The Amazing Spider-Man (Penguin Classics Marvel Collection). Questo articolo non è disponibile.The Amazing Spider-Man (Penguin Classics Marvel Collection)

È impossibile immaginare la cultura popolare americana senza i fumetti Marvel. Per decenni, la Marvel ha pubblicato narrazioni visive rivoluzionarie che mantengono viva l'attenzione su più livelli: come metafore per l'esperienza della differenza e dell'alterità; come meditazioni sulla natura fluida dell'identità; e come punti di riferimento nella tradizione artistica del fumetto americano, per citarne alcuni. Questa antologia contiene dodici storie chiave dei primi due anni di storia delle pubblicazioni di Spider Man (dal 1962 al 1964). Queste influenti avventure non solo hanno trasformato la fantasia dei supereroi in un'allegoria del dolore dell'adolescenza, ma hanno anche portato una nuova complessità etica al genere, insistendo sul fatto che con un grande potere deve arrivare anche una grande responsabilità. Una prefazione di Jason Reynolds e introduzioni e apparati accademici di Ben Saunders offrono ulteriori approfondimenti sul significato duraturo di The Amazing Spider Man e dei classici fumetti Marvel. La versione tascabile con dorso nero dei Penguin Classics presenta illustrazioni a colori in tutto il volume.

Writer-editor Stan Lee (1922– 2018) and artist Jack Kirby made comic book history in 1961 with The Fantastic Four #1. The suc­cess of its new style inspired Lee and his many collaborators to de­velop a number of super heroes, including, with Jack Kirby, the Incredible Hulk and the X‑Men; with Steve Ditko, the Amazing Spider- Man and Doctor Strange; and with Bill Everett, Daredevil. Lee oversaw the adventures of these creations for more than a decade before handing over the editorial reins at Marvel to others and focusing on developing Marvel’s properties in other media. For the remainder of his long life, he continued to serve as a creative figure­head at Marvel and as an ambassador for the comics medium as a whole. In his final years, Lee’s signature cameo appearances in Marvel’s films established him as one of the world’s most famous faces.

Steve Ditko (1927– 2018) began his comics career in the antholo­gies of the 1950s, where his unique style quickly earned him recog­nition and respect. He was recruited in 1958 to join Stan Lee’s Atlas Comics, which was later transformed into Marvel, where his talent for expressionistic caricature contrasted well with Jack Kirby’s gift for widescreen- style spectacle. In 1962, in the pages of Amazing Fantasy, Ditko and Lee brought to life Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider- Man, changing the industry forever. During the same pe­riod, he also co‑created (with Lee) and plotted the first adventures of Doctor Strange. After leaving Marvel in 1966, Ditko drew the Blue Beetle and Captain Atom for Charlton Comics; the Creeper and Shade the Changing Man for DC Comics; and Mr. A., an inde­pendent creation whose black-and-white vision of morality reflected Ditko’s own political philosophy. Ditko returned to Marvel during the late 1970s and remained there for much of the 1980s, co‑creating Speedball, the Masked Marvel, the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and other prominent characters.

Jason Reynolds is an award- winning and number one New York Times bestselling author. Reynolds’ many books include Miles Morales: Spider- Man; the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu); Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Coretta Scott King Honor; and Look Both Ways, which was a National Book Award Finalist. His latest book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, is a collaboration with Ibram X. Kendi. Reynolds is the 2020– 2021 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on the faculty of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Lesley University and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at jasonwritesbooks.com.
 
Ben Saunders is a professor of English at the University of Oregon. He is the author of Desiring Donne: Poetry, Sexuality, Interpreta­tion and Do the Gods Wear Capes?: Spirituality, Fantasy, and Su­perheroes, as well as numerous critical essays on subjects ranging from the writings of Shakespeare to the recordings of Little Richard. He has also curated several museum exhibitions of comics art, in­cluding the record- breaking, multimedia touring show Marvel: Uni­verse of Super Heroes— a retrospective exploring the artistic and cultural impact of Marvel Comics from 1939 to the present.