Marvelous
We see a lot of books at January Magazine. As one of the senior review publications in the world, we see books of every description and from every category in great number. We see great books and we see... not so great books and just about everything you can imagine in between.
With all this wonderful bookishness floating around all the time, it’s possible to get somewhat jaded. That is: a book has to be particularly wonderful or stunning -- or both -- to make us sit up and take notice as soon as it rolls in the door.
That was certainly the case with The Marvel Vault by Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson (Running Press), a book we’ve gotten our hands on so far in advance of publication, we don’t even know what the publication date is. And though at present, the book seems to be some kind of big secret -- Amazon, B&N and even Running Press don’t include even a whisper of the book on their Web sites -- as I write this, the book is sitting on my desk. It’s real, it’s finished and it’s gorgeous.
We’ll leave a review for closer to press time (whenever that is) and for a reviewer with more expertise than I have with the world of comics and collectibles. Meanwhile, though, if you have an interest in either of those things, The Marvel Vault is the bomb. Expertly written and prepared (authors Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson are well known in this arena), The Marvel Vault is like a real collection shared by a knowledgeable friend (because who but a friend would let you touch such treasures?) with the added bonus of Thomas and Sanderson’s expert commentary.
And the fact that January Magazine art director and art and culture editor David Middleton contributed a photo (look for Neil Gaiman’s smiling mug on page 178) has nothing to do with the fact that we like this book so much. I think it might, however, have something to do with why this copy showed up so early.
With all this wonderful bookishness floating around all the time, it’s possible to get somewhat jaded. That is: a book has to be particularly wonderful or stunning -- or both -- to make us sit up and take notice as soon as it rolls in the door.
That was certainly the case with The Marvel Vault by Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson (Running Press), a book we’ve gotten our hands on so far in advance of publication, we don’t even know what the publication date is. And though at present, the book seems to be some kind of big secret -- Amazon, B&N and even Running Press don’t include even a whisper of the book on their Web sites -- as I write this, the book is sitting on my desk. It’s real, it’s finished and it’s gorgeous.
We’ll leave a review for closer to press time (whenever that is) and for a reviewer with more expertise than I have with the world of comics and collectibles. Meanwhile, though, if you have an interest in either of those things, The Marvel Vault is the bomb. Expertly written and prepared (authors Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson are well known in this arena), The Marvel Vault is like a real collection shared by a knowledgeable friend (because who but a friend would let you touch such treasures?) with the added bonus of Thomas and Sanderson’s expert commentary.
And the fact that January Magazine art director and art and culture editor David Middleton contributed a photo (look for Neil Gaiman’s smiling mug on page 178) has nothing to do with the fact that we like this book so much. I think it might, however, have something to do with why this copy showed up so early.
posted by Linda L. Richards at 12:41 AM
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