Iconic Marvel Comics Get Special Collection From Penguin Classics

Penguin Classics is bringing some iconic Marvel Comics to readers with their new partnership. This is the first time the book publisher is taking on the world of comics. Penguin is making anthologies based on some of the most popular Marvel characters including Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Captain America. June 14 2022 will see the trio of heroes on store shelves. All three of these heroes have become pop culture mainstays and younger readers can have some of their most important adventures all in one convenient volume. Each one of these will be published as both hardcover collectors editions and black spine paperbacks. As an added bonus, there are scholarly introductions and forewords from notable young adult authors which break down why these heroes are important.

Among those represented are 2021 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Jason Reynolds on Spider-Man. Nnedi Okorafor, the award-winning author of Who Fears Death, is handling Black Panther. For Captain America, the honor will fall to American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang. Ben Saunders is the editor for this series and he handles the scholarly intros for Captain America and Spider-Man. He teaches English at the University of Oregon. (He actually founded an undergraduate minor in Comics Studies there!!!) Qiana J. Whitted, Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina will give the intro for Black Panther. (She has also won an Eisner as a scholar!)

 "The comics produced at Marvel in the 1960s can be compared to the most enduring popular music of that same tumultuous decade.  Working at tremendous speed in what was widely regarded as a low-status commercial medium, the creators at Marvel initiated and participated in an aesthetic revolution," Saunders said to Marvel.com. "These comics have now influenced writers and artists across all forms of media — from contemporary novelists to hip hop musicians to Hollywood filmmakers.  It is not hyperbole but simply a fact: these classic Marvel Comics are foundational documents of our culture."

"From The Odyssey to The Time Machine, the Penguin Classics list not only recognizes the most important works in storytelling but also places them in their important historical and cultural context. Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Captain America have become the bedrock of countless stories across media, and it's a testament to the genius of Marvel's writers and artists that these characters resonate so strongly today," Sven Larsen, Vice President of Licensed Publishing at Marvel Entertainment added. "It's a remarkable honor to have these important chapters in Marvel history join this esteemed series from Penguin Random House. I can't wait for new readers to discover these stories for the first time, and I'm excited for existing fans to be able to read the new introductions, essays and other material that will provide an even deeper appreciation of these seminal works of graphic fiction."

Would you be interested in purchasing these classic comics? Let us know down in the comments!