Customer Reviews

Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 2: X-Men HC

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Marvel universe is vast. It is filled with many heroes and villians, past and present. One of the largest parts of the Marvel Universe is the X-Men and their family of groups and associations(Alpha Flight, Hellfire Club, New Mutants, Starjammers, etc).

To be honest, sometimes you can not tell the characters without a dictionary or a score card. Comics used to be so simple. Storylines these days are interconnected and entwined that you need a book like this to make sense of who is who. so now you need an encyclopedia like this to remember the character's back stories and histories.

This book is a nice gift for any X fans of any age...and helpful to anyone new to the X-Men universe. It is well done and well illustrated. You can understand this universe of characters (heroes and villians) and even the danger room better than if you are reading the comics itself.

Is it worth a thirty dollar price tag? Sure if you want learn all about the X-man Universe! After reading this Encyclopedia, I am ready to start reading the XMEN comics again!

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

The number of entries in this collection is huge, basically making up almost all the characters in the X-men universe. The character considered the more important one gets more pages than the other (e.g. Cyclops, Wolverine, etc. get two pages while some get only one. Inactive characters get only like a fraction of a page. That is, in some pages, there is more than one character entry).

I really don't like this idea since the inactive characters get less attention (like Rachel Summers) while excess characters (like the X-statix members) get one page per character. Just because a certain character is more active at present than the other it doesn't necessarily imply that he has played a more crucial role in the X-men continuity. I mean, I really doubt if an offshoot title like X-statix could have an impact on the Marvel universe greater than what Rachel has made. This could make people think that the characters with a longer bio are more significant than the other character that has a shorter one (which goes to show that a book that's updated doesn't always make it better than the older ones).

And since the entries here are arranged by character names, you'll have a hard time figuring out the events that took place in the X-Men continuity. You won't know much about the Dark Phoenix Saga, X-Cutioner's Song, Phalanx, Brood Saga, Mutant Massacre, Siege Perilous, etc. because there are no individual entries for the major events. You have to gather pieces of information of these events from individual character entries.

In my opinion, a better way of understanding the X-Men continuity is by understanding the storylines more so than the characters (i.e. knowing when a certain event occurred with respect to the other event (especially since X-Men continuity can be convoluted at times) as well as how the event occurred). Understanding the character would have to follow later.

So what do I suggest?
1. Get Peter Sanderson's Ultimate X-men guidebook first. It's cheaper, more reader-friendly, and it will provide you with better understanding of the events in the Marvel Universe more than this book could ever do.
2. If you want more depth on character biography (since Peter Sanderson's book is more like a scrap book (in a good sense, that is)), get this book too, though I have to admit that the depth on the character bio of this book may not be enough for the extremely hardcore fans. Still, nothing beats the character bios in websites...
3. And while you're into Marvel guidebook shopping spree, you might as well get the Science of the X-Men book for the most entertaining science book there is right now. :D

-What is it? As the name implies, it is a guide to the X-Men and their corner of the Marvel Comics universe that is almost essential to any one who is a long-term or recent fan of Marvel's mutants. It is also a short-sighted marketing tool.

-The Good: The structure of the book is so tidy it's almost obsessive-compulsive. The first section is all current, give or take, X-Men; next come the Acolytes, Alpha Flight, and so on, with a miscellaneous grouping towards the end. The selection of artwork is reason enough to buy the book- a brilliant and breath-taking collection that runs the gauntlet of virtually every person ever paid money to draw the X-Men.

-The Bad: Although the vast majority of the X-pantheon is included, it is more of a quick reference than a full-blown rundown of the history of each character, group or milestone event. This however, is understandable due to the vast ocean of characters they must deal with, but Marvel rubbed salt in the wound by going out of its way to focus on the way of things as they were the exact month the X-encyclopedia was published, to the point where it actually becomes misleading. Examples: X-Factor (along with X-Force and most other mutant spin-off groups) is totally absent from the book, and whenever it was impossible to overlook something X-Factor did the original X-Men were credited with out any clarification or mention that the 5 founding X-Men at one time formed their own team separate from the X-Men. X-Force is similarly referred to not by name but as either a strike force or as the New Mutants, and Cable is only referred to as Nathan Summers.

