Marvel Encyclopedia

Grocer Man

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Messages
3,582
Location
a house
So, I got this for Christmas. Basically, it's a comprehensive guide to the Marvel Universe (not the Marvel Encyclopedia series you're thinking about, this is much, much bigger)

...and it sucks.

Why? Because the format makes little to no sense. You see profiles make up either a quarter of a page, half a page, or 1 or 2 pages, depending on who it is. I figured that it was decided depending on the characters importance to the Marvel Universe and/or popularity. But a lot of obscure characters get one page and some of the most important figures in the Marvel Universe get little to no profile at all. Here's some examples:

Aries: 1 page (who?)
Black Bolt 1/4 of a page
Deadpool 1/4 of a page (just because I know at least one of you will be mad)
Dr. Doom 1 page (he needs 2)
Fin Fang Foom: Not in there at all!
Green Goblin: 2 pages (normally OK, but not since he's the only villain in the book with 2 pages aside from Magneto)
Ms. Marvel: Not in the book, even though she's on the cover!
Thanos: 1/4 of a page

...Yeah, it sucks.
 
I was thinking of getting this and took a glance through in the bookstore. Looked crappy.
 
My OHOTMU never let me down. They rock. I'll never buy another Encyclopedia again.
 
So, I got this for Christmas. Basically, it's a comprehensive guide to the Marvel Universe (not the Marvel Encyclopedia series you're thinking about, this is much, much bigger)

...and it sucks.

Why? Because the format makes little to no sense. You see profiles make up either a quarter of a page, half a page, or 1 or 2 pages, depending on who it is. I figured that it was decided depending on the characters importance to the Marvel Universe and/or popularity. But a lot of obscure characters get one page and some of the most important figures in the Marvel Universe get little to no profile at all. Here's some examples:

Aries: 1 page (who?)
Black Bolt 1/4 of a page
Deadpool 1/4 of a page (just because I know at least one of you will be mad)
Dr. Doom 1 page (he needs 2)
Fin Fang Foom: Not in there at all!
Green Goblin: 2 pages (normally OK, but not since he's the only villain in the book with 2 pages aside from Magneto)
Ms. Marvel: Not in the book, even though she's on the cover!
Thanos: 1/4 of a page

...Yeah, it sucks.

Deadpool gets a 1/4 of a page??? ****ing ****ers with their goddamn ****ing unimpressive ****ing ****er of a "Marvel ****ing encyclopedia". ****.
 
So, I got this for Christmas. Basically, it's a comprehensive guide to the Marvel Universe (not the Marvel Encyclopedia series you're thinking about, this is much, much bigger)

...and it sucks.

Why? Because the format makes little to no sense. You see profiles make up either a quarter of a page, half a page, or 1 or 2 pages, depending on who it is. I figured that it was decided depending on the characters importance to the Marvel Universe and/or popularity. But a lot of obscure characters get one page and some of the most important figures in the Marvel Universe get little to no profile at all.
To be fair, the OHOTMU that Gruenwald edited back in the mid eighties had a similar gripe of some characters receiving page coverage that was inversely proportionate to their 'significance' within the Marvel Universe.

I don't know what this guide is exactly like, but I suspect that both the OHOTMU and this are operating on the principle of material rather than importance, and as such, one can argue that while Black Bolt has a lot of character history the amount of information that is relevant for TODAY's continuity is a lot less than it was a decade or so ago.

Similarly, Fin Fang Foom would be absent because I think he hasn't done anything remotely important in years while Green Goblin gets more pages than Doom because Gobby has been up to a lot more villainy in the Jemas/Quesada era than Doom has since Doom spent the better part of Mark Waid's run being stuck in hell)
 
I got this for Christmas along with a Conan DK book and I firmly agree with Grocer Man: Don't buy this book under your free will. Just use wiki, they are more informative then this faux Encyclopedia. Plus they don't have a Nextwave entry...NEXTWAVE!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top