Very good but it is a little fragile - Rated 
This book really is a joy. Every Marvelite who gets one will love it. It contains lots of stuff that old time fans will possibly already know about but this is the first time I have seem so many photos of Marvel and Timely staff members in one book. This book is as much about the company as it is the characters and is all the better for that. I love all the reproduction pencil sketches, stamps and cards etc they are very realistic replicas. As a Brit we never really got chance to see any of those things in real life so to actually hold them in my hand is a bit of a thrill. I feel this book will mostly appeal to older comic fans between the ages of 30 and 50 looking for a bit of nostalgia rather than small boys or young fans of superhero films and cartoons. I would go so far as to say that this book is actually due to the ring binding to fragile to handle for any child under 10 (it needs to be handled with a lot of care and only opened on a flat surface. Because of this I almost dropped a star in my rating and I would have given this book four stars. Since it has been discounted so heavily by Amazon though (at the time of writing this) It now has to in my opinion have the full five.
Excellent gift for a Marvel Fan - Rated
I bought this for my husband as a gift and he loves it. I am not really into the whole Marvel thing myself, but found myself interested enough to read it from cover to cover. Excellent and a great price on Amazon.
Marvel Vault - Fantastic but flawed - Rated 
I agree in what has already been written about how good the book is. However, there is a major flaw in the book that needs pointing out. The pages are held in place by a metal ring binding. Even with careful use the pages are going to pull againt this binding and are going to tear and fall out. I could already see slight wear after looking through the book once - Be warned especally considering the price.
Like opening a Marvel time capsule - Rated
Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson have gathered together in this book not only a history of Marvel from Marvel Comics # 1 (1939) up to 2006, which is impressive enough but a whole host of extras from Marvel's past make it a superb collector's item.
From reproductions of sketches of Marvel's WW2 heroes, especially the Sub-Mariner, Marvel's longest lasting continual character, the original Torch being an android. There's a reproduction MMMS membership card (I was a member of FOOM in the 1970's), the no-prize book, Marvel value stamps and many more items, it's a nostalgics dream. There are also truly personal items like Bill Everett's postcards.
Marvel fans are an intrinsic part of the Marvel extended family and although like most families, there are the odd breakdowns by and large Marvel has kept a large and loyal fan-base. It does not gloss over the collapse of Marvel and the comic industry in the 1990's due to corporate over-reach (greed) and the eventual rebirth, through to Heroes Reborn, and the recent spate of blockbuster movies.
Reading through it the names of the people who made Marvel great, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Roy Thomas himself, John Buscema, John Romita and countless others appear and invoke great memories. I was a Marvelite in the 1970's and 1980's and am now catching up on both the stories I read first time round and many I missed out on. This book is full of absolutely wonderful art reproductions that cover almost 70 years and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone, 'nuff said.
comic nerd heaven! - Rated
This is an amazing piece of kit collecting over sixty years of marvel history. Even die hard 'marvelites' (i know it's not a real word) will find a wealth of info and facts unknown to them. The amount of care and attention that Thomas and Sanderson have put into this book is breath taking. Everything is faultless from the autographs printed on the inside cover to the reproductions of early sketches of the submarnier right through to the traiding cards included in slip cases. In the words of smiling Stan the man: Excelsior!
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