Also characters such as the X-Statics (the major space given these clowns is the primary reason NOT to buy the book) and even Alpha Flight take up quite a lot of space (many members get full-page descriptions), even though they are not directly related to the X-Men. Meanwhile characters such as Rachael Summers/Phoenix II (also, Generation X's fate requires a bit of detective work to piece together) that have been along for a number of years who were and are still relevant to the overall on going story were heavily marginalized or given only a third or quarter of a page. There are quite a few characters (and teams) left out all together, even ones that were previously headliners (ex-Deadpool, who at least gets a foot note in the Fantastic Four's guide; and none of Excalibur's foes are included).

Yet another failing is in the entries themselves. There is little correlation between what is written from one entry to the next (ex- Mystique appears a lot in the book yet her entry cuts off with out any recent information, but other entries allude to the fact that she has died, but she apparently had not), or the entries only cover the basics without telling anything about the actual history of the character as seen in the comics (ex-Nightcrawler's entry makes no mention of Excalibur). Finally, the entries for some of the teams seem to go out of their way to be as vague as possible, and groups such as the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the Hellfire Club, which both have had many complex incarnations, do not include much detailed information to sort any of this out.

Oh, and the Index in the back lists incorrect page numbers quite a bit also.

-Why one should buy it: The X-Men have a pantheon of characters that almost dwarfs that of Greek mythology. No matter how long you have been reading the book, you WILL eventually stumble across some one and ask you self, "who the heck is this and why do they seem so familiar?" This is why the X-Men Encyclopedia is necessary. Also, anyone who likes to make the mutants subjects of their artwork, there is not any other resource better for a variety of every style and artists, from the sublime to just plain goofy, that has graced the pages of the X-Men, etc..

-Why one should NOT buy it: If you are only buying this to get a full history of the X-Men without purchasing every graphic novel ever printed, or if you are an old fan returning after a long period away from the X-universe, this book will not only lack any helpful information in that regard, it will only make you angry at re-writing past events. It is intentionally vague and provides very little history of the X-Men, but at the same time gives ample space to mostly irrelevant characters (the X-Statics) and entries present conflicting or partial information at times. In essence, it will only get you up to snuff on what happened in 2002-2003, more or less. As I said before, this short-sighted focus actually made the book horribly dated only a few months after it was published.

I'll cut to the chase and say that while I really liked this book, there are a few criticisms.

In many ways its too concentrated on the present in that it glosses over some important story arcs of the past because there present impact is minimal. Likewise, some characters that were once rather important but haven't been around in a while get short entries, while others that have been around for only a short time, yet are currently featured in the books, get a full write-up. But then, this book is designed for new or returning readers to get an overview of the characters, so I can see why they went with that choice.

The other thing the book can use is a timeline theat plots out major events and storyacrs. One could more easily see how the individual character entries weave together that way.

I also feel as though the formerly existant other teams should have been mentioned a little more. I understand that it was at least in part due to legal reasons, as Rob Liefeld claimed ownership of certain names like X-Force and Cable (hence he's always refered to as Nathan Summers). And while it could be argued that their existance watered down the original by not being different enough(unlike the utterly unserious X-Statics), a little more on those teams would have been nice.

I followed the X-men back in the early 90s, but got lost with all these new characters and series like X-Men Revolution and X-Corporation, so I got this book. Now I have a firm knowledge of the X-Men. The book is not very long, about a little over 200 pages. With all the characters in the X-Men franchise it should be bigger and more in depth. The popular characters from the cartoon in the early 90s are pretty covered with about 3 pages each for like Magneto, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Wolverine, etc. A few other supporting casts like Mr. Sinister, Callisto, Apocalypse, etc. have a page dedicated to them. 75% of the characters have ¼, 1/3, ½ of a page description.

