The Marvel Vault: A Museum-in-a-book… [$49.95]

From a comic book in hand wafts the scent of history; on those cheap pages, illustrated in bright colors, muscular detail, and terse language are captured a country’s pride and might, its fears and paranoia. Well, a country’s state of mind from a particularly boyish point of view, that is. This is the book for those who remember that smell fondly. It collects the highlights of Marvel’s history; its art, its artists, and its reproduced tangibles that every geeked-out kid wanted (a membership card in the Merry Marvel Marching Society to Peter Park and Mary Jane’s wedding invitation). It also covers (with the help of Captain Marvel, Spider-Man and others) the business end of the Marvel comics industry. This really cool book will appeal to the elder, who remembers spending his allowance on comics, yes, but also the coming of age pop culture geek with nary a trace of fuzz on his upper lip, nor a zit on her chin.