Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek’s 1994 limited series, Marvels, has been adapted into a novel by author Steve Darnall. Today, The Beat can reveal the full afterword from the book ahead of its release from publisher Abrams ComicArts.
The original Marvels limited series explores the history of American superheroes from 1939-1974 through the perspective of photojournalist Phil Sheldon. Darnall’s novelization keeps the spirit of the original series, translating the visual journey to prose. Here’s the full synopsis:
For the first time, a novelization of Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’ bestselling and now classic miniseries from 1994—Marvels, offering an thrilling all-new interpretation of one of the most famous stories in Marvel Comics history.
Welcome to New York. Here, burning figures roam the streets, men in brightly colored costumes scale the glass and concrete walls, creatures from space threaten to devour our world . . . and everyone else is going about their lives.
This is the Marvel Universe, where the ordinary and fantastic interact daily. This is the world of Marvels–one of the most important and bestselling stories in Marvel Comics history, which Stan Lee described in his introduction to the first collected edition as “innovative, brilliantly conceived, and skillfully executed.”
Over 30 years later, Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’ groundbreaking comic book series Marvels gets a long-awaited novelization by Steve Darnall, author of Uncle Sam and Ross’s writing partner on the original proposal.
Marvels was a landmark series when it was first published—peeling back the curtain on Marvel’s history. It’s a story told from the perspective of an everyman character—news photographer Phil Sheldon—who chronicles a world full of costumed superhumans, providing an on-the-ground view of events in the Marvel Universe as they unfold. Darnall’s prose perfectly captures the magic of Busiek and Ross’ original story, offering insights and background previously untold in the comic book.
Tying the story together in a stunning package is an all-new painted cover, four all-new color illustrations, and four all-new black-and-white illustrations by Alex Ross, as well as an all-new afterword by Ross.
Below, check out the novel’s cover art, an interior black-and-white illustration by Ross, and Ross’s afterword (which is transcribed following the images for accessibility).
Afterword by Alex Ross
Speaking for my part of the creative team that made the original Marvels miniseries, I’m really glad we got to do this novelization. It’s a fortunate thing that there is enough support to follow any prior work with more content. The idea of doing a prose interpretation of a comic book series goes back to the early ’90s and my first job for editor Charlie Kochman and DC Comics. Their successful storyline of the “Death of Superman” was adapted into two different prose books, one for adults and another for younger readers, the latter of which I did the cover for. This contact by Charlie created a bridge for my career to go from finishing the painted Marvels miniseries at Marvel to building the Kingdom Come project at DC. Charlie was able to helm multiple novelizations there, making the popular then-recent storylines of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman into something immersive in the way only prose can delve into. We were able to pull Kingdom Come into this format together as our next collaboration.
It’s a natural extension of that adaptation to come around to my breakthrough project, Marvels, now that Charlie and Abrams ComicArts work with Marvel. The work always seemed suited to further development, since the original comics that Kurt Busiek and I worked on were attempting to incorporate a great deal of the real world and real history into our tale. Kurt researched all of the Marvel comics relating to the historical points we intersected with. That way, we could connect to overlapping points of other characters’ stories and events that filled this world. To do a prose novel told from the point of view of our lead character and narrator, Phil Sheldon, we could now pull in more of the history and cultural references that a person living through these years would know.
This skill is one that I knew Steve Darnall had and would excel at bringing to the narrative. Steve’s prior work with me on the miniseries Uncle Sam utilized a deep study of American history and pop culture. His skills pull from decades of comics trade reporting, editing, publishing, and broadcasting about classic radio. Steve is also one of my oldest and closest friends, so feel free to think that’s how he got this job.
Steve actually was one of the first people I approached to work on my original pitch that morphed into Marvels. I was assembling a series proposal to Marvel Comics that was simply an anthology format concept intended for those newfangled painter types like myself. I worked up a prototype story that needed a text cleanup from my first draft, and Steve helped with taking a pass at it which I used. Steve’s work was the kind of bright, adult writing I needed and respected. As I eventually submitted that work to my one contact at Marvel, Kurt Busiek, the original Human Torch story that Steve and I crafted wasn’t really part of a larger book yet. Kurt became the partner that would take the project forward to the expansion of a dedicated storyline based on the perspective of a single, simple man in a world of Marvels. Steve and I continued our collaborations to later do the Uncle Sam series at DC, and eventually we brought a Marvel anthology series to fruition in 2020. In Marvels itself, though, Steve Darnall is present as one of the models I photographed for reference, along with his wife, Meg Guttman. Steve is there from issue no. I, but into the ‘605-era part of our story, he is the basis for the character Fred. So, in all the ways that matter to me, and I hope for you, too, Steve has always been a part of this project. His unique skills and insights have proven to be perfectly suited to how this novelization was realized. I absolutely love the depth of detail achieved with words alone that fill out the experience that Phil Sheldon has. I pushed Steve to expand the direct timeline information that confirms we are chronicling events from the comics that align with when they were actually published, much like my artwork had implied. Now, in this prose novel, with the acceptance of the original series being what it is, we fully embrace that these are older stories we’re traveling within. Being outside the normal Marvel published continuity, and with some indulgence given to us, we can finally confirm some things that were only hinted at before.
Another nice thing that Steve brings to this work is that his embellishment of the inner life of Phil Sheldon is so well-rounded. I believe it helps that Steve personally knows the basis for Phil, our friend Mark Braun, who modeled for the character. Keep in mind there was no Phil Sheldon before Mark posed for him. He helped to create this character, just like Kurt Busiek and I did.
Marvels was always a group effort, assembling various friends and family members to bring my art to life and define these established and original protagonists. The storyline Kurt crafted came from a directive given from Marvel’s then-editor-in-chief, Tom DeFalco, to not build new stories set in the past but to have our perspective given to events that were published and had happened. For all of the guidance given by original series editor Marcus McLaurin, and an unusual introduction to him by Clive Barker (yes, that one), I’m eternally grateful. Most of all, the original creators of the stories we worked from and intersected with made this all possible.
For my own spark that ignited all of this, I’d like to single out one key person to thank. To Carl Burgos, creator of the Human Torch, who lit the flame that inspired Marvels.
Marvels: The Novelization will be available everywhere books are sold on May 19.
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