A Brief History of Superheroes: From Superman to the Avengers, the Evolution of Comic Book Legends (Brief Histories)

I bought this as an Xmas gift for my boyfriend as he loves the genre. However it's not what I thought. It looks like it's going to be a tedious read. A few hundred pages of unbroken text is great for a novel, but for a book that's supposed to show insight... not so much. The first page describes the 1st ever Superman comic's front page in detail; why not have an image to go with that!? This book is supposed to be describing a rich, diverse and colourful genre and for the details of these works to be relayed flatly in black and white text seems a shame and a waste. I haven't read it beyond a couple of pages and I'm sure the info is great but...I wasn't after a child's picture book, but did hope for something that would capture at least a little imagination!

An informative read but felt a bit laboured at times and so seemed very long. Some graphics would have been good to show how the superheroes had changed and developed over time.

Good and well researched book, which does exactly what the title says. Written in an easy style, which goes well on a half hour commute. Up to date, and logically sets out the histories of the superheroes and the people who invented them.