[.ca] Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 1 HC (ISBN 0785109846)

Waste of Money:
Everyone already knows what Captain American, Hulk, and Wolverine have done in the comics. I thought this book would be an (almost) complete encyclopedia of marvel characters. Due to its small size I just figured it would provide brief descriptions of each character. It doesn't even cover all of the first x-men. And yes, everything was just cut-and-pasted from the marvel website. Don't judge a book by its attractive cover!

WHERE IS THE GUIDE TO MARVEL UNIVERSE AT?:
I bought this under the false belief that this would be an awesome edition to my collection. this is so full of errors those tech specs are soo off when it comesto strenght.. duribablity and fighting skill. and contradict what are tthe known superpower levels. It's mainly Eye candy and not even that when it comes to artwork because it's artwork we've already seen before. The history background is VERY VERY breif and actually forgets some good points in character development. I'd say this is good foora kid but not a mature comic reader. If you want info and accurate info on character look for the guide tothe marvel universe set.. I'm sure you can get it on ebay.

Not that bad:
After reading some of the really harsh reviews on this book, I feel I have to defend it. Yes , the lack of classic artwork is an abomination and I agree that many of the people writing Marvel now know less about the characters than a lot of us older fans but the book was still fun to read and informative to those of us who have not kept up . The Power Rankings was effective and for those of us that do not have thousands of dollars to spend on back issues, the Essential Reading is helpful. The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe still rules but I sure do not want to have to wait through two more years of Devil Dinosaur and Paste Pot Pete entries to get to some great characters. But I'll tell you I have no idea what would make me buy Volume II.

Marvel Rocks!:
I thought this book was great! The illustrations are cool and beautiful. It's a great example of Marvel's genius at character creation. Incredible!

An excellent resource!:
I have to wonder whether some of the other reviewers read the same book I did. No, not everyone knows what Captain American, Hulk, and Wolverine have done in the comics. No, the entries weren't "just cut-and-pasted from the Marvel Web site". And I had to laugh at the obviously clueless person that said "many of the people writing Marvel now know less about the characters than a lot of us older fans"! This is an excellent, well-researched, visually-attractive, informative, and up-to-date guide to the Marvel Comics universe that will appeal to both new and long-time readers. Granted, it's nowhere near as in-depth as Marvel's older Encyclopedias, but it was never meant to be. Marvel are promising future editions and updates of the new Encyclopedia, so If you like Marvel's comics, movies, or TV shows, and want to know more about the characters, then get in on the ground floor with this great book!