Historical text from CxPulp:
skippcomet
11-20-2014, 06:00 PM
Next month is supposed to see the release of the Avengers Now! Handbook, the first new Handbook released since the Avengers Roll Call Handbook in 2012 of all-new entries (and some updates, and an appendix of updates, etc.). Presumably, since the Avengers' "corner" of the MU has broadened, the scope of potential coverage will be similarly broad (again, like Roll Call). But there are corners of the Marvel Universe that haven't been the focus of a Handbook in a few years that have seen development: new characters, teams, and events; previous entry subjects that deserve an update; and of course, pre-existing characters, events, teams, and so on that still haven't been 'kissed' by 'modern' (2004 and beyond) Handbooks.

My question to you: What ONE corner of the Marvel Universe that has previously been the theme of a modern Handbook do you think most needs or deserves a new Handbook? The X-Men? Spider-Man? Iron Man? The Fantastic Four? Alternate Universes? Magic? Something else? Bonus points (not that we're giving any) if you list a few examples of entries you'd like to see covered in said hypothetical handbook (in other words, not an entire table of contents).
 
Eduardo M.
11-20-2014, 09:30 PM
Spider-Man
-cover everything in the Superior era plus Spiderverse with entries on Superior Spidey, Scarlet Spider (Kaine), Venom (Thompson)

X-Men
-needs to cover the split between schools and the events of AvX.

A new Alternate Universe handbook with updates on Age of Apocalypse and new entries like Age of Utron
 
vanhornluke
11-21-2014, 12:34 PM
Golden Age: there's still a ton of material from the 40s and 50s that has never been covered. I'd especially like entries on the 50s war heroes (Kent Blake, Combat Kelly, Combat Casey, Iron Mike McGraw, Battleship Burke, Torpedo Taylor, Battle Brady, Devil Dog Dugan, Rock Murdock), Hitler and Stalin, western characters (Arrowhead, Red Larabee, Red Warrior, Tex Morgan, Rex Fury/Calico Kid/Ghost Rider, Tex Taylor, Blaze Carson, Billy Buckskin, Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley, Doc Halliday, Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok), and the criminally ignored 616 humor/romance characters (e.g., Cindy Smith, Tessie the Typist, Patty Powers, Jeanie, Wendy Parker, Pearl Dimly [as well as clarification on how the adult and teen phases of Pearl's stories fit together, or if it's two different characters], Nellie the Nurse, Kathy, and perhaps even Irma (since Stan actually appears in My Friend Irma, that might be indication it is 616).
 
mal32
11-24-2014, 07:26 AM

vanhornluke wrote:

Golden Age: there's still a ton of material from the 40s and 50s that has never been covered. I'd especially like entries on the 50s war heroes (Kent Blake, Combat Kelly, Combat Casey, Iron Mike McGraw, Battleship Burke, Torpedo Taylor, Battle Brady, Devil Dog Dugan, Rock Murdock), Hitler and Stalin, western characters (Arrowhead, Red Larabee, Red Warrior, Tex Morgan, Rex Fury/Calico Kid/Ghost Rider, Tex Taylor, Blaze Carson, Billy Buckskin, Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley, Doc Halliday, Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok), and the criminally ignored 616 humor/romance characters (e.g., Cindy Smith, Tessie the Typist, Patty Powers, Jeanie, Wendy Parker, Pearl Dimly [as well as clarification on how the adult and teen phases of Pearl's stories fit together, or if it's two different characters], Nellie the Nurse, Kathy, and perhaps even Irma (since Stan actually appears in My Friend Irma, that might be indication it is 616).

You are 100% right
 
Andy E. Nystrom
12-21-2014, 04:31 PM
As noted before, the previous Handbook notwithstanding, I'd prefer 1950s stuff covered outside of a Golden Age Handbook, maybe an Atlas Handbook, as the Golden Age was over by the 1950s.

A Book of the Currently Dead, replacing the Book of the Dead. That way you're acknowledging that this will be outdated soon enough, but also admitting that death does sell. As does Wolverine, who could get an update. Nova too. Dum-Dum Dugan needs serious updating now as well, as does Techno, even though there's a logical flaw in his death (if he died at a younger point and his replacement is really him and not a divergent Earth counterpart, then there should not be any older self to kill him and then take his place). Filling out the pages: there are many notable Punisher victims who could use an entry, as as the Rev, plus some Scourge victims who have remained dead. Individual Crimson Dynamos could also be covered, except for the surviving ones.
 
vanhornluke
12-22-2014, 11:23 AM

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:

[img]file:///C:\Users\Andy\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png[/img]
As noted before, the previous Handbook notwithstanding, I'd prefer 1950s stuff covered outside of a Golden Age Handbook, maybe an Atlas Handbook, as the Golden Age was over by the 1950s.

