I’ve finished listening to All of the Marvels by Douglas Wolk.

From the premise, “man reads 27,000 comic books”, I expected an A.J. Jacobs-style story about how attempting a ridiculous project impacts the author’s life and relationships, with some tidbits about the comics thrown in. That would have been OK with me!

This is not that sort of book, though. Wolk spends each chapter pulling on a thread of the Marvel story, either for a character or team (Spiderman, Thor, The X-Men), or a theme (film, music, Presidents), highlighting specific issues that are notable. It’s one man’s highlight reel of the Marvel universe, and I enjoyed the journey.

If I had been reading this book on paper or device, I would have dog-eared a lot of pages, or taken notes. I listened to the audiobook, mostly while driving or walking, so I couldn’t note as much. I was still able to remember of jot down a few things. Here are the comics ‘All the Marvels’ has added to my reading list:

  • Hickman’s Fantastic Four
  • Priests Black Panther
  • Simonson’s Thor
  • Ryan North’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
  • Warren Ellis Thunderbolts
  • Some amount of the Dark Reign saga