Historical text from Comixfan:

Andy E. Nystrom

Jan 28, 2010, 07:34 pm

This is the second in a series that looks at the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe hardcovers, and notes how the entries were changed from the original Handbooks that were compiled for the hardcovers. Some information presented here was previous posted to the Who Watches the Watchers forum at Comixfan while other information is presented here concurrently.
Alternate Universes 2005 Entries – List of Changes in the Hardcovers

All individuals: Superhuman Powers, Abilities, and Paraphernalia merged as Abilities/Accessories
All entries: Significant Issues info from back of book removed.

1602 A.D.
Hardcover Volume: 1
Page Count: increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants and Significant Locations expanded. Final History paragraph revised, then 3 new paragraphs added.
Graphic Changes: Old illo removed; 48 headshots with First Appearances added.

2020 A.D.
Hardcover Volume: 1
Page Count: increased from 2 to 3
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: New caption added to old illo, 9 new illos plus 9 more headshots, most with First Appearances and other stats

2099 A.D.
Hardcover Volume: 1
Page Count: unchanged at 2
Text Changes: Note added
Graphic Changes: Caption added to illo

2099 A.D. – Marvel Knights
Hardcover Volume: 1
Page Count: unchanged at 1
Text Changes: ignificant Inhabitants expanded, new final History paragraph added
Graphic Changes: Caption added to illo; 3 new captioned secondary illos

8162 A.D.
Hardcover Volume: 1
Page Count: unchanged at 1
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: Caption added to illo, three new secondary illos added

Cable/Askani World
Hardcover Volume: 2
Page Count: increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants expanded, History completely revised.
Graphic Changes: Main illo now captioned with captioned secondary illo. 42 new headshots with occupations and first appearances.

Chronomancer`s World
Hardcover Volume: 2
Page Count: increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: New captioned illo of Chronokeep. 35 new headshots with occupations and first appearances.

Counter-Earth (High Evolutionary)
Hardcover Volume: 2
Page Count: increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: Four new captioned illos (2 with First Appearances) plus 30 headshots with First Appearances.

Counter-Earth (Franklin Richards)
Hardcover Volume: 2
Page Count: increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants/Locations increased. History completely revised/expanded.
Graphic Changes: New captioned illo plus 21 headshots with First Appearances.

Crooked World
Hardcover Volume: 3
Page Count: increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: New sentence added to first History paragraph.
Graphic Changes: 10 new illos numbered to correspond to a newly added key, plus five unnumbered headshots. Main illo also numbered.

Days of Futures Past
Hardcover Volume: 3
Page Count: unchanged at 2
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants expanded. History mostly revised and expanded.
Graphic Changes: Secondary illo removed, replaced with 2 new ones (1 captioned).

Earth A
Hardcover Volume: 3
Now Listed As: Earth-A (hyphenated)
Page Count: unchanged at 1
Text Changes: 3rd and 4th History paragraphs merged. New paragraph added to and of History.
Graphic Changes: Captions added to illos. Main illo cropped.

Earth X
Hardcover Volume: 3
Page Count: increased from 2 to 4
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants expanded.
Graphic Changes: Main and secondary illo replaced with new main illo and 8 secondary illos (1 captioned, the rest, including the main illo numbered to correspond with newly added key).

Eurth
Hardcover Volume: 4
Page Count: increased from 1 to 3
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: 8 new captioned secondary illos. 13 new illos utilizing a number key

Here Comes Tomorrow
Hardcover Volume: 5
Page Count: Unchanged at 1
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: Original illo now captioned. 5 new secondary illos

Kitty`s Fairy Tale
Hardcover Volume: 6
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants tweaked; Well removed from Significant Locations. History greatly revised/expanded (a lot of old text still present)
Graphic Changes: Old illo now captioned. 11 new captioned secondary illos.

Larval Earth (Spider-Ham)
Hardcover Volume: 6
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: Old illo now captioned. 21 new captioned secondary illos.

