Who Watches the Watchers - Forum for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe & Similar Works / Handbook Announcement - King in Black Handbook

**Posted by Loki** 9/12/2020 12:02 pm

KING IN BLACK HANDBOOK #1 Written by MIKE O’SULLIVAN & THE OHOTMU TEAM
Cover by RON LIM
As the dark king Knull descends on the Marvel Universe, the Official Handbook turns its focus to all things symbiote with this new collection of profiles! This issue covers not only symbiote hosts such as Venom (Eddie Brock), Carnage (Cletus Kasady) and Lee Price, but also characters whom symbiotes have affected: Victoria Montesi! Ghost-Spider (Gwen Stacy)! Dylan Brock! Ann Weying! Plus: a profile of Knull, the King of Black himself! And from the pages of THOR: the All-Black — the first symbiote!

**Posted by Lonewolf36** 9/12/2020 1:24 pm

Nice to see the Handbooks are making a comeback!

**Posted by slevin87** 9/12/2020 1:50 pm

Wow, three handbooks in one year! So glad to see this after the drop-off in recent years!

**Posted by Rayeye** 9/12/2020 3:12 pm

Though I'm not a Venom fan, I applaud every new handbook!

**Posted by Andy E. Nystrom** 9/12/2020 3:42 pm

Also glad to see these continuing. As with Rayeye I'm not a huge Venom fan but I'll take any excuse for a Handbook. I'm also not a Deadpool fan but that book still had entries on characters I like. Hope these do well enough that we can get another hardcover run, at least for profiles that didn't make it into the previous run but newer updates (lots of books with just one profile have come out since the last hardcover run).

**Posted by slevin87** 9/12/2020 3:51 pm

Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
Also glad to see these continuing. As with Rayeye I'm not a huge Venom fan but I'll take any excuse for a Handbook. I'm also not a Deadpool fan but that book still had entries on characters I like. Hope these do well enough that we can get another hardcover run, at least for profiles that didn't make it into the previous run but newer updates (lots of books with just one profile have come out since the last hardcover run).

I'd be all for new hardcovers for the last 10 years' worth of profiles, but I do think it would take a lot of work to reformat the 2010-2015 ones to fit the style of the more recent books, so I'm not sure how feasible Marvel would consider it or if the writers would be up for it.

**Posted by Andy E. Nystrom** 9/13/2020 9:19 am

slevin87 wrote:
I'd be all for new hardcovers for the last 10 years' worth of profiles, but I do think it would take a lot of work to reformat the 2010-2015 ones to fit the style of the more recent books, so I'm not sure how feasible Marvel would consider it or if the writers would be up for it.

Then we need to talk Marvel into the other way around (I know, unlikely, but I can dream).

Regardless, glad we're getting another Handbook. And the symbiotes are an interesting focal point for a Handbook.

**Posted by Rayeye** 9/14/2020 1:53 pm

slevin87 wrote:
Andy E. Nystrom wrote:
Also glad to see these continuing. As with Rayeye I'm not a huge Venom fan but I'll take any excuse for a Handbook. I'm also not a Deadpool fan but that book still had entries on characters I like. Hope these do well enough that we can get another hardcover run, at least for profiles that didn't make it into the previous run but newer updates (lots of books with just one profile have come out since the last hardcover run).
I'd be all for new hardcovers for the last 10 years' worth of profiles, but I do think it would take a lot of work to reformat the 2010-2015 ones to fit the style of the more recent books, so I'm not sure how feasible Marvel would consider it or if the writers would be up for it.

I'm with you on this! Hardcover handbook series v2 is what we need! :-)

**Posted by frogoat** 10/05/2020 9:04 pm

I'm keen for this too, and three in one year (especially this year!) is a good sign. I hope these continue for a good long while. Nice to see Ron Lim on covers, seems like he's secured the regular cover art duties with this batch! I'd love a Hardcover collection again too but I'd settle for reprints of the two different formats with perhaps the information updated as we had last time. It's weird to think this would have likely come out in time for the Venom sequel movie.

