"All of the Marvels" by Douglas Wolk

Douglas Wolk has read all 27,000 Marvel comics. He says it's all one big story but who among us would dare to complete such a story with all its mutants, monsters and mysteries?"All of the Marvels" is Wolk's book celebrating the feat. It's also a tidy comic history that dates back to 1961 when Marvel burst upon the scene with eight issues a month (now they produce 50 a month)."All of the Marvels" strolls through the years, highlighting special social and comic issues along the way. Wolk's not hearing the line that comic books are dying, by the way. Indeed, he says the industry is thriving with digital comics "a new frontier."Those Marvel movies, the blockbusters that Hollywood depends on these days, hasn't pre-empted the comics but augmented them, he says.Wolk marvels at Marvel's success. "Marvel has moved to the center of our popular culture. Everyone knows who Spider-Man is," he told Steve Tarter."It's Marvel, Star Wars and Harry Potter and not much else," he said of that popular culture.Marvel, meanwhile, continues to fascinate Wolk, noting that he's a fan of a more recent creation, Ms. Marvel, a Pakistani-American Muslim teen superhero.