4.5 stars

As my love of Watchmen attests I love a good bit of comic book meta-fiction and Marvels does it brilliantly. Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross do a wonderful job of re-examining Marvel's history from a new perspective.

While I think this book will be most rewarding to people with knowledge of marvel history Busiek and Ross do a fantastic job creating a universal story with something to say about the place of superheroes in our world without relying on references to carry the story

Marvels is at its core a human story. Our protagonist conflicted photojournalist Phil's decades-long relationship with the superhero feels so grounded despite its out-there premise