection Edition 
 
It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few. 
 
The Black Panther is not just a super hero; as King T'Challa, he is also the monarch of the hidden African nation of Wakanda. Combining the strength and stealth of his namesake with a creative scientific intelligence, the Black Panther is an icon of Afro-futurist fantasy. This new anthology includes the Black Panther's 1966 origin tale and the entirety of the critically acclaimed "Panther's Rage" storyline from his 1970s solo series. 
 
A foreword by Nnedi Okorafor, a scholarly introduction and apparatus by Qiana J. Whitted, and a general series introduction by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of Black Panther and classic Marvel comics. 
 
The Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art throughout.

It is impossible to imagine American popular culture without Marvel Comics. For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the fluid nature of identity; and as high-water marks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning, to name a few. 
 
The Black Panther is not just a super hero; as King T'Challa, he is also the monarch of the hidden African nation of Wakanda. Combining the strength and stealth of his namesake with a creative scientific intelligence, the Black Panther is an icon of Afro-futurist fantasy. This new anthology includes the Black Panther's 1966 origin tale and the entirety of the critically acclaimed "Panther's Rage" storyline from his 1970s solo series. 
 
A foreword by Nnedi Okorafor, a scholarly introduction and apparatus by Qiana J. Whitted, and a general series introduction by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of Black Panther and classic Marvel comics. 
 
The Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art throughout.

The Mighty Thor

During the 1960s, under the hands of the inimitable creative team of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, Marvel’s Thor combined the raw material of ancient Norse mythology with the nonstop action of super-heroic adventure comics and the speculative reach of classic science fiction. The result was a heady brew: epic, operatic, melodramatic, even psychedelic. This collection gathers some of the most important story arcs from the foundational years of the series and includes seminal early appearances of characters such as Hercules and Ego, the Living Planet, as well as Thor’s first encounter with Galactus! The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection provides a detailed scholarly introduction, contextualizing Kirby’s work on Thor within his larger oeuvre, alongside an extended critical apparatus and an appendix of additional material drawn from Kirby and Lee’s popular back-up series “Tales of Asgard.”

Stan Lee

The seeds of a pop-cultural phenomenon were sown with the launch of the first X-Men comic in 1963, at the height of 'the Marvel Revolution', under the creative team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This volume includes the first issue, which established a creative formula that continues to inspire contemporary creators, as well as later editions still acclaimed for the ground-breaking artwork of Neal Adams. 
 
A foreword by Rainbow Rowell and a comprehensive introduction and notes by Ben Saunders offer further insight into the enduring significance of the X-Men and classic Marvel comics. This Deluxe Hardcover edition features gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges, special endpapers with artwork spotlighting series villains, and full-colour art throughout.

Stan Lee

Books by Stan Lee

Series by Stan Lee

Penguin Classics Marvel Collection

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