Last Avengers Story
Hardcover Volume: 6
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: None
Graphic Changes: Old illo now captioned. New captioned secondary illo plus 27 new numbered secondary illos corresponding to a key

Mangaverse
Hardcover Volume: 7
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: final History sentence split from the old paragraph to form the start of an extensive new final paragraph
Graphic Changes: Old illo’s characters now numbered with number key below the illo. 10 new captioned secondary illos.

MC2
Hardcover Volume: 7
Page Count: Increased from 2 to 3
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants expanded. 1st History sentence revised, 2nd last paragraph revised/abridged, new sentence added to final paragraph.
Graphic Changes: Old illo captioned; new captioned secondary illo plus 48 new headshots with First Appearances.

Mutant X-Verse
Hardcover Volume: 8
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: History completely rewritten.
Graphic Changes: Old illo removed. New main illo which is numbered with accompanying number key; 6 new captioned secondary illos.

New Universe
Hardcover Volume: 8
Page Count: Increased from 2 to 3
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants significantly expanded. Significant Locations expanded less significantly. History greatly revised/expanded.
Graphic Changes: Old illo now numbered with accompanying number key. 48 new headshots with First Appearance and main ability.

Other-Earth
Hardcover Volume: 8
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants and Significant Locations revised/expanded. History somewhat revised/expanded.
Graphic Changes: Main illo now captioned. 12 new captioned secondary illos.

Reigning
Hardcover Volume: 9
Page Count: Unchanged at 1
Text Changes: None.
Graphic Changes: Illo now captioned.

Shadowline
Hardcover Volume: 10
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 3
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants revised/expanded. History mostly revised/expanded. Note revised/abridged
Graphic Changes: Old illo removed. 11 new illos with First Appearances, then 17 headshots with First Appearances

Supreme Power
Hardcover Volume: 11
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 3
Text Changes: Significant Inhabitants and Significant Locations (the former greatly expanded). History completely rewritten/expanded
Graphic Changes: Old illo removed. New captioned main illo and 6 captioned secondary illos; 3 new headshots

The Corps
Hardcover Volume: 2
Now Listed As: Corps
Page Count: increased from 1 to 4
Text Changes: Current/Former Members expanded, History completely revised/expanded
Graphic Changes: 72 illos of members in two grids, with names first appearances listed below the second grid.

Deathlok
Hardcover Volume: 3
Now Listed As: Deathlok (Manning)
Page Count: increased from 2 to 3
Text Changes: New final History paragraph added (i.e. before the Note). Power Grid revised.
Graphic Changes: Original illo modified (mainly leg positions). 3 classic Eliot Brown diagrams added (original bionics, skull, gun), plus 3 more illos added (2 captioned).

Fantastic Five (Spider-Man)
Hardcover Volume: 4
Page Count: unchanged at 1
Text Changes: Final History paragraph revised/expanded.
Graphic Changes: None

Gatherers
Hardcover Volume: 4
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Former Members have Earth numbers added. First Appearance expanded to cover individual members. New sentence added to end of 3rd History paragraph; 4th paragraph revised and expanded, new paragraph added before final paragraph. Note added.
Graphic Changes: Original illo captioned. 6 new captioned secondary illos.

Guardians of the Galaxy
Hardcover Volume: 4
Page Count: Increased from 3 to 5
Text Changes: Base of Operations expanded. Some History paragraph merging and text tweaking; new paragraph added at end of History. New 3-paragraph note added re: other Guardians.
Graphic Changes: New captioned main illo. Original illo now captioned secondary illo. 13 new captioned secondary illos plus 14 headshots indicating when first Active.

Killraven
Hardcover Volume: 6
Page Count: unchanged at 2
Text Changes: Known Relatives revised. History somewhat revised, with paragraphs merged and new text weaving in and out of old text.
Graphic Changes: New captioned main illo. New main illo (old one now secondary with background added. 2 new captioned secondary illos.

