The Marvel Encyclopedia: A Definitive Guide to the Characters of the Marvel Universe

i think some of these reviews shouldnt be on this page. these reviews apply to the first edition that had serious flaws. this is the updated and expanded version that was released oct 2009. these reviews are from the book that was released in 2006. they actually have the same reviews listed under the older version that was flawed.when i brought this book, there were no reviews for it yet. i purchased this book the second day it was released in oct 2009. i think amazon does this book a disservice by applying the same reviews to this book. it misleads people into thinking it has major flaws. if you look at the titles it clearly says "updated and expanded version". maybe amazon used the review to imply it is a hot commodity(and it is), but by having the same outdated reviews for a book that was revised in 2009 seems a little self defeating and manipulative at the same time. being as though the reviews by some of the people are complaints about the older version.even with the flaws, if you read the reviews below, you will see that many people also enjoyed the book. the only complaints came from hardcore geeky fans(no disrespect). most were somewhat minor, like the info for a few characters being off. but the artwork and lay-out is beautiful. and these complaints are fixed in this version, and thats why the complaints dont apply.i think everyone will enjoy this book. as an artist who enjoys creating my own comic book characters and superheroes, the action poses are a tremendous reference for my characters. that was the main reason i bought this massive book. page after page of action poses and fight scenes. im not a hardcore collector at all! i enjoy comics but i dont live and die by them.i used to flip through comics to get reference poses and inspiration and this book gives me more references and inspiration and insight than any book i ever came across.if you want a good book thats informative i would suggest this book. by the way, i am turning into that geeky guy now. reading this encyclopedia has given me info on characters i never knew existed and exposed me to a world of supereroes that goes back 5 decades or more. i didnt realize some of my favorite and most familiar characters from childhood were around for so long.i guess i had no concept of time when it came to the characters from marvel. all in all, you cant be dissapointed in this book. even someone whos not a fan will enjoy the material in this book. hope this review helped

NOTE: This review is for the NEW and UPDATED Marvel Encyclopedia. When I wrote this review, the new version's reviews were separate from the previous version. Since then, Amazon has combined the reviews, and this is a shame, because the updated version corrects most if not all of the problems found in the previous version. /END NOTEI received this book on it's release day, as I was very excited about it, and wanted it as quickly as possible. I was not disappointed! The book is 400 pages on high quality, glossy print, with brilliant artwork, and color that pops off the page.The book is meant as a reference, and includes basically every Marvel character ever created with a short bio for some, and up to 4 pages for the Marvel superstars like Spider-Man, Captain America, and Wolverine.I have the DC Encyclopedia as well, and it's great too, but the text is so small. The Marvel 2009 (Updated & Expanded) Encyclopedia improves this greatly with a font that's at least 2 sizes bigger for all entries, and many lead-in paragraphs include even larger fonts. This was a huge relief to my older eyes.The encyclopedia includes more than just A to Z entries for heroes and villains, it also has entries for Marvel events, such as the Civil War. Non-American Marvel characters are included as well, including UK hero Captain Britain, and Alpha Flight, a Canadian team.Extremely thorough, giant glossy pages, incredible artwork, and excellent layout (with a highly readable font) make this a masterwork, and a must-have for any Marvel fan. Amazon's price makes it a no-brainer.The only drawback? Get your arms ready, this thing weighs 5.5 pounds!

This book was purchased for my 9yr old who LOVES anything Marvel. We saw the book at a bookstore for a much higher price, came home and found it for a much lower price on Amazon. The book has very detailed and colorful pictures, but not "comic booky." The book is large and for the marvel fan, this would make a perfect coffee table book to display. My child just loves to look at his, and the first night after recieving his he fell asleep with it. He takes it to school with him everyday to share with his friends and look at during his free reading time. I would have to say this purchase was money well spent.

This really is a great book, well made and it's huge. I haven't been able to find anyone missing in there and there are even separate details on individuals (many faces of The Hulk, for example) and even group affiliations. Some of the detail in the history of the heroes or villains read like a short story - excellently done.My one and only gripe about it is that I was hoping for more detail on the powers of the supers. They left this fairly generic, without a lot of detail or examples of how individuals used their powers in interesting ways. Fairly bland for a lot of them when deeper descriptions would have been more exciting to read about.Overall though I do recommend this book - it's very high quality and the level of detail in the character history sections are great!-D

I bought this for my son for his tenth birthday as he got interested in Comic Book superheroes. Wow. What an impressive amount of information in one book! Yes, it is a somewhat large book, but it has been read and reread so many times since he first opened it. His nine year old sister read it so much as well that we bought her the DC Comics EncyclopediaThe DC Comics Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition for her birthday. Now they know more about comic book superheroes than I do! The pages have great illustrations and loads of information on each of the characters. Some characters have multiple pages of information as well. Highly recommended. Great gift.

Excelente, melhor impossível, recomendo

I'm not a huge comic book guy, but with the amount of movies marvel has put out in the last decade, I wanted to learn alittle about the heroes and villains in the Marvel universe. definitely worth picking up, not a ton of info but it gives you a decent write up in most cases.

Una guía preciosa de todos los superhérores de Marvel. Viene en ingles, pero se comprende fácilmente y no es necesario un gran nivel. Es un muy buen libro de referencia para situarte en el enorme mundo Marvel.

... qui en a été TRES content ! Il ne l'a pas lâché et s'est passionné pour ce livre. Pour les connaisseurs !

Un libro completo, una vera enciclopedia del mondo Marvel, risponde totalmente alla mia aspettativa. Consigliatissimo! Non ho riscontrato nessun problema.