Marvel – Universe of Super Heroes
80 years of comic culture
“The quality of a catalogue reveals itself, when it outlives the show, endures as an in-depth reading experience or as an object of commemoration.’”
A 248 pages catalog “Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes” celebrates 80 years of Marvel history with original comics pages, sculptures, artifacts, original commissions, panoramic hallways and interactive displays.
Marvel Comics and Marvel Studio Films are not only the enduring voices of the Super Heroes themselves, but also the diverse visions of Marvel’s writers, artists, actors and filmmakers. The catalog features legendary comic creators, up-and-coming talent, editors, executives, artists, art collectors, actors and show-runners, along with articles about the history and power of YOU, the Marvel fans, with stories that stretch the mind regarding how we think about heroes, be it through personal history, fandom or fashion.
Featuring interviews with and articles by some of the legends and stars in the field, such as Stan Lee, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Clark Gregg, Joe Quesada, G. Willow Wilson, Chris Claremont, Jeph Loeb, Cheo Coker and James Marsters.
How did you start designing books?
Michael Balgavy: : I have always been involved in design – whether digital or analogue, between graphic design and video design. The nice part about book design is that, in the end, the product is there before your very eyes, a physical thing you can literally carry around with you. A book, with its paper pages, the smell of printing ink and the haptic experience, is still a tangible, intellectual and lasting experience. Which is completely different from a temporary website on your smartphone.
How do you handle the distinctive visual language of comic strips?
Michael Balgavy: Comics have all the same elements as graphic design: words and images. Since we see the comic as an art work in itself, we don’t try to imitate it. It gets the space that usually other media of the visual arts are given such as in paint- ing or photography. I also don’t like to see a book about Klimt or Hundertwasser that uses their typical fonts. Typographically, we are as sober as the Marvel logo here – clear and self-confident – while the ex- hibits can be everything between sketches and statues that they want to be: contained and wild, colourful and black and white, old and new.