4 Marvel novel reissues hope to help you pass the time between films

For when you want to read a book but take a step up from a graphic novel, Titan Books and Marvel have teamed up to reissue novelizations of iconic stories.

Let’s face it: for fast readers, graphic novels don’t last very long. By virtue of being comics, there’s a lot more in the way of images than actual stuff to read, so you buy one and then set it on your shelf to be revisited … eventually. Marvel came up with an idea to sell novelizations of some of its classic stories or just sell novels featuring its characters.

Now that Marvel’s wildly popular for reasons that rhyme with krajillions of dollars at the box office, it and Titan Books, which sent Culturess copies of all four novels, teamed up to sell new printings of four of those novelizations. The last, Deadpool: Paws, dropped this past week.

So, in the spirit of helping you decide which one to read and when, let’s take some time and give you some recommendations about which one to start with.

If your emotions aren’t bruised enough, try Civil War

Pretty much everyone has detailed how the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Civil War differs from the Marvel Comics version. (The biggest, obvious difference would be that the movie is titled Captain America: Civil War. Never let it be said that we’re not extremely helpful around here.)

This novel, however, takes from the comics version. It’s the longest of the four, and it brings the Fantastic Four back in. Of course, seeing your favorite heroes in conflict comes at a great emotional cost. If you’re feeling strong enough after the punch of Avengers: Infinity War and want to see a world where Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are just fighting each other instead of Thanos, Civil War‘s for you.

If you just need all the action, try Everybody Wants to Rule the World

The story of Everybody Wants to Rule the World is exactly what it sounds like: without much in the way of help, each of the Avengers has to fight a villain (spoilers: one of them is Ultron). This novel comes with the line “The Odinson felt dismayingly mortal,” which may basically sum up the entirety of the first Thor film, honestly. Because of the prose, though, you still get to spend time in each character’s head, but never linger too long to get particularly bored.

Just try not to do your best Tears for Fears impression while you read, okay?

If you’re still all about Wakanda Forever, try Who is the Black Panther?

Do we need to say anything more? Who is the Black Panther? heads to Wakanda in the early days of T’Challa’s reign, similar to the film Black Panther. That means that a lot of your other favorites (like Shuri, Nakia and Okoye) will be there, too. However, it hews to a different timeline of events about the death of T’Challa’s father.

This novel actually comes with some illustrations throughout, mixing the formats of comic and novel a little more.

If you’re not sure about this whole Marvel novel thing, try Deadpool: Paws

Deadpool: Paws asks a simple question. Who would win: Deadpool … or puppies?

Before you answer, just know that the dogs are actually monstrous.

In fact, the description of this novel even lets Deadpool take over. “Thing is, I like killing people … but even I won’t kill puppies,” the back of the book reads. It’s the shortest of the four and even includes comic book sound effects in the middle of the text. Thankfully, it’s also narrated by Deadpool himself — making this the funniest and fastest-paced of the four as well.

Next: The MCU films ranked by hilarity

After all, now that Deadpool 2 is out, it’s a long couple of months until the next MCU movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, in July. Sit back, relax, and consider one of these books.