Fair enough. Whatever you want to call the late 40s and 50s, though, there's still a ton of 616 material there that has never received handbook coverage.
 
 
Eduardo M.
12-22-2014, 01:01 PM

vanhornluke wrote:

Fair enough. Whatever you want to call the late 40s and 50s, though, there's still a ton of 616 material there that has never received handbook coverage.

It can go even beyond just the 40s and 50s to cover everything up to the pre-Modern era (birth of the Fantastic Four). There are still plenty of characters from Lost Generation that have not been covered, plus the characters from the mini-series Mystery Men. Not to mention updates on SHIELD to incorporate events covered in Secret Warriors, Original Sin and other works that have the organization existing for quite awhile before the modern era.
 
vanhornluke
12-22-2014, 06:45 PM
Oh, sure, that's true, too. When I said "40s and 50s," I was referring to publication dates, not in-universe dates.
 
Andy E. Nystrom
12-22-2014, 08:28 PM

vanhornluke wrote:

Oh, sure, that's true, too. When I said "40s and 50s," I was referring to publication dates, not in-universe dates.

 
Actually though what Eduardo described is closer to the original "Golden Age" book, as there were a number of retroactive WW2 characters in that book (Spitfire, Super-Axis), even one from 2000 (Black Fox), well past the Golden Age. So if you were capturing the spirit of that book, the Mystery Men would count.
 
Eduardo M.
12-23-2014, 10:58 AM

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:

Actually though what Eduardo described is closer to the original "Golden Age" book, as there were a number of retroactive WW2 characters in that book (Spitfire, Super-Axis), even one from 2000 (Black Fox), well past the Golden Age. So if you were capturing the spirit of that book, the Mystery Men would count.

The other thing is, how do you handle characters an concepts that appear in the period between the end of the GA and the beginning of the modern era such as most of the Lst Generation cast and the 1970s Avengers roster introduced in Original Sin?
 
skippcomet
12-23-2014, 03:02 PM

Eduardo M. wrote:

[img]file:///C:\Users\Andy\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png[/img]
The other thing is, how do you handle characters an concepts that appear in the period between the end of the GA and the beginning of the modern era such as most of the Lst Generation cast and the 1970s Avengers roster introduced in Original Sin?

 
I have to admit, even if most of them were "killed off" at the end of Marvel: The Lost Generation, I've been disappointed that more of that cast hasn't received coverage. Let's see...Pixie, Black Fox, Effigy, Eternal Brain, Yeti, Yankee Clipper...and villains Rumor and Nocturne (vampire). Granted, a lot of the characters introduced made only a few appearances at best and got almost no development, but then the "unidentified female" Thor gets a half-page entry despite almost nothing known about her due to her VERY recent introduction. I remember feeling very disappointed back when the very first All-New A-Z monthly OHOTMU (2006 or 2007) got to the O's and Oxbow wasn't covered. I think Oxbow, Liberty Girl, Mister Justice, Gadfly, Blackjack, Cassandra Locke and Chimera (Skrull) would all be good candidates for entries, if the random A-Z format ever returns.

As for the 1970's "Mighty Avengers" introduced in Al Ewing's excellent Mighty Avengers, two of them (Kaluu and Blue Marvel) have already been covered, two more (the female characters The Bear and...the sassy reporter one whose name I'm forgetting) are, to my knowledge, brand new characters, and the last is Luke Cage's father. Granted, he could probably merit an entry somewhere on the basis of being Luke Cage's father/supporting cast, but I'll be shocked if the next writer not named Al Ewing to use Cage's dad even acknowledges it.
 
Angelicknight
02-17-2015, 07:34 PM
Secret Wars coming up would have made a great opportunity for a Handbook with numerous alternate universe characters participating that have never been covered.
 
frogoat
02-23-2015, 06:07 PM

Angelicknight wrote:

[img]file:///C:\Users\Andy\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png[/img]
Secret Wars coming up would have made a great opportunity for a Handbook with numerous alternate universe characters participating that have never been covered.

Make it so, oh great ones!
 
 
Angelicknight
02-23-2015, 07:20 PM

frogoat wrote:

Make it so, oh great ones!

Spiderverse has several as well such as Spider-Man India, the Japanese Spider-Man ect that would work as well since its also gonna be included in the upcoming Secret Wars also.
 
 

Last edited by Andy E. Nystrom (1/31/2020 2:44 pm)