Author:Mark Gruenwald, Peter Sanderson/Various
These two books are the definitive history of the respective universes up to the dates of these volumes. The original issues were published 1985-1988 for the Marvel book and 1985-1989 for the DC.
The Marvel volume collects issues 1-20 of the original run. 1-15 take you from the Abomination to Zzzax and appendices, 16-20 are the Marvel Book of the Dead (yes occasionally Comic Book characters die, in fact 5 issues worth). The DC volume is from the Definitive Directory 1-26, an update from 1987 1-5, a further update from 88 1-4 and all the annuals from 1989.
Both books use a similar layout, usually a single page for the character but extra pages for the more important ones. Also there are maps,diagrams and charts of Buildings,Islands, Countries and Weapons. With each description you get the vital statistics of the character, height, weight, powers, strength, nationality, criminal status, first appearance, current whereabouts. And then a potted history, usually a few paragraphs but running to several pages for the more important characters.
Both volumes are beautifully bound and printed with fantastic illustrations and contributions by some of the biggest names in the business. Kirby, Ditko, Miller, Romita Sr & Jr, Buscema, Swan and Infantinio to name a few. Of course this is only the history up to the late 80s but still a fantastic resource and wonderful to dip into.
Perhaps the Marvel book is a slightly higher quality, the paper is a bit better and it just feels nicer, for want of a better word, But the DC book is still worth every penny.
If like me you spent a large chunk of your pocket money in the 70s on Marvel and DC comics these two large (and they are very large) volumes are for you
Length of Read:Epic
Might appeal to people who enjoyed…
Any Comic Book from the 30s to the 80s
One thing you’ve learned
That there are some fantastic characters in these books. I particularly enjoyed The Contemplator, Tom Thumb (deceased) Psycho-Man, Eel, Space Cabbie, Killer Moth & Zuggernaut.
If my son sees this and adds to his birthday list, I’m coming after you.
if I add it to my list, Sharon will etc etc
They are both flogging the same stuff over and over aren’t they? I already have the ‘Marvel Year by Year’ and ‘The DC Comics Encyclopedia’ door-stop tomes! Do I need anything more?
*braces wallet for punishment*
These are in a different league to those tomes. Both over 1300 pages and incredibly in-depth. But of course these only go as far as the late 80s. Shop around, both of these were about £70 each.
*puts wallet away, unharmed*
As a 40 years ago enjoyer of Fantastic and Terrific, the b&w UK imprints of Marvel stories, loving the weird and wonderful characters, the £25 looks quite appealing. Can’t be doing with DC and I can’t abide the fillums of either hue, being pap for the puerile.
Zzzax was a Hulk adversary if I remember well. Monster made of solid energy or something. Easy to draw. Hulk’s rogues gallery was one of Marvel’s oddest.
I had a few of these issues back in the day. I used to enjoy the characters that had a bit of Friday Afternoon 4pm about them. The In-Betweener for example, who apparently was some kind of cosmic deity neither one nor the other, though I can’t remember of what.
#166, IIRC.
I thought Space Cabbie and Killer Moth were DC characters, but there you go.
They are. From the DC book in the above review.
Trivia alert – author Mark Gruenwald was famously Marvel’s in-house Mr. Know-It-All, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of Marvel and all the characters. He was the model for Mr. Mobius, “Senior executive of middle management in the Time Variance Authority”, who is being played by Owen Wilson in the forthcoming “Loki” TV series…
I’ve not been in a comics shop for years now, so I had missed that there are quite a lot of these omnibuses around – 1000+ pages. Expensive, but not so bad on a per page basis. For me the Authority and The Legion 5 years later are tempting.
I guess they are the equivalent of a box set.
They are pricey but they are high quality. Expensive paper and beautiful binding.
Aside from the more rooted-in-reality characters like Jessica Jones and Daredevil in their now sadly discontinued Netflix incarnations, got little interest in the MCU or DCCU.
Since I have to get Disney to see Nomadland, would be interested in checking out Wandavision though.
Only thing putting me off is the likelihood of my only being able to enjoy the show after taking out a student loan and spending three years at college learning all about the MCU.
Can you watch WV as a standalone or do you need to see about 20 other movies to properly enjoy it?
I would watch the Avengers films Age of Ultron & Infinity War. That would prime you for Wandavision. Perhaps Civil War as well but not essential.