Marvel Comics Join Literary Canon in Special Edition Penguin Classics | penguin

Penguin Classics is collaborating with Marvel to release special editions of Black Panther, Captain America, and The Amazing Spider-Man, marking the first time comic books have been published by the imprint associated with classic literary works.

The series, called Penguin Classics Marvel Collection, features the original stories and seminal tales of key Marvel characters. According to the editors, it “serves as a testament to Marvel’s transformative impact on popular culture graphic fiction, icons, and stories.”

Each title will be released in a black-backed paperback as well as a collectible hardcover edition with gold foil stamping, edges and endpapers adorned with artwork from the comics.

They also include a preface by a young contemporary author as well as a detailed scientific introduction. The Amazing Spider-Man includes a foreword by Jason Reynolds, the New York Times bestselling author of books including Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Look Both Ways and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You. Reynolds served as the United States National Ambassador for Children’s Literature in 2020-2021.

Black Panther includes a foreword by Nnedi Okorafor, the multi-award winning author of Who Fears Death and the Binti novella trilogy. She wrote Black Panther and Wakanda Forever for Marvel Comics. And Captain America includes a foreword by Gene Luen Yang, former National Ambassador for Children’s Literature and author of Shang-Chi for Marvel Comics and the graphic novel American Born Chinese.

Ben Saunders, the series editor and author of scholarly introductions for Captain America and The Amazing Spider-Man, said, “The comic books produced at Marvel in the 1960s can be compared to the most enduring popular music in that same tumultuous decade. Working at lightning speed in what was widely considered a low-status commercial medium, Marvel’s creators initiated and participated in an aesthetic revolution.

According to Saunders, an English professor at the University of Oregon, where he founded the world’s first undergraduate minor in comics studies, comics have influenced writers and artists in all forms of media. , “from contemporary novelists to hip-hop musicians to Hollywood filmmakers. This is not hyperbole but simply fact: these classic Marvel comics are fundamental documents of our culture”.

Jessica Harrison, Editorial Director of Penguin Classics, said, “Penguin Classics are the books that shaped our culture and changed the way we see the world and ourselves. Whether through poetry, prose, drama, or now comics, they speak as powerfully to readers around the world today as they did in their time and place.

“For many decades, Marvel comics have captivated audiences with a world of storytelling, visual art, ideas, and social commentary. That’s why readers return year after year to Spider-Man’s stories. -Man, Black Panther and Captain America – characters now as deeply ingrained in our culture as the folk heroes of ancient literary traditions.We are thrilled to present Marvel Classics as Penguin Classics and place Stan’s iconic work Lee, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and many other historic Marvel creators on shelves alongside the world’s greatest literature.

The first three books in the series, Black Panther, Captain America and The Amazing Spider-Man will be released on June 14.