There’s always so much to recommend picking up at the holidays for the comic book lover in your life. My friend and colleague JP Fallavollita has your covered with some newer hardcovers and trade paperbacks that fans will love; meanwhile, in this instalment of our Holiday Gift Guide, I’m sharing some of the higher end offerings out there, from both Marvel Comics and their Distinguished Competition.
DC Comics: The Golden Age
1938-1956
The Folio Society
First of all, it’s worth nothing off the top that The Folio Society makes absolutely stellar collections. Over the last year and a bit we’ve looked at their Marvel Heroes Editions devoted to Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Now, just in time for the holidays, The Folio Society has released the large and lovely DC Comics: The Golden Age, a hardcover collected some of the most important books released between 1938-1956, including first appearances from Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.
Witness the creation of the world’s first multiverse, when the publisher that would become DC Comics founded the superhero genre as we know it today. The groundbreaking debut adventures of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and more return in Folio’s earth-shattering new collection DC Comics: The Golden Age. Former DC Editor-in-Chief Jenette Kahn selects and introduces eighteen epoch-making stories published during the formative age of American comic books. Scanned directly from original copies held in the DC archives, these seminal stories collect the earliest – often startling – incarnations of our modern Super Hero icons. Discover original work by the founding fathers of the genre, from Superman creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, Batman’s Bob Kane with Bill Finger, and Wonder Woman writer William Moulton Marston. This astonishing collection includes a complete 68-page replica of Action Comics #1, the world’s very first superhero comic. Presented in a dynamic clamshell case with a separate art print by modern Batman artist Yanick Paquette, DC Comics: The Golden Age explores the roots of a pop culture phenomenon, the first instalment in a brand-new series from The Folio Society in partnership with DC Comics.
You can order DC Comics: The Golden Age here.
Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline
Anthony Breznican, Amy Ratcliffe, and Rebecca Theodore-Vachon
DK
While it may not be a comic book related title, there’s little doubt that there’s a crossover between Marvel comic book fans and fans of the MCU. Truth be told, comic fans would probably love an in-depth book that attempts to trace the timeline world outside your window. Authors Breznican, Ratcliffe, and Theodore-Vachon have a crafted a beautifully illustrated guide to the Sacred Timeline that has captivated filmgoers since 2008 (even if the most recent Marvel Studios release, The Marvels, underperformed at the box office.)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is vast, incredibly varied, and richly complex. Different worlds, different timelines, countless characters. This is the guide to that universe. Created in close collaboration with Marvel Studios, it will answer the biggest questions: what happened, when, and where.
Follow the entire story of the MCU from before the Big Bang to the Blip and beyond. Along the way, learn more about the evolution of the Iron Man armors, the hunt for the Infinity Stones, and the formation of the Multiverse. Want to know how many times aliens have invaded Earth, or the complete history of Cap’s shield? Look no further!
A treasured keepsake for any movie buff, filled with exclusive infographics, illuminating timelines, and amazing movie stills, this book will have pride of place on any MCU fan’s shelf.
You can order Marvel Studios The Marvel Cinematic Universe An Official Timeline here.
Marvel Comics Library: Silver Surfer Volume 1 1968-1970
Marvel Comics Libtary: Spider-Man Volume 2 1965-1966
Taschen
The past 18 months have been absolutely glorious for fans of Marvel when it comes to gorgeous, high-end comic reproductions. In 2022, the fine folks at Taschen launched their Marvel Comics Library – oversized hardcover collections of essential runs of quintessential titles, including The Avengers, Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men. The final few months of 2023 have seen the release of two more titles in the library.
Introduced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the fertile pages of The Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer quickly established himself as one of Marvel’s most far-out characters. Enslaved by Galactus to prowl the cosmos for the demi-god’s next planet-sized meal, the Surfer was as tragic a figure as any in comics—and he looked impossibly cool at the same time! A smash hit with fans and a regular supporting character in Fantastic Four, the character struck a creative nerve with Lee, who couldn’t wait to begin to tell some Surfer solo stories, but the timing had to be right.
In the spring of 1968, things came together for both writer and character, with Lee giving the Surfer Marvel’s very first ongoing double-sized book. Lee also recruited artist John Buscema, who had recently been lending his extraordinary pencils to The Avengers. Together, they spun off a run of legendary tales that helped define the character forevermore.
The feature stories from the entire 18-issue run of the 1968 Silver Surfer series are collected in this cosmic-sized XXL tome from the Eisner Award-winning Marvel Comics Library series. The most pristine pedigreed comics have been cracked open and photographed for reproduction in close collaboration with Marvel and the Certified Guaranty Company. Each page has been photographed as printed more than half a century ago, then digitally remastered using modern retouching techniques to correct problems with the era’s inexpensive, imperfect printing—as if hot off a world-class 1960s printing press. A custom paper stock was exclusively developed for this series to simulate the feel of the original comics.
You can order Marvel Comics Library: Silver Surfer 1968-1970 here.
Their collaboration on Spider-Man couldn’t last forever—but the five-years of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s remarkable partnership lasted long enough for their character to evolve into a timeless icon and create a fandom that would last generations. TASCHEN’s second volume of Amazing Spider-Man stories collects the latter half of the duo’s magnum opus, featuring brand new arch-villains the Scorpion, Molten Man, and the Crime-Master, return engagements with Kraven the Hunter and the Green Goblin—and the three-part “Master Planner Saga” that reignited a feud with an iconic mystery villain, and left behind what many comics critics declare to be the greatest super hero story of all time.
Beyond the action that faced Spider-Man—all choreographed with aplomb by the master stylist Ditko—there was also the matter of Peter Parker’s maturation during a decade of social upheaval and change. With Stan Lee’s blend of soap opera melodramatics and finger-on-the-pulse social sensitivities, Peter graduated from high school to college and started to deal with a myriad of adult struggles, mirroring the life experiences of the book’s readership. A scrawny teenager no more, Lee and Ditko would widen his network of friends and frenemies, debuting Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, and, in a series of hilarious cameos, Mary Jane Watson—all characters that would develop into one of the deepest and most substantive supporting casts in all of comics. Also introduced is Harry’s father, Norman Osborn, the short-tempered industrialist who would later be revealed as Spider-Man’s most dreaded foe. Meanwhile, Peter’s up-and-down romance with Betty Brant would reach its culmination with both changed forever.
Collected in an XXL-size volume that closely simulates the size and proportions of the original comic artboards, all individual issues have been sourced from the collection of Bob Bretall, holder of the Guinness World Record for largest comics collection. Bretall’s pedigreed collection has been photographed using TASCHEN’s sterling reproduction methods, resembling the way these comics first looked when initially published in 1965 and 1966, while also being digitally remastered using modern retouching techniques to correct problems with the era’s inexpensive, imperfect printing. A custom paper stock was exclusively developed for this series to simulate the newsprint feel and color holding of the original comics. The Marvel Comics Library has earned well-deserved raves from comic collecting diehards for combining an old school comic book reading experience with a luxurious oversized book format, winning the industry’s coveted Eisner Award for Best Publication Design.
Complementing the comics is an incisive and often side-splitting essay by British TV and radio host Jonathan Ross. Accompanying his essay is a gallery of original art, photographs, rarities, and other ephemera of the era.
You can order Marvel Comics Library: Spider-Man Volume 2 1965-1966 here.