Beginning with the Human Torch in 1939 and continuing to the present, this magnificent boxed volume is a year by year account of Marvel titles, chronicling the rise and fall of some characters, such as Namor the Sub-Mariner, and the continued popularity of others, like Spiderman.

A collectors item certainly, but of interest primarily to nerdish super-hero fanatics – to one of whom I am married, so the book takes pride of place beside the sealed boxes of hand-painted Marvel figurines and the pristine first editions.

This well-researched and copiously illustrated reference to the Marvelous World is worth its [considerable] weight in gold [my husband says]. ( )