**Posted by frogoat** 10/06/2020 1:45 am

Odd question, but do you guys have a say in the solicitation text?

**Posted by Loki** 10/06/2020 3:13 am

frogoat wrote:
Odd question, but do you guys have a say in the solicitation text?

Not generally.

**Posted by slevin87** 10/07/2020 2:49 pm

I will be interested to see if we'll get profiles of any alternate universe symbiotes or hosts, such as May Parker of Earth-9997/Earth X..

Last edited by slevin87 (10/07/2020 2:49 pm)

**Posted by Sidney Osinga** 10/07/2020 3:01 pm

I'm wondering if the Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)'s entry will be complete or if it'll be an update from the one that was in the Spider-Gwen series.

**Posted by Andy E. Nystrom** 10/07/2020 8:56 pm

Sidney Osinga wrote:
I'm wondering if the Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy)'s entry will be complete or if it'll be an update from the one that was in the Spider-Gwen series.

The profiles from the Spider-Gwen series weren't actually written by Handbook staffers so probably not from that, but she did get an entry in All-New All-Different Marvel Universe, so I'm betting it will be an update of that entry.

**Posted by Sidney Osinga** 10/14/2020 3:20 pm

Am I looking forwards to this? It's a Handbook, so of course I am. I just wish it wasn't tied to a pointless crossover starring a second-rate character that was in a movie that did middling success.

**Posted by frogoat** 10/18/2020 3:10 am

slevin87 wrote:
I will be interested to see if we'll get profiles of any alternate universe symbiotes or hosts, such as May Parker of Earth-9997/Earth X..

While I'd really love to see May Parker aka Venom get a profile, I doubt it'll be in this handbook.

I hope the feedback from this latest batch makes it's way back to Editorial. Constructive feedback is always good to work with.

**Posted by skippcomet** 10/19/2020 4:05 am

Sidney Osinga wrote:
Am I looking forwards to this? It's a Handbook, so of course I am. I just wish it wasn't tied to a pointless crossover starring a second-rate character that was in a movie that did middling success.

It's not called The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Except for the Parts I Don't Care For. Ever since that one guy over a decade again had an online conniption about Howard the Duck getting an entry...

**Posted by Andy E. Nystrom** 10/19/2020 5:57 am

skippcomet wrote:
Sidney Osinga wrote:
Am I looking forwards to this? It's a Handbook, so of course I am. I just wish it wasn't tied to a pointless crossover starring a second-rate character that was in a movie that did middling success.
It's not called The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Except for the Parts I Don't Care For. Ever since that one guy over a decade again had an online conniption about Howard the Duck getting an entry...

Sadly William Keogh is not yet one of the people we've managed to get back. Despite his obvious bad taste where the Duck is concerned, I hope he finds his way back here someday as he was pretty prominent during the early days.

But yeah, not a big fan of Deadpool, but there was still a lot of good stuff in his handbook, so I'm happy to have Rank and Foul in my collection.

**Posted by skippcomet** 10/23/2020 4:20 am

Well, the Venom/Symbionts corner of the MU isn't really one of the more thoroughly covered corners in terms of Handbook coverage, and that, along with the existing solicitations, suggests we should hope for more than one new entry. So there's that. Plus, I give 1 in 4 odds that maybe we'll see an update on Flash Thompson. If not, no big deal. (Heck, I'm still surprised that in 17 years, we've still only seen one Daredevil-centric handbook.)

**Posted by slevin87** 11/25/2020 3:31 pm

Looks like it's been pushed back to March. https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT200542

**Posted by Andy E. Nystrom** 11/25/2020 7:33 pm

slevin87 wrote:
Looks like it's been pushed back to March. https://www.previewsworld.com/Catalog/OCT200542

I realize in the greater scheme of things, Handbook delays are a minor thing compared to all the death and suffering, but @#$%ing COIVID!

