Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - $16.99
Head writer – Mark Gruenwald
Art - Various
All New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 1 (of 12) - $3.99
Head writer – Jeff Christiansen
Art – Various
One of the chief obsessions of comic book fans is learning about the minutiae of the characters’ history. It isn’t enough to just enjoy a title or character; you need to be able to recite chapter and verse about their history. While we may mock the person who can name the first appearance of Wolverine (Incredible Hulk #180), or how tall he is (5’3”) for being a little too obsessed, they are not alone. Think of the sports fans with their knowledge of batting averages or goals scored, or the teenage pop fan who knows their singer’s favourite colour and the name of their pets. Being a fan of something will cause you to seek out knowledge on it – and with shared universe characters in ongoing serial fiction, there will always be a lot of things that you just won’t know.
Back in early 1982, Marvel Comics released the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, which, in its first incarnation ran for 12 issues, plus two volumes of the Book Of The Dead and Inactive, and the Book of Weapons, Hardware and Paraphernalia. This has now been collected and reprinted as part of their Marvel Essentials range.
The first question that springs to mind is “Why?” – This is a collection of information that is almost 25 years old. The characters have moved on and changed quite considerably in that time. One would assume that the market for such a collection would be limited. However, the basic facts about the characters, their origins and early years all remain, and that is largely what the book contains.
A few choice nuggets pop out, both for genuine interest and for curiosity value – names being listed as unknown for Cloak and Dagger and The Punisher, for instance. The amount of references made to “international heroes” from the then-recent Contest of Champions miniseries, such as Peregrine (France), Collective Man (China), and the wonderfully ludicrous Shamrock (Unsurprisingly, from Ireland). Jungle hero and English Lord Ka-Zar’s place of birth being listed as “Castle Plunder, Kentish Town, London”. The Heroes For Hire offices have a toilet, whilst the Avengers Mansion, the X-Men Mansion and the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building only have bathrooms, but Daredevil’s apartment and Moon Knight’s mansion don’t even have that. Detailed technical schematics for Doctor Doom’s armour and Cyclops’ visor – and also for the Ringmaster’s mind controlling hat, and the Wrecker’s crowbar (Which is, to all intents and purposes, just a crowbar – albeit an enchanted one).
The main text for the entries is fairly descriptive and as in-depth as the space allows, and often contains a fairly detailed breakdown of exactly how the character’s powers/weapons function. The entry on Iron Man, for instance, reads like a technical manual – “The armor has complete internal climate control, with a Millipore full-spectrum particle filtration system, which is proof against all nuclear, chemical and biological warfare agents.” The artwork is by the cream of early-eighties comic book artists, so you get (For instance) a Walt Simonson-drawn Thor, a Frank Miller Daredevil and Elektra, and a John Byrne Fantastic Four, which can often add to the appeal.
From the old to the new, and Marvel’s latest version of the Handbook. For the last couple of years, they have been releasing specialised handbooks relating to various series (Avengers, Fantastic Four) and themes (Horror, Alternate Universes) – which counts as a mark against this new series, as Marvel have decided not to feature characters who have been featured in other recent handbooks. On the other hand, this means that more obscure characters that would not necessarily merit a mention in the other handbooks get their moment in the sun here. So while the first issue features Albion (from Knights of Pendragon), Arsenic & Old Lace (Runaways) and Awesome Andy (She-Hulk), it does not feature bigger name characters such as Apocalypse and Archangel (who were in the 2005 X-Men edition). Thankfully, this is covered in the introduction, and a list of where to find the other profiles is given on the inside front cover.
At first glance, it would appear that less information is given in the new edition on character’s histories and powers, but the relative lack of information on some of these characters should also be noted – obviously, the more appearances a character has made, the more coverage they will have. The art is variable, but again this is a reflection on the relative obscurity of certain characters – indeed, very few of the illustrations appear to have been specifically drawn for the handbook.
A guarded recommendation for both then. If you like what you’ve read, go out and pick them up – but then again, if you were going to buy them, you probably already have. Because that’s what fans like us usually do.
Link - The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Frequently Asked Questions page, including errata and explanations http://www.marvunapp.com/ohotmu/ohotmufaq.htm
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Russell Hillman was born in London but now lives in Coventry. His hobbies include precious little. He doesn’t get out much, but thinks reading a lot of comics makes up for it. He’s wrong.