Courtesy of Taschen, CBR presents an exclusive preview of "75 Years of DC Comics: The Art of Modern Mythmaking," a 720 page, oversized retrospective of the comic book company written by longtime DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz.

Taschen will be hosting launch parties in support of the book, the first taking place on Tuesday December 14 at the Hammer Museum in Westwood, CA and a second taking place Wednesday, December 15 at the Taschen store in Beverly Hills with Paul Levitz and several of the book's featured artists in attendance.

In 1935, DC Comics founder Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson published New Fun No. 1, the first comic book with all-new, original material-at a time when comic books were mere repositories for the castoffs of the newspaper strips. What was initially considered to be disposable media for children was well on its way to becoming the mythology of our time-the 20th century's answer to Atlas or Zorro. More than 40,000 comic books later, in honor of the publisher's 75th anniversary, TASCHEN has produced the single most comprehensive book on DC Comics, in an XL edition even Superman might have trouble lifting. More than 2,000 images-covers and interiors, original illustrations, photographs, film stills, and collectibles-are reproduced using the latest technology to bring the story lines, the characters, and their creators to vibrant life as they've never been seen before. Telling the tales behind the tomes is 38-year DC veteran Paul Levitz, whose in-depth essays trace the company's history, from its pulp origins through to the future of digital publishing.

Year-by-year timelines that fold out to nearly four feet and biographies of the legends who built DC make this an invaluable reference for any comic book fan.