I'm gonna save you hours of your life. Don't read this book.
I was pretty stoked to get this for x-mas. I love comics, books and I love documentaries...what better than to mix them all up and read about the origins of freakin Marvel? Well, when you find out what a fucking shambles the company is and what a bunch of money-hungry idiots were crafting the stories...it kinda bums you out.
This book is 430 pages of "this happened" then "this happened" then "this happened." It's reads like an accountant wrote the damn thing. And it all seems to focus around money. The creators remind me of whiny Occupy Movement kids who failed to grow up. They essentially sign contracts, do work, get paid, and then bitch about it afterwards. Motherfucker, if you don't like the contract terms, don't sign it.
It's impossible to keep names straight when reading this because SO MANY people come, go, defect, come back, double-cross, etc. Artists are constantly ping-ponging between DC and Marvel, and then eventually more indie publishers. There's tons of shit-talking.
The shittiest part about this whole thing is how Marvel has been handled for the last 70 years. You can't have Creatives running the business because that's not their strength, but you equally can't have bean-counters running the Creative because that's not their strength. It seems at no point in Marvel's history did they ever really have good management or anyone with any sense making business and creative decisions. Something was always sacrificed and it ALWAYS seemed to hurt the fans as a result.
Reading this books just makes Marvel look like a money-making machine first and foremost. And it makes the content-creators look like greedy douchebags. I read the whole thing thinking it was such a squandered potential. If only they had brought in people with artistic INTEGRITY and business-savvy to run the damn company...
The only guy who still seems cool after 430 pages...is Stan Lee.
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