Historical info from Comixfan:

Eric J. Moreels

Dec 22, 2007, 04:50 pm

Coming from Marvel in March...

ESSENTIAL OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE – MASTER EDITION VOL. 1 TPB
Written by LEN KAMINSKI, JAMIE TOST, MARK GRUENWALD & GLENN HERDLING
Penciled by KEITH POLLARD
Cover by KEITH POLLARD

Heroes, villains, gods, demons, sorcerers, scientists, monsters, mobsters and a talking duck: More than one thousand dynamic dossiers, collected in alphabetical order for the first time across three volumes! From mutants to martial arts, street crime to space opera, espionage to other dimensions, horror to humor, the past to the future, no corner of Marvel is left untouched! Super-team rosters and histories, alien race outlines and so much more! Get to know the Universe now! Collecting material from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe – Master Edition #1-36.

592 PGS./Rated A …$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-7851-2730-7


Andy E. Nystrom

Dec 23, 2007, 11:47 pm

I would love to see the look on the face of anyone who orders this sight unseen when they see the artwork for the Master's Edition.


Roger Ott

Dec 24, 2007, 07:53 am 

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:

I would love to see the look on the face of anyone who orders this sight unseen when they see the artwork for the Master's Edition.

I personally thought the artwork was terrific about 98% of the time. The model sheets were great reference for drawing those complicated costumes like Jack of Hearts or Galactus. Outside of the lack of character histories, I thought the Master Edition was the perfect version because of it's easily updatable nature.


Andy E. Nystrom

Dec 24, 2007, 03:53 pm 

Roger Ott wrote:

I personally thought the artwork was terrific about 98% of the time. The model sheets were great reference for drawing those complicated costumes like Jack of Hearts or Galactus.

It was certainly well drawn, yes, but the uninitiated might not expect to see variations on the same three illustrations repeated every second page throughout the entire trade.

Plus, caped characters are showed lifting up their capes; between that and the rest of her costume, Moondragon looks like she's going the extra mile to live up to the first half of her name.


Sidney Osinga

Dec 28, 2007, 12:44 pm

This book looks interesting, but since I already have all the originals, I'm going to give it a miss. And why bother reprinting outdated handbooks anyways?


Marty P

Dec 28, 2007, 01:01 pm

Well, I have the Essential OHotMU volumes, and I just prefer the way they are written to the ones that come out now.

Not getting these though, one selection of Handbooks is enough for me.