Marvel Fireside Books
Marvel Fireside Books were a series of full-color
These books enabled fans of the old comic books to have access to the stories without having to pay exorbitant prices for the original back issues. It introduced new readers to the work of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and other Marvel creators, and packaged the material in a traditional book format that carried more cachet than the flimsy pamphlet style of a typical comic book. Many of the books featured painted covers illustrated by such artists as Bob Larkin,[2] John Romita Sr., and Earl Norem. In this way, the series was an antecedent to the now common practice of packaging "classic" stories into archival editions and trade paperback collections including Marvel's 1998 book Grandson of Origins of Marvel Comics.
Publishing history
Marvel Publisher Stan Lee came up with the idea of compiling the origins of some of their most popular characters in a book format similar to Jules Feiffer's 1965 book The Great Comic Book Heroes. Teaming up with Fireside, the paperback imprint of Simon & Schuster, Marvel initially produced Origins of Marvel Comics in 1974,[3] featuring the origins of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, and Doctor Strange. Like the books to follow, Origins featured a foreword by Lee, and short introductions to each section, which followed the format of presenting the character's origin followed by a contemporary story by current Marvel contributors.
Origins of Marvel Comics was followed in 1975 with Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, featuring the origins of the X-Men, Iron Man, the Avengers, Daredevil, Nick Fury, the Watcher, and the Silver Surfer.
The two Origins books were followed by Bring on the Bad Guys, origins of a selection of Marvel villains; and The Superhero Women, featuring some of Marvel's most popular female superheroes. Eventually, the series moved away from origin stories and published collections of classic stories with individual characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Captain America, and Doctor Strange.[4]
One of the Marvel Fireside Books superhero story editions was not a reprint but an original story. The Silver Surfer (1978) by Stan Lee, with art by Kirby and Joe Sinnott, was a new take on the late 1960s icon; and is considered by many to be one of the first true "graphic novels".[5]
In conjunction with their reprint collections, Marvel and Fireside also produced a number of activity and game books by Owen McCarron, how-to books, and even a cookbook, again all featuring Marvel characters. The most well-known and popular book of this kind was 1978's How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, which is still in print.
Marvel/Fireside published 24 different books, many with multiple printings in both hardcover and paperback.
Original graphic novels
- The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience,ISBN 978-0671242251
Reprint collections
- Origins of Marvel Comics collects ISBN 978-0671218638
- Son of Origins of Marvel Comics collects ISBN 978-0671221669
- Bring on the Bad Guys: Origins of the Marvel Comics Villains collects Fantastic Four #5, Fantastic Four Annual #2, Strange Tales #126–127, Journey into Mystery #112–113, and 115, Tales of Suspense #66–68, The Amazing Spider-Man #40, ISBN 978-0671223557
- The Superhero Women: Featuring the Fabulous Females of Marvel Comics collects The Amazing Spider-Man #62 and #86, Marvel Feature vol. 2 #4, Fantastic Four #22, ISBN 978-0671229283
- The Best of Spidey Super Stories collects ISBN 9780671242206
- The Incredible Hulk collects The Incredible Hulk #3, Fantastic Four #12, The Avengers #3, Tales to Astonish #60–74 and #88,ISBN 978-0671242244
- Marvel's Greatest Superhero Battles collects Fantastic Four #25–26, Daredevil #7, X-Men #3, The Silver Surfer #4, Tales of Suspense#79–80, Tales to Astonish #82, Strange Tales #139–141, and The Amazing Spider-Man #69,ISBN 978-0671243913
- The Amazing Spider-Man collects The Amazing Spider-Man #42–43, 82, and 96–98,ISBN 978-0671248130
- The Fantastic Four collects Fantastic Four #4, 48–50, and 87,ISBN 978-0671248123
- Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts collects Strange Tales #111, 116, 119–120, 123, 131–133, The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2, and Marvel Premiere #3,ISBN 9780671248147
- Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty collects Captain America Comics #3, Tales of Suspense #59, 63, 79–81, The Avengers #4, and Captain America #110 and 122,ISBN 978-0671252328
Activity and how-to titles
- The Mighty Marvel Superheroes Fun Book. Vol. 1. June 1976. ISBN 978-0671223106.; 128 pp.
- ISBN 978-0671223120.; 128 pp.
- The Mighty Marvel Superheroes Fun Book. Vol. 2. June 1977. ISBN 978-0671227586.; 128 pp.
- The Mighty Marvel Superheroes Cookbook. September 1977. ISBN 978-0671225599.; 95 pp.
- ISBN 978-0671530778.; 192 pp.
- The Mighty Marvel Fun Book. Vol. 3. July 1978. ISBN 978-0671242237.; 128 pp.
- Marvel Mazes to Drive You Mad. October 1978. ISBN 978-0671243388.
- The Mighty Marvel Pin-Up Book. November 1978. ISBN 978-0671243906.; 45 pp.
- The Mighty Marvel Fun Book. Vol. 4. January 1979. ISBN 9780671243890.
- The Mighty Marvel Fun Book. Vol. 5. October 1979. ISBN 9780671248154.
- Marvel Word Games. August 1979. ISBN 978-0671248086.
- The Mighty Marvel Jumbo Fun Book. 1979. ISBN 9780671248109.; 352 pp.
See also
- Marvel Books
- Marvel Press
- Marvel Masterworks
- Marvel Premiere Classic
- The Official Marvel Try-Out Book
References
- ISBN 978-1605490564.
- ISBN 978-1606903537.
- ISBN 978-1-84576-324-4.
It was Simon and Shuster's trade division Fireside Books that published some of the most influential comic book collections of all time, beginning with Stan Lee's Origins of Marvel Comics, released in 1974.
- ^ Fredt, Stephan (February 2016). "The Other Marvel Team-Up: Simon & Schuster (Fireside) and Marvel". Back Issue! (86). Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing: 61–70.
- ISBN 978-0756641238.
[In 1978], Simon & Shuster's Fireside Books published a paperback book titled The Silver Surfer by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby...This book was later recognized as Marvel's first true graphic novel.
- ^ "The Silver Surfer". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Origins of Marvel Comics". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Son of Origins of Marvel Comics". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Bring on the Bad Guys: Origins of the Marvel Comics Villains". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "The Superhero Women". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "The Best of Spidey Super Stories". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "The Incredible Hulk". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Marvel's Greatest Superhero Battles". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "The Amazing Spider-Man". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "The Fantastic Four". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Doctor Strange Master of the Mystic Arts". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ "Captain America Sentinel of Liberty". Grand Comics Database.