Last month we looked at books from DC Comics and DC Publishing. This month I want to do the same for Marvel. I don’t get the same feel from the Marvel collection as I do from DC. Surprisingly, I prefer DC’s books to Marvel’s, which is the opposite of how I feel about their movies. Let’s take a look at what Marvel has for us in the world of publishing (not including graphic novel collections of comic books).
Board Books/Picture Books
Marvel Alpha Block is an alphabet board book with die cut pages. As the Marvel movies have exploded in popularity, Marvel has published a number of picture books, including Little Golden Books for most of the main characters. Baby Groot makes a great character for picture books. I especially loved Spider-Man Swings Through Europe which debuted this summer as the latest Spider-Man movie was released. (Rating: ♥♥♥♥ ) There are also inspirational books and collections that show multiple characters and tells readers about them.
Leveled Readers and Early Chapter Books
Most of the Marvel movies have released along side leveled readers for kids. There’s usually a “Meet the Team” title that introduces the characters as well as some that include adventures based on the movies. There have also been some early chapter books like these from the Super Hero Adventures line. I couldn’t find any recent releases in these categories.
Middle Grade Novels
Marvel usually publishes a “Junior Novel” for all of the movies (like the one for Thor Ragnarok pictured above – I couldn’t find one for Spider-Man Far From Home). These usually mirror the beginnings of the movies, but stop before giving the whole movie plot away. They have also published novelizations of the movies. You can now get the whole “First Ten Years” collection in a box set. Otherwise, their middle grade books play close to the movies but usually more by filling-in-backstory or with a sideways shift.
In Black Panther: Young Prince, we get a childhood story for T’Challa. (♥♥♥♥) In the Cosmic Quest duology, the Collector and the Grand Master square off in a bit of sibling rivalry as they also retell the stories of the Infinity Stones. Peter and Ned’s Ultimate Travel Journal is styled like a pass-around journal for the characters from Spider-Man Far from Home. The Pirate Angel, the Talking Tree, and Captain Rabbit stars Thor, Groot and Rocket as they head to Nidavellir in Endgame, and Groot reads Rocket’s journal about a previous adventure. Marvel released two Unbeatable Squirrel Girl books in 2017 and 2018. You can read my review of Squirrel Meets World here. (♥♥♥♥♥) Starforce on the Rise tells the story of Captain Marvel when she was fighting with the Kree in Starforce before her adventures in the 2019 movie.
Teen and Young Adult Novels
While DC has been actively cultivating their Teen/YA market, Marvel hasn’t done as well there. There were two books in the Black Widow series (published in 2015 and 2016). I enjoyed the first one, Forever Red (♥♥♥♥), but didn’t read the second. Higher, Further, Faster tells the story of Carol Danvers before she ever meets the Kree. (♥♥♥♥½) The Gauntlet is an Iron Man story from 2016 for the middle grade/middle school crowd that seems to stand in a timeline outside the MCU. (♥♥♥½) Loki: Where Mischief Lies just released this fall. You can read my full review here. (♥♥♥½). Jason Reynolds gave us a Miles Morales story before the animated Into the Spiderverse released last year to critical acclaim. You can read my review here. (♥♥♥♥) Thanos: Titan Consumed is an original novel telling the origin story of Thanos.
Adult Novels and Other Books
Marvel has done a far better job than DC on novels for adults. They have a line of novelizations of some of their top comic/graphic novel story lines that are a lot of fun for prose readers. Avengers: Everybody Wants to Rule the World is a novel about many Marvel characters but doesn’t tie specifically into the MCU or a specific comic book series. Avengers: Infinty is a Thanos story, but separate from the one in the MCU. Captain Marvel: Liberation Run is an original Marvel story starring Captain Marvel. Civil War is a novelization of the comic series as is Planet Hulk. You can read my Planet Hulk review here. (♥♥♥♥♥) Spider-Man Hostile Takeover is actually a prequel to the Spider-Man PS4 game. Thanos: Death Sentence is an original Marvel novel. X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga is a novelization of the comics storyline. Marvel also does a fantastic job with their Art of books for each movie in the MCU.
Coming Soon from Marvel
While DC has been shouting from the rooftops about their publishing plans for kids and teens for the next year, Marvel has a much quieter list. These are the ones I was able to find. Black Widow gets to star in a Little Golden Book. (January 2020) Captain Marvel will star in a Flerken story for middle grade readers. (March 2020) Shuri will kick off an upper middle grade series (May 2020). The as-yet untitled Unstoppable Wasp book for teens (staring Nadia Van Dyne from the Unstoppable Wasp comic series) will release in May as well. And I found reference to a book called Orientation which will be the first in an illustrated middle grade series called Avengers Assembly, which is currently scheduled to release in August of 2020.
