Editor’s note: This fall, as part of my Master’s studies through Fort Hays State University, I’m enrolled in an independent reading project on the Bronze Age of the American comic book. Over a four-month period, I’ll be reading several books and articles about the Bronze Age, and will be writing a reaction paper about each. This is #7 of a 17-part series.
MARVEL CHRONICLE.
(Cover by Jim Cheung)
Published by DK, © Marvel, 2008
Marvel Chronicle is history by committee, with no less than five editors overseeing several different writers on a month-by-month, year-by-year, decade-by-decade chronology of Marvel Comics. Much like Les Daniels’ Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World’s Greatest Comics (see Reaction Paper #6), Marvel Chronicle fails to establish its bona fides as an independent reporter of the company’s history. But this is less of an omission here, as Marvel Chronicle is clearly under the influence of corporate control. Tom DeFalco, a former editor-in-chief and current writer at Marvel, writes the chapter on the 1980s, while current Marvel Executive Editor Tom Breevort handles the chapter on the 1950s. Even the most frequent contributor to Marvel Chronicle — noted comics historian Peter Sanderson — has been on Marvel’s payroll as a writer from time to time. With the writers’ allegiances so well established, it’s easy to understand why descriptors like “great” and “brilliant” are used liberally, why the importance of Conan the Barbarian to the company’s Bronze Age fortunes doesn’t get much ink (note: Marvel no longer has the license to Conan), and why controversies like Jack Kirby’s 1970 departure from Marvel are largely glossed over. And while such understanding doesn’t excuse what is missing from this historical record, it does allow the reader to dwell on what is there.
Seen in such a light, Marvel Chronicle does have a lot to offer. In contrast to Daniels’ Marvel, this volume is more focused on the stories and characters of Marvel than in matters of business and creative talent (that fact also helps explains why things like the Kirby art controversy aren’t covered). It also sets the fictional happenings of the Marvel Universe against a timeline of real world events, providing a surprisingly resonant context for the material. Finally, the historians — particularly Sanderson — do a good job of boiling down and isolating key facts and developments for each year. A few examples, all culled from the years of the Bronze Age:
• With his “Kree-Skrull War” storyline in 1971, writer Roy Thomas “sought to connect together the disparate elements of the expanding Marvel Universe” (p. 148). In addition to this notion of continuity, his story would influence what would become known as “event” comics.
• Thomas, described by Sanderson as “Lee’s brilliant protégé,” came to power as editor-in-chief in 1972, just as the Comics Code Authority was being altered. This allowed him to guide “the comics line into horror and other genres” (p. 154).
• While Sanderson doesn’t use the term “Bronze Age,” he does introduce three possible end points for the Silver Age that proceeded it: Kirby leaving Marvel for DC in 1970, Stan Lee’s departure from monthly writing in 1972, and the death of Spider-Man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy, the moment in 1973 when Sanderson says superhero comics “lost their innocence” (p. 158).
• The introduction of two characters in 1974 — Wolverine and the Punisher — would pave the way for the “grim and gritty” comics of the 1980s (p. 164). Likewise, the reintroduction of the X-Men in 1975 would “change Super Hero comics forever” (p. 168).
• Marvel’s early support of the fledgling direct market — including exclusives such as Dazzler #1, which sold 428,000 copies in 1981 — helped the number of comic-book shops grow at “a phenomenal rate” (p. 200).
Such insights are the bread and butter of comics historians. But they aren’t the real sustenance of this book, which spends far more time exploring specific plots and characters. Taken together with Daniels’ book, Marvel Chronicle helps paint a fairly complete picture of company’s history. The only thing still missing is an objective history capable of digging in the historical dirt.
