Anyone wanting to know or confirm or compare any of the behind the scenes activities at Marvel Comics from then to now should pick up Sean Howe’s “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.”

While Douglas Wolk’s “All of the Marvels” put an emphasis on character origins, story arcs, various eras of various Marvel titles, with some behind the scenes action, Howe trains the spotlight on all of the back scene actions from character development to relationships to betrayals to battles for creative credits, etc., with some details about character development, stories, etc.

“The Untold Story” is an epic tale from the original publishing company’s development in the 1930s as a creator of pulp magazines to adding the new trend of comic books to its lineup to the creation of World War II era characters such as Captain America, the Submariner and the original Human Torch, to a young Jack Kirby working as an in-house artist and the hiring of one of the publisher’s cousin’s sons – a young teen who would eventually change his name to Stan Lee.

The company survives the change of comics from superheroes to genres ranging from horror to romance to Westerns to giant monsters in the late 1940s and ‘50s. It survives the congressional panel studying the effects of comics on juveniles, which nearly scuttled the entire comic book industry.

But the majority of “The Untold Story” follows what happened when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created a line of superhero titles that changed everything in comic books – “The Fantastic Four,” “The Incredible Hulk,” “Iron-Man,” “Dr. Strange,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” etc.

And the aftermath of that success in the decades since the early 1960s.

A lot of aftermath: Creative differences, creative successes and flops, creator rights, etc.

“Marvel Comics: The Untold Story” is likely not for the casual comic book fan or even new comic book readers or fans who only know the characters from the movies.

But for long-time fans who have heard various stories about the creators of beloved characters, “The Untold Story” has quite the Marvel tale to tell.