My Mighty Marvel First Book: Fantastic Four
Art by Jack Kirby
24 pages/Abrams Appleseed/$12.99
Marvel Hello Heroes: Spider-Man Swings Through
By Sabrina Moyle & Eunice Moyle
48 pages/Abrams Books for Young Readers/$14.99
Abrams’ various imprints have done a fine job producing works for Marvelites of all ages, notably a series of board books for their youngest readers, indoctrinating them early. What I find most interesting about their My Mighty Marvel First Books is that they all use classic Silver Age artwork to tell bare-bones origin stories.
For their thirteenth offering, they finally get around to Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four, just months before the feature film is in theaters. No writer is credited, but all the art dates back to the series’ legendary run, except the cover, which is penciled by Jack Kirby, who receives a nice bio in the back. To my practiced eye, there are costume details and touches that make for an inconsistent reading experience, but the target audience is unlikely to notice. We gain insight into their origin and a glimpse of a few of their opponents, including, of course, Galactus.
The board book offers several fold-outs (fold-ups?) to make things seem particularly impressive, including the team’s name from issue #1.
A new line, aimed at first through fourth-graders, is the Hello Heroes, presenting a quirky look at the heroes. Already out is Captain Marvel, and here is one featuring the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Sabrina and Eunie Moyle have an unconventional style for a superhero comic, but it works for younger fans. What isn’t great is the lack of a coherent story, but more like page after page of Spidey swinging through the city or crawling through sewers and interacting with friends and foes alike. As a result, readers who are already familiar with the Spider-Verse animated films will recognize his variants and Easter eggs from other realities. There’s some fun to it,, but the lack of coherence for a beginning reader is of concern.
English (US) · 