Scarlet Centurion
Hardcover Volume: 10
Now Listed As: Scarlet Centurion (Nathaniel Richards)
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Vital Statistics revised/expanded. History completely rewritten/expanded. Abilities/Accessories greatly revised/expanded.
Graphic Changes: 2 new secondary illos.

Squadron Supreme
Hardcover Volume: 11
Page Count: Increased from 2 to 6
Text Changes: History mostly revised/expanded. Note tweaked
Graphic Changes: Old illo now captioned secondary; new captioned main illo; 18 captioned secondary illos added, including a classic Elliot R. Brown illo; 25 new headshots with issues Active

Thundra
Hardcover Volume: 11
Page Count: Increased from 1 to 2
Text Changes: Vital Statistics revised/expanded. History completely rewritten/expanded. Abilities/Accessories mostly revised/expanded.
Graphic Changes: 1 new secondary illo.

Appendix
Hardcover Volumes: 2-5
Now Listed As: Appendix: Core Continuum Designations
Page Count: increased from 1 to 5 2/3 (v2), 3 (v3), 6 (v4), 3 (v5)
Text Changes: Lots of new Earths listed including ones seen in role-playing game modules, descriptions added to many previously listed Earths.
Graphic Changes: None.




Sidney Osinga

Jan 28, 2010, 08:05 pm


You forgot to add that the main image from 1602 has been removed and the new 2099-Marvel Knights now has three new captioned inserts.

I do hope we see more new dimension entries in upcoming handbooks (Ultraverse!) and maybe an expanded 2099 one in upcoming handbooks.




Andy E. Nystrom

Jan 28, 2010, 09:28 pm

Sidney Osinga wrote:

You forgot to add that the main image from 1602 has been removed and the new 2099-Marvel Knights now has three new captioned inserts.

I do hope we see more new dimension entries in upcoming handbooks (Ultraverse!) and maybe an expanded 2099 one in upcoming handbooks.

Thanks. i suspect my volume 1 efforts are going to give me a lot of grief during the reformatting.

Ultraverse would be great. Other non-616 entries I'd like to see: Forbush Man, Punisher (MAX - he's earned an entry by now), US War Machine, Earths seen in younger readers lines, maybe a few more full entries on more interesting What If? worlds




shazam2271

Jan 30, 2010, 03:00 am


Andy,

As always, great job. I second seeing the Ultraverse getting an entry, but I highly doubt it. What I would love is for them to come to some sort of deal to at least use the NightMan since one of them is stuck in 616. I'd like to see what he's been up to and what happened to him during Civil War, Secret Invasion, ect.

As part of my wish list in the OHOTMU Wish list, I listed Spider-Man & Friends (Kids toyline and starter reading kids books & UK magazine line) as one of them. I would also like to see one for Mini Marvels, the SuperHero Squad Earth and the Marvel Adventures one.

I would also love to see entries for The Marvel Apes, Spider-Man : Reign, the Trouble mini-series, Spider-Man Newspaper Strip and "EARTH-7840" (EARTH-THE SPIDER HAD BEEN BITTEN BY A RADIOACTIVE HUMAN).

Also would like to see anupdated Appendix: Core Continuum Designations. I'm sure that there are loads more that have appeared since the HC appendix was published.




Andy E. Nystrom

Jan 30, 2010, 08:02 am


Glad you're enjoying the lists.

I remember reading somewhere that Trouble was set in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Can anyone confirm this?




Madison Carter

Jan 30, 2010, 11:30 am

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:

Glad you're enjoying the lists.

I remember reading somewhere that Trouble was set in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. Can anyone confirm this?

Officially, Trouble is set in its own universe until otherwise stated within an actual book.




Michael Regan

Jan 30, 2010, 01:53 pm


Correct. Trouble is not part of the Ultimate Universe and was never meant to be part of the Ultimate Universe. I don't even remember any speculation that it was.

The mini was originally meant to be presented as part of Earth-616, but since it did not fair well with fans it was decided that it would be out of continuity or non-canon.