Strange Tales #167, April 1968

Published in April 1968 this issue of Marvel Comics’ Strange Tales #167 featured one of my all-time favourite Nick Fury covers.

Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty (1979)

Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty by Stan Lee

In the late 1970s Fireside Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, published collections of reprinted comic book stories that are now widely considered to be the first trade paperbacks. The books featured a selection of stories featuring Marvel Comics characters with introductions and commentaries by original story author Stan Lee. These books proved such a success that 11 volumes saw print –  Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty by Stan Lee was the last of these reprint collections and was published in 1979.

Son of Origins of Marvel Comics (1975)

Son of Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee

In 1974 Simon & Schuster imprint Fireside Books published Origins of Marvel Comics by Stan Lee, a soft cover book that reprinted the origin stories of five of Marvel Comics’ most popular characters with accompanying text written specifically for the collection by Lee. The book was the first of its kind and is now widely regarded as the first reprint collection, or trade paperback, a format that now dominates the comic book industry.