I knew what to expect way back in 75 when this book was first published. I got it with birthday money from my 13th birthday. I'd devoured the first one in a day, and this one didn't last much longer.

Again, I still love this book for the murky light Lee casts on the origins of some flat-out amazing characters.

And, again, Lee was a horrible writer, and many of his plots start to sound the same after a while, but he knew how to interject those human moments into the books, and in this way, he set the tone for comics for years to come.

A fascinating glimpse into history. ( )

The second wave of origin stories collected into book form, back in the mid-1970s, when such volumes were scarce. (Seriously, you kids getting into comics now for the first time, you're living in a paradise.) Before I acquired my own copy, I checked this out dozens of times from my local library when I was a kid, reading it over and over.

This volume contains the origins and/or first appearances of The X-Men, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Avengers, The Silver Surfer, The Watcher, and Col. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. Each story is introduced by Stan Lee making full use of his voluminous vocabulary. In order to showcase their later and more familiar costumes, two stories of Daredevil and Iron Man are included. The second Iron Man story ends on a cliffhanger, but fortunately Stan pops in afterward to let us know Iron Man made it through okay.

Artwork is by Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, Don Heck, Gene Colan and John Buscema, with a painted cover by John Romita (something you also didn't see very often back then.) I was never sure why the Scarlet Witch appeared on the cover, as she's not in the book at all. I suppose she represents the Avengers, even though she wouldn't join the group until a year or so later.

This is great stuff and full of memories for me, so feel free to see this as a biased review. I admit it. But if you like the current incarnations of these characters, you'll want to see where they got their starts. I guess this collection may have been made "obsolete" by all the books that came later, but I will always treasure it. ( )

More of the same. ( )

classic novel of numerous origins of Silver age Marvel Comics ( )

Comics reprints with comment