**Posted by Sidney Osinga** 11/25/2020 8:59 pm

So since it's being pushed back, will the entries cover what happened during the crossover?

**Posted by frogoat** 11/27/2020 8:40 pm

Sidney Osinga wrote:
So since it's being pushed back, will the entries cover what happened during the crossover?

I think it's more likely it will cover things prior to the event. I don't think they'll want to pay the poor writers more money to come back and make additions.

**Posted by Loki** 12/03/2020 12:38 pm

frogoat wrote:
Sidney Osinga wrote:
So since it's being pushed back, will the entries cover what happened during the crossover?
I think it's more likely it will cover things prior to the event. I don't think they'll want to pay the poor writers more money to come back and make additions.

Only just spotted these newer queries, so sorry for slow response.

Sidney, yes, the entries are getting updated to cover at least partway through the crossover. This is especially good for one entry covering a character who KiB has just massively retconned/expanded their backstory (depending on your POV).

frogoat: You are right that Marvel won't want to pay us writers any additional money to do updates. Luckily for them, they don't need to - we get paid only based on finished pages, so no extra cash for doing updates. This isn't a gripe - we knew that going in, and besides, it's a point of pride on our part to try and do the best entries we can.

**Posted by frogoat** 1/10/2021 2:20 am

Loki wrote:
frogoat wrote:
Sidney Osinga wrote:
So since it's being pushed back, will the entries cover what happened during the crossover?
I think it's more likely it will cover things prior to the event. I don't think they'll want to pay the poor writers more money to come back and make additions.
Only just spotted these newer queries, so sorry for slow response.

Sidney, yes, the entries are getting updated to cover at least partway through the crossover. This is especially good for one entry covering a character who KiB has just massively retconned/expanded their backstory (depending on your POV).

frogoat: You are right that Marvel won't want to pay us writers any additional money to do updates. Luckily for them, they don't need to - we get paid only based on finished pages, so no extra cash for doing updates. This isn't a gripe - we knew that going in, and besides, it's a point of pride on our part to try and do the best entries we can.

I'm very glad to be wrong! Shame you guys don't get paid for your extra time and effort, but it is certainly appreciated!

**Posted by Sidney Osinga** 2/24/2021 8:34 am

It's coming out next week.

**Posted by Andy E. Nystrom** 3/03/2021 11:48 am

Out now! Page count after names:

All-Black 2 (has 7 headshots)
Anti-Venom (Thompson) 6
Big Mother 1
Dylan Brock 1
Carnage (Kasady) 4
Ghost-Spider 3
Grendel 1
Klyntar (planet) 2
Knull 2
Marquis Radu 1
Mister E (shadow monster) 1
Victoria Montesi 3
Lee Price 2
Scream (Benton) 2
Sleeper (symbiote) 1
Rex Strickland 1
Tal-Kar 2
Venom (Brock) 6
Anne Weying 2
Wraith (former Zak-Del) 2

Haven't started reading yet but glad to see more smaller entries thus more profiles total.

**Posted by Andy E. Nystrom** 3/04/2021 3:26 pm

One question: Were there plans at any point for a profile on the Symbiote race itself? Just curious, though obviously the Klyntar entry covers a lot that might have gone into that. So far I'm up to Klyntar and I'm enjoying it as always. One minor nitpick: the category font keeps switching between two types. Not that big a deal since it doesn't affect the accuracy; just something that jumped out at me.

**Posted by frogoat** 3/05/2021 3:08 am

I'm surprised the theory about the second Carnage symbiote found in the Negative Zone wasn't embraced in Carnage's profile. I thought for sure that would be inserted into canon officially since it's unlikely ever to be referenced again anywhere else.

Great work as always, everyone! I sincerely hope we get news about a new Handbook very soon!

**Posted by Loki** 3/05/2021 5:57 am

Just to say, not ignoring you; have passed your queries and comments on to the rest of the handbook team, and waiting for the others to get back to me.