Summery art books, tender short stories, high-EQ true crime, and more recommendations from the staff of Vanity Fair:
Comics were made to be portable, to be rolled up, folded in half, and stuffed into back pockets, so it’s ironic to read reproductions of the original twenty issues of the Avengers in this very different format from Taschen—quadrupled in size, bound in sturdy hardcover, and weighing approximately as much as a cinderblock. This feels more like a holy book than a comic book, right down to the red ribbon embedded in the spine, for keeping your place in the scripture.
There are two intros contextualizing this array of issues from the early ‘60s: one from Marvel Studios presidentabout the innovation of uniting heroes from different storylines in one adventure, and another that’s a refreshing history lesson on their creation from contemporary comics scribe. Once you get to the heart of the book, the tales of writer Stan Lee and artists Jack Kirby and Don Heck speak for themselves.