Customer Reviews

The Essential Superman Encyclopedia

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Before I say anything else, yes, this is an amazing book, and yes, you will want to buy it.

With regard to The Essential Batman Encyclopedia and how this book compares, the first thing I noticed is how much more massive TESE is compared to its Bat-counterpart. This absolutely dwarfs the Batman book. It has 120 more pages, and is vastly more detailed. The important entries in the Superman volume are longer and much more in depth than in the TEBE. For example: TEBE's entry for The Joker is 5 pages long. TESE's entry for Lex Luthor is 9 pages. TEBE's entry for Gotham City is 4 pages (including a full page illustration), the entry for Metropolis in this book is *12* pages. So you are talking about a much more impressive volume here. The only area I would give TEBE the nod in is in the artwork, especially the color sections. The art is much better in the Batman Encyclopedia.

The entries for all of the major characters and events in Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman's life are here in extraordinary detail. As I mentioned earlier, the entry for Metropolis is astounding. With sections covering its history, events, culture, etc. There are similarly detailed entries for Krypton, Lois, Lex, Jimmy, Daily Planet, Fortress of Solitude, anything you can think of. It really does feel like you are in Metropolis reading this book.

The artwork chosen is decent. There are 70 years of panels to select from, and there appears to be a nice variety. There are selections in the book I thought were bad. For example, the gorgeous classic cover of Superman #233, with Supes breaking the Kryptonite chains, is juxtaposed with a newer version of him in the same pose. But the new Kryptonite-breaking piece looks like crap, and is larger than the original. Why did it even need to be there when you already had the cover for #233? The two 16-page color sections leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes it seems like they make their selections by pulling them out of a hat. I would have liked to see John Byrne dominate this book like Jim Lee did for TEBE, but that's just fantasy talk.

Finally, I have to mention the omissions. When a horrible newer character like Gorgeous Gilly gets an entry and a panel of artwork, I can't help myself from wondering why other, more established characters were left out. Where's Booster Gold? I know for a fact Booster and Supes had significant interactions. They even had a crossover back in the day. Gold was based in Metropolis, his comic referenced Superman constantly. Booster Gold played a large part in the Death of Superman / Funeral For a Friend / Reign of the Supermen Saga. He was important enough to appear in the BBC Superman radio dramas and of course Justice League, Batman: The Brave & The Bold, and even had a cameo at the Superman Museum in the Legion of Superheroes cartoon. That is a glaring omission, one that I'm pretty annoyed by because Booster is one of the top DC heroes out there. Other omissions include: Dr. Fate, Kilowog, and the Green Lantern Corps, among others.

I'm giving The Essential Superman Encyclopedia 4 and a half Stars. I can't give it 5 Stars in good faith with all of the omissions. But most people will consider this a 5 Star book. This is a fabulous book. Fans of comics will adore this. And if you own the 2008 Batman volume, you need this.

I finally broke down and bought this after hemming and hawing for a good month and I'm glad I did! I could spend large chunks of the day getting lost in it....BUT there are some errors on the years indicated for certain issues....had to knock a star off for that, but don't let that stop you from getting this! Some of the reprinted covers take me back and some things I just plum forgot remind me of why I love the mythos os Superman!

every thing you want to know about superman is here. i have the old one but this just blows it alway.
the art work is good and the color plates are very good.

Thorough and accurate, The Essential Superman Encyclopedia covers it all: From the Anti-Monitor to Zod, it's all here. Buy it, winners!

I bought this book as a gift for a true superman aficionado. It was very well received.