Each character has a chart of the intelligence, strength, speed, durability, energy projection, and fighting skill. They also have a description of their real name, first comic appearance, Height, weight, eye and hair color. There is no order where they are place in any chorological order, but more of the hierarchy in popularity and different division they are associated with. The author(s) does a good job of summarizing the characters and cross referencing them to each other.

What is lacking is the art work. Each character has one picture per character, except for the 3-pages characters. Every photo is a snap shot from the comic and some of the lesser characters aren't very detail. The qualities from page to page are different with mixture of good and mostly bad artwork, unlike some of the nicer drawn Marvel's comic book. Not too much extra except for an axon drawing of the Prof X's school and small four pagers on Ultimate X-Men.

Since, I am not a die-hard I do not know who is missing from the X-Men's List, but could list who are: X-Men, Acolytes, Alpha Flight, Brotherhood of Evil Mutant, Exiles, Hellfire, Hellions, Marauders, Morlock, New Mutants, Reaver, Savage Land Mutants, Shi'ar and Imperial Guard, Starjammers, Weapon X, X-corp, X-Static, and Cerebra Files (mention Apocalypse, Arcade, BT Cassidy, etc.)

This could be a five star is it was longer and had better artworks.

This book is NOT worth $30+ !! Been reading since the 70's and this is another attempt at slapping an X on something and calling it ice cream. Character bio's were glossed over in favor of awful artwork (for some) and some bio's were innacurate or just wrong on the facts. More time and energy should have been spent on research instead of the "ooooh-ahhh" factor. I only had the misfortune of paying $1.99 for this stinker as part of a online comic order. I paid too much even then. What I Would recommend is either the 40 years of X-men dvd set - can't go wrong there, or, wait til the end of the year as the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 2006 will be finished and Marvel just LOVES reprinting! You can bet that this will be reprinted in a trade. It appears that they will be doing individual bio's of all team members in one issue ( or maybe two, lotsa mutants lol) But the info is MUCH more accurate and you'll probably save ALOT more money than you would if you bought this "book". I was forced to give this 1 star as there were no negative stars from which to choose. This would be a black hole on the star scale!

This book is great for anyone who knows nothing about X men to learn alittle somethin'. However, if you are already a deticated fan you probably won't find anything new in this book. But then again, I fancy myself quite the fan and I purchased it as well as the rest of the Marvel encyclopedia's and found they really aren't that bad as a group.

I went through the book and discovered that it was a great source for those who are new to the X-Men world. The book briefly goes over most of the related X-Men characters, giving the newly initiated a great starting point/introduction. Unfortunately, for those who're long time fans, some of the descriptions are too brief and almost misleading...ie. The bio on Colossus list his powers as being able to turn his skin into organic metal, but no mention that he has other abilities like extreme super strength. If you read through his bio, there is a brief mention of his super strength, but you'd think if they went to the trouble of listing the various abilities of other characters, you'd think the publishers would be willing to make a second listing (yes, they only listed just one ability for him) to mention his most obvious ability, his super strength, if not his limited invulnerability. Maybe I'm being too picky since I've been following the X-Men since the 1970s, but considering some of the characters who were the major players during the height of the X-Men popularity during the 1980s, one would think they'd be given a bit more coverage, if not more accurate information on them.

I REALLY do feel that this a book for any xmen fan simply because it lets you know just about everything anybody would want to know about the xmen. there are full character bios that tell about the way they came into the x-universe. there are also extensive information about all the different teams and also all the enemies that the xmen and their team branches fight. there are nifty little guides that tell where each person lies with the regards to energy projection and intelligence etc. it also lists many obscure characters that have graced the pages and any reader will also be reminded of characters they may have forgotten about. i highly recommend this encyclopedia for anyone wishing to have a better knowledge about what makes up one of the greatest comic book universes ever conceived.

The Facts: On 240 interior pages, Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 2: X-Men gives you the skinny on approximately 400 X-Men, villains and allies. The characters are not listed alphabetically throughout the book, but are grouped in several categories, beginning with "X-Men," then running alphabetically from "Acolytes" to "X-Statix," and culminating in the "Cerