Marvel Heroes: Mix & Match (Reader's Digest)

Background

This is another item from the late 2000's "Readers Digest" series of "Marvel Heroes" books.

Like its predecessors, the list of priorities has been Production Quality #1, everything else #2.

Story Details

Each of the books in this series have featured a gimmick of some kind, and this one is no exception. As it boldly states within the title, this is a "Mix & Match" book.

Physically, it is 9.5" wide by 12.2" tall. What's more, the thick cardboard cover and square binding makes the book a full 1" deep, resulting in a good hefty product.

Open up the cover, and inside is a large wire spiral binding holding five "leaves" of internal pages. The inside covers are also printed with content, making six double-page spreads in all.

I'm sure you know how these things work. The pages are sliced in three at careful word and picture boundaries. By mixing the top slice from page 1, the middle slice from page 2, and the bottom slice from page 3, you get the following mixed up story:

"Sensing danger, Spider-Man (from the Spider-Man page) goes to great lengths to capture his archenemy, the diabolical Doctor Doom (from the Mister Fantastic Page), and smashes the gamma-mutated creatures created by the Leader! (from the Hulk Page)."

Now, ain't that clever stuff!

General Comments

This is indeed a beautifully-constructed book. From the embossed cover, the top-quality materials, and the rich-color airbrush work, certainly you can see why the original retail price was US$15.

The weak point of the other books in this series has tended to be the story-lines, which are almost universally laughable. However, by restricting the text to just a paragraph, there's really no way for seasoned writer Michael Teitelbaum to go wrong. No story, no problems.

Overall Rating

Solid and elegant. And by omitting the plot, it avoids the difficult part of writing a "book".

Four webs.