The Marvel Encyclopedia

The Marvel Encyclopedia by Daniel Wallace (based on 80 customer reviews)

(Hardcover)
Edition: 1ST
Author: Daniel Wallace
Publisher: DK ADULT

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Most useful review as voted by customers:
16 out of 17 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/27/06

A GREAT READ, but horrible encyclopedia

The Marvel Encyclopedia is a heavy, heavy book rich with tons of information about characters and of course great art for each character. The problem with this book is like everyone says - it has tons of errors, is not always up-to-date, and is missing a lot of key characters (which is strange because there are so many minor characters there).

In almost every entry, they'll talk about another character (e.g., for DIRE WRAITHS, they'll talk about ROM), but every time the other character they mention isn't in the book (ROM isn't in the book, of course). We're not talking about a couple of characters -- we're talking tons of major characters. This does get really, really annoying.

But the pro is that this book is still a fun read (it may be heavy for a bathroom book, but it works). If you're a comic collector or looking for a gift for a comic collector, this is a must-have, especially at Amazon.com's prices (I wouldn't pay the full price for it at Borders or Barnes & Noble). I would get the DC COMICS ENCYCLOPEDIA before this one, because that one was edited much better.

Am I annoyed by the extremely sloppy editing and way this book is put together? Yes. Do I regret buying the book? No. It still gets 4-stars for being such a great book chock full of interesting info. It doesn't get that one extra star for being a little bit annoying.

6 out of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 12/10/06

THE ULTIMATE MARVEL REFERENCE

The first thing I did when I opened the Marvel Encyclopedia is to test out its thoroughness. Back in the 70's, the Human Torch has his own, short-lived title which as I recall were just reprints of his 1960's adventures from the pages of Strange Tales. In one of these issues he battles perhaps the villain with the worst name in history, "Paste Pot Pete", an utterly laughable villain. Still, he's suitably obscure enough for my test so I hurriedly paged to the "P" section but alas...no Pete. But then I recalled that he later changed his name to the vastly superior moniker of The Trapster. I had a second chance! I turned some more pages, and there he was...The Trapster, AKA, Paste Pot Pete. The book did not let me down.

The Marvel Encyclopedia is published by DK books and is simply Marvel-ous! If readers remember those old handbook to the Marvel Universe comics that the company did in the 80's, this book is like taking all of those issues and combining them all into one huge 352 page book--an ultimate resource for fans of Marvel Superhero comics. Besides being thorough, the other thing I looked for was the information being current. I'm happy to say that the editors and writers, including former Marvel Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco, have scored here as well. The book is updated to include Marvel's most recent major storylines including Avengers Disassembled and House of M, as well as the events leading up to the current Civil War storyline.

The book lists over 1000 Marvel heroes and villains in alphabetical order with notes about their background and powers, notable storylines, as well as their first appearance. Minor characters like Eel, Feral, and Terminus get about a ¼ page while major characters such as Spider-man, Captain America and Wolverine warrant a full, two-page spread. Again, the book shines here in being complete and thorough. Captain America's listing takes readers from his origins in the 1940's, to his eventual thawing out in the 60's and becoming an Avenger, and right up to recent storylines like "Winter Soldier".

Even long deceased characters such as Mantis and the Swordsman are included. There are a few quirks, however. While the encyclopedia does include Spider-man 2099, no other 2099 characters. Likewise, and thankfully, the New Universe and even the "Ultimate" line have been omitted. There are some other omissions that are curious such as Rom The Space Knight but in a book of this kind of undertaking, there are always going to be a few omissions and errors that pop up.

The book features a gorgeous wraparound cover by Frank Cho and the interior uses art directly from the comics by a host of Marvel artists throughout the past four decades. Thumbing through the book is like looking at a photo album of old friends, as you will find characters (like Paste Pot Pete) that you have not seen in many years. The Marvel Encyclopedia is a must-have item for Marvel fans and makes for a great gift item.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/8/06

Great but oh so many errors

As much as I love this book it seems to have some pretty odd errors in it. I wont go back over the errors listed by others but give an example of a different one.

Theres a picture of the Soviet Super Soldiers along with a number key to identify each member. Here is what the legend gives you;

1 Red Guardian
2 Unidentified
3 Ursa Major
4 Unidentified
5 Crimson Dynamo
6 Darkstar
7 Unidentified
8 Vanguard
9 Titanium Man
10 Unidentified
11 Unidentified
12 Unidentified
13 Volvic
14 Unidentified
and the number 15 is missing from the legend

For a start the number 4 *unidentified* is Vanguard whereas 8 should be Perun. But there shouldnt be a single *unidentified* character in there. Heres what the list should look like;
1 Red Guardian
2 a mutated Unicorn
3 Ursa Major
4 Vanguard
5 Crimson Dynamo
6 Darkstar
7 Synthesizer
8 Perun
9 Titanium Man
10 Sputnik
11 Fantasma
12 Mentac
13 Firefox
14 Sibercat
15 Stencil
missing from the picture are Concussion and Iron Curtain

The funny part is the picture they show is taken from the cover of Soviet Super Soldiers which *identifies* all the characters within.

To be fair the DC version was riddled with errors too.

Its still a great book but what happened to tbe proofreading?

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