Doctor Strange and The Mighty Thor Marvel Books deal in classic comfort

Board books can take on many forms in children’s literature. These are the feel good, comfort food books that crawlers will learn to love. My Mighty Marvel First Book Doctor Strange, as well as My Mighty Marvel First Book The Mighty Thor are two board books that are loaded to the gills with classic art, blazing action and thick pages for those kids to chew on….if they need to.

Granted, this kind of begs the question, do those 18-month-old crawlers even know who the superheroes in the Marvel Universe are? If they have an older sibling the answer is a resounding yes. If they’re the only child, then the answer is still a resounding yes. Even a toddler who is capable of grasping something appreciates a board book. It all comes down to the colors and the action, which both of these books, and all of the rest of them in this series deliver in spades.

The first thing that parents will recognize about Doctor Strange and The Might Thor is that the illustrations are the original artwork from Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby. For us, this is the art work that we grew up on in our Marvel Comics. However, it’s not a case of my version, vs. your version, the core of the characters is still the same. Today’s youth might call the artwork that they see here as old-school or vintage.

There are a couple of gatefold pages that extend out or up and their location varies with each My Mighty Marvel First Book. As I’ve gotten older I am more partial to Doctor Strange. Personally, a major aspect of that is because his stories are stranger and more out there. In both books the colors and their presentation will dazzle you. Even if you didn’t grow up with Ditko or Kirby’s artwork it’s iconic and today’s young Marvel fans know their style.

These are board books that more aligned with comfort food and entertainment, than education. There are big, printed words on most of the board pages, but they aren’t sight words or the building blocks of education that some associate with this format. Even though the words are those that these ages won’t be able to read until they’re in second or third grade, these are books that those toddlers and up will really enjoy. It’s the format that they’ll love and, in time they’ll level up to the content.

The other day we reviewed a board book that was more novelty in nature. The written content in those books were on a much smaller font and had approximately 90 words on each page. That board book is obviously not intended for young children. In The Mighty Thor or Doctor Strange there are 10 words maximum, and in large font, on one page. These books also cost 40% less than that one. There will be no confusing the target audience between these three board books even though they have Marvel characters in them.

Much like some families save their copies of Sandra Boynton’s board books, there will be families who save their My Mighty Marvel First Books. With these they’ll do so because of the art and the fond memories that they have of their child falling in love with the characters and reading. With Boynton’s they’ll save them because of the memories and the teeth marks in the corners of the pages. In both cases families will be tempted to collect all of them in an effort to complete the series.

My Mighty Marvel First Book The Mighty Thor features the art of Jack Kirby. My Mighty Marvel First Book Doctor Strange features the art of Steve Ditko and both books are available on Abrams Appleseed, an imprint of Abrams Books.

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