Thank you to Abrams Books for copies of Spider-Man: The Spider-Verse Unfolds and Marvel Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book in exchange for an honest review.
Calling all parents of superheroes! From Abrams publishing comes two brand new Marvel books perfect for the little mutants in your life. Between Spider-Man: The Spider-Verse Unfolds and Marvel Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book, you can be sure your young Avengers will not just learn more about their favorite Marvel Comics characters, but they’ll also discover the power of the incredible adventures you can have between the covers of a book.
Spider-Man: The Spider-Verse Unfolds
First up is Spider-Man: The Spider-Verse Unfolds, featuring illustrations by Mingjue Helen Chen and book design by Deena Fleming. This is an Abrams Unfolds book, which means opening the cover reveals a folding accordion design that compels the illustration at the center of this simple storybook to jump off the page toward the readers.
Over 24 pages, a simplified version of the story of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is recounted. Your little hero will be delighted to find this version of the story is narrated by Spider-Man (Miles Morales, of course). As the pages turn, the illustrated “mural” at the center of the book is pulled forward, presenting tableaus of key scenes from the movie.
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While the big-screen version of the story featured different styles of art for each universe, the entire story is rendered in a uniform, storybook aesthetic here. It’s perfect for this cute recounting of an instant-classic animated film. And never fear, Liv devotees: our favorite Doc Ock variant gets her due in image and text.
This storybook will be perfect for reading along with your littlest Spider-heroes again and again, especially as excitement for the movie’s upcoming sequel builds. It’s an ideal way to help demonstrate to fledging readers that the stories inside books are more than the pages on which they’re printed. However, you will want to shelve it out of reach of the youngest readers, given that tearing the unfolding accordion element of the book could result in the need for emergency tape-based repairs.
Marvel Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book
Readers ages five and up will be delighted by Marvel Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book, written and with paper design by Matthew Reinhart. This arresting pop-up features pencils and inks by Aaron Lopresti, Paul Pelletier, and Stacey Lee Phillips, colors by Rachelle Rosenberg, cover art by John Tyler Christopher and design by Fleming.
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The aptly named Ultimate Pop-Up Book features six two-page spreads with fantastic spreads that leap off the page, sure to delight the reader immediately. While you may think, “but that’s what a pop-up book is,” rest assured you are underestimating these incredible pop-ups. These impressive feats of paper engineering bring the images of the Marvel Comics universe leaping off the page and launching into the third dimension.
The six pop-ups include one for Spider-Man (Peter Parker), two for the Avengers, one for the Fantastic Four, one for the X-Men and a mind-blowing pop-up of Galactus. This Galactus is so impressive my cat was frightened as his visage rose from the page, hands extended in the Jack Kirby double salute.
Interactive pop-ups
In addition to the main pop-up event, various interactive elements can be found across the Ultimate Pop-Up Book’s 12 pages. One example is a tab next to the Scarlet Witch which, when pulled, causes the Vision to emerge. Another is a subway car with a tab that opens the doors, revealing Carnage, Spider-Gwen and other characters, along with Squirrel Girl, on the back of the car. This book contains many details and Easter eggs featuring Marvel Comics characters.
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Accompanying the illustrations and paper design is plenty of informative text about the featured teams and superheroes. This includes data like the alternate identities and powers of nearly a dozen of Professor Xavier’s mutants (each concealed behind their lift-the-flap) and brief bios for heavy hitters like Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.
However, this book is best for readers who can be gentle with the pages even when some of the intricate paper engineering gets snagged. While minor tape repairs may be possible, some of these pop-ups are so complex they could be irrevocably damaged with too many rips. Considering how near they all are, that would be a real shame.
Marvel Abrams
If you are looking for a good book for the young reader who loves Marvel in your life, Spider-Man: The Spider-Verse Unfolds (available December 6, 2022) and Marvel Super Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book (available now) are perfect for kids in their respective recommended age ranges.
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And just in case you are looking for a book for a slightly older reader, consider the previously published Doctor Strange: The Book of Vishanti: A Magical Exploration of the Marvel Universe by Matthew K. Manning, Alessandro Valdrighi and Scott Richardson. This fourth-wall-breaking reference book was published by Abrams ComicArts in 2021 but seen onscreen in this year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and would be a perfect gift for readers who are a bit older than the target demographic for the other titles featured in this review.
This article was originally published on 12/5/22.
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