Coming in May…
Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’ groundbreaking 1993-94 miniseries Marvels, which traces the history of Marvel Comics from 1939 to 1974 through the fictional lens of an everyman photographer named Phil Sheldon, will be released as a novelization from Abrams ComicArts in 2026.
Here’s the official description:
MARVELS, by Steve Darnall
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.
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Several thoughts:
Marvels #4
— It’s an all-new cover by Ross. The book will also include four new color illustrations, and four new black-and-white illustrations, by Ross. The artist will also provide a new afterword.
— The 368-page hardcover is scheduled for May 19, 2026, and lists for $26.99.
— This is not the first time the story has been adapted to another format. There was a podcast several years ago.
— Seems to me it would be a great time for Marvel to release the original five-part series (there were four main issues, plus a zero issue) as Facsimile Editions. Well, let’s see what happens when we get our hands on the May solicitations.
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MORE
— WHOA! SUPERMAN VS. SPIDER-MAN Treasury Facsimile to Get ALEX ROSS Variant. Click here.
— DC to Reissue Paul Dini and Alex Ross’ WONDER WOMAN: SPIRIT OF TRUTH in 2026. Click here.
