Marvel Comics Library. Spider-Man. Vol. 1. 1962–1964: 1962–1964

It's hard to describe the feeling of holding this book in your hands. To start with, it's a beast of a book, comprehensive and hefty. You'll probably need to reinforce your bookshelves to house it.It's also beautifully produced, a perfect reprinting of some classic comics. I also own the originals and rarely bother with reprints, but then I've never seen these early Spider-Man tales reprinted with such care and attention before. I was given some Amazon vouchers for a significant birthday and took a bit of a flyer on this. It's not cheap but boy is it worth it.I'll certainly be getting the rest of this library series when budgets allow, and let's hope Taschen keeps adding to the collection. Marvel has a wonderful back catalogue after all.

This is an absolutely wonderful book. It contains the first half of the original Spider Man Marvel comics series created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.They have been beautifully reprinted by Taschen in their entirety complete with their original covers, the ads, letters pages and editorial notices.The book is unwieldy because of its size and weight, but it’s worth the effort to read it.The publisher has gone to immense trouble to replicate the look and feel of the original comics.In some ways, it’s even better than reading the original comics because the pages are bigger and more vibrant. And best of all, you don’t have to worry about damaging your original comics by handling them.I have some of the comics included in this collection in their original format, but they aren’t pristine. I also have multiple copies of the various reprint versions. But none of them match the quality and experience of reading this wonderful book.I do hope the rest of the remaining Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Spider Man stories and annuals will published in the same format soon.I can’t wait to see how the Amazing Spider Man # 33 looks like in this format.Enjoy the experience!

Imagine it's the early 1960s and you've been buying mint copies of the issues reprinted in this volume.Then imagine they were the deluxe versions with slightly sturdier paper stock and at twice the size (bigger, even, than your prized treasury editions).Then imagine having them all bound into a hardback book with a satin-like linen cover, commentary from a former Marvel editor and reproductions of some of Steve Ditko's original art (especially of the whole of the Spider-Man story from Amazing Fantasy 15).The next very best thing to owning the original copies with the added bonus of not having to fork out millions of pounds.Worth every penny.

Great reading these all early fantastic art work comics in large format and a Lovely coffee table book a talking point for all that see it mine was purchased at a great price ….

I bought it as a gift to my husband who is a Spider man fan. It was the best gift ever.. he was delighted. Great quality!! Can't wait other volumes to be released

stories great.colour amazing,would highly recomend.that you buy this book

I have not read this edition, but I know people who have. I am posting this review because there are no reviews so far (on Amazon UK at least), and given the price of this book, it deserves at least one review.In short, yes, this is worth the money.These stories have been reprinted a hundred times already. And this is probably the most expensive version. So why should you buy this, if you already have the stories? Because this is the first time the comics have ever been presented as they were intended to be seen. Every other reprint re-colours them. And the consensus among serious artists and historians (or at least, the ones I respect) is that the garish colours ruin the stories. Compare the original comics with a typical glossy reprint to see what I mean. The original comics generally have muted colours. Partly because newsprint does not allow vibrant colours, and partly because the colonists wanted some level of realism. But reprints generally have blazingly intense bright colours. Also, newsprint adds texture and softness, whereas shiny reprints are flat and harsh. Sometimes reprints use les shiny paper, and that is good, but the colouring always tends to be brighter than the original, or at least different. This is where the Taschen book comes in.Taschen have done their best to duplicate the original look and feel, while fixing any genuine problems (colour that is accidentally offset, ink bleeding through from the other side of the page, and so on). This version is how the stories are supposed to look, how they were designed to look. The only thing they have changed is to make the paper sturdier and a little larger.In summary, this is probably the best version available. if you can afford it, then this is the best way to read these stories.

What a fantastic way to enjoy some of the greatest comics ever produced. I own these stories in multiple formats: Marvel Masterworks, Omnibus and British Weekly to name but three. But I just had to add this massive tome to my already overloaded book shelf as you get the earliest Spidey adventures in giant-size format created from high quality photographs of the original comics. Truly a thing of beauty. The muted colours compared with the more glossy colouring that you typically get in other reprints make you feel like you have time travelled back to the 60s. The paper which is reminiscent of the traditional paper used in comics as opposed the glossy paper from modern productions also takes me right back. Yup its a nostalgia trip but if wallowing in a nostalgia trip is wrong, I don't want to be right.One tiny quibble was the placing of the King-Size Annual #1 at the end of the book instead of in the proper chronological placing of after Amazing Spider-Man #16 but that is minor, the only thing better than owning this book would be to own the original comics.