This is nicely designed and put together and definitely unique collection of essays on comics and our relationships with them.  This volume features work by writers not widely associated with comics, a fact that serves the dual function of bringing fresh perspectives to the relatively insular world of comics fans and collectors while simultaneously attracting more mainstream non-comics readers to this world.  This is a healthy development for the form.  Here's what you'll find:  Jonathan Lethem on  Jack "King" Kirby; Luc Sante on Hergé and Tintin; Geoff Dyer on Spider-Man and ben-day dots; Aimee Bender on Yummy Fur and Story Telling; Gary Giddens on Classics Illustrated; Geoffrey O'Brien on Nick Fury; Chris Offutt on NoMan(!); Greil Marcus on Uncle Sam; Steve Erickson on American Flagg!; Tom Piazza on Bizarro and Mxyzptlk; Myla Goldberg on Chris Ware and Renée French; Lydia Millet on Little Nemo in Slumberland; John Wray on Jim Woodring; Christopher Sorrentino on the DC-Marvel rivalry; Glen David Gold on Warlock and the nature of collecting; Brad Meltzer on The New Teen Titans and young love; and Andrew Hultkrans on Steve Ditko's hands.  Whew!

Any comics fan with a Tumblr account is probably well aware of this book, as Mr. Howe has been ceaselessly posting images related to this work for the past several months, but for the rest of you we want to make sure you know that this close to 500 page account of Marvel Comics, from its 1930s inception through its 1960s heyday and up to its 21st century rise into a massive, muscle-bound multimedia powerhouse is finally out on the new arrival table here at Copacetic.  It's a breezily told, anecdote filled account that puts together people and places and situates them in a comprehensive chronology.  While this work is far from the last word on the subject, and makes little in the way of critical analysis, the story of Marvel Comics is a great story, and this volume is sure to be of interest to any longtime Marvel Comics reader.