Phoenixx9 wrote:
I am not familiar with the "newer format" mentioned above in a post. What is the main difference? Does the Handbook still define powers, give lifting strength such as 85 tons, etc, and give height and weight statistics?
Larger size print for the text, larger/more space devoted to art/action scenes. Entries now start right way with the history section. The larger size text and art space take up more room on the page, so the page count for an entry in the newer format is now larger than it was in the previous format. My guess is that an entry in the new format takes up twice the page space as it would have taken in the old format, but that's just a guess based on the fact that, in the new format, there have been no half-page entries. Minimum-sized entry in the new format thus far has been at least one page. The more complex or developed subjects of entries so far have received more pages.
The more controversial changes, at least as far as I can tell from WWtW forum participants, have been what is done with the rest of the entries' information. Biographical data (Real name, aliases, place of birth, etc.), first appearance, physical stats (height, weight, hair & eye color), powers & abilities & weapons & etc., and what used to be the "main image" (the large, clear image of the subject of the entry in their most current or recent costume/appearance) are now all squeezed together in one section after the history, with the main image now greatly reduced in size to what was approximately the size of a half-page entry's main image in the old format, and this is true regardless of who the subject is, whether it's an entry on a new character like Singularity or Lash of the Inhumans or a more established character getting an update, like Dr. Strange in the ANAD MU Handbook or Peter Parker-616/Spider-Man in the Spider-Geddon Handbook.
It's been explained by the Handbook staff that the change in the Handbook format was mandated by folks higher up the editorial chain and thus isn't going away anytime soon. The larger text size is actually easier to read, but since it takes up more physical page space (along with the increase in space devoted to action art as well as various costume changes for a subject, the net result is more page-space per entry, but fewer entries per handbook. As one of many who enjoyed the fact that the older format allowed for entries on "deeper cuts" of the Marvel Universe (to borrow a phrase from American radio programming) than was allowed during, say, the original and Deluxe editions of the handbook (whose editorial rules set up by Mark Gruenwald emphasized covering the best known, most current, and most regularly/recently-appearing subjects for entries, which is how subjects like Bullseye and Killraven were covered in the original HB but not in the Deluxe), fewer entries per handbook means it's more likely that those entries will go to either more well known or popular characters, or to those who more closely adhere to that Handbook's theme than others. On the other, OTHER, hand, however, this also increases the odds that a more well known character, who is likely to already have been given Handbook-coverage elsewhere, might receive an update if they need it AND if they feature prominently in a Handbook's central theme or event.
