‘Marvel Super Graphic’ Takes Fans on a Visual Tour of the Marvel Universe

Have you ever wondered if there’s a universe where Peter Parker is just an ordinary guy? Or who the fastest person in the Marvel Universe is? Or which Avenger speaks the most languages? All these questions and more are answered in Marvel Super Graphic by Tim Leong, available from Chronicle Books on September 24.

Marvel Super Graphic promises to take fans on a journey to rediscover the Marvel Universe through colorful infographics and mighty metrics. Author and designer Tim Leong has creatively visualized dozens of inquiries about Marvel comics, characters, and history through playful pie charts, bar graphs, Venn diagrams and more.

MARVEL SUPER GRAPHIC
9781797227498
Paperback | 176 Pages | $22.95
Publishing on September 24, 2024
[Pre-Order Here]

Tim Leong sat down with Marvel.com to share more about his process, vision, and hopes for Marvel Super Graphic.

Out of all of pop culture, why did you want to write about Marvel Comics?

Marvel Comics were my first love. The first comic I remember reading as a kid was an issue of Spider-Man. I started reading comics smack dab in the middle of the Jim Lee era, about a year before the relaunched X-Men came out. I liked Spidey, but I loved the X-Men. I actually got a greater appreciation for the broader Marvel line through the Marvel Universe trading cards. Those cards opened me up to characters and stories I’d never heard of before and made me want to explore outside my current pull list. Those cards had another effect—they first introduced me to bar charts. On the back of the cards, each character had power ratings—my first exposure to comic book data!

What does telling stories with data do that you can’t get otherwise?

Marvel has about 85 years' worth of comics. That’s a lot. The goal with this book is to help fans—whether they’re just starting out or are longtime readers—make sense of the thousands of amazing stories, introduce them to characters and stories they should check out, and delight them with interesting info. Sure, I could just write it all out, but charts and graphics provide a visual context that words can’t capture. 

“What can both longtime and new readers expect to get out of this book?”

One new feature I added in this book is a series of “Story Spotlights” that focus on some of my favorite storylines: "Days of Future Past," the first arc of MS. MARVEL (2014), "Daredevil: Born Again," and more. It’s half comic recommendation, two-thirds analytical breakdown, and one-eighth jokes. I think that math checks out. There are also hundreds of characters referenced throughout the book. My hope is that some of them pique the interest of new readers and they’re inspired to read more about them—just like the Marvel trading cards did for me. 

About the Author

Tim Leong is the award-winning author of Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe and Star Wars Super Graphic. He is the former creative director at Entertainment Weekly magazine and has also worked for Marvel Comics. He grew up reading X-Men and lives in Los Angeles with his wife. 

You can find a first look inside Marvel Super Graphic by Tim Leong below and you can pre-order your copy on Amazon or wherever books are sold before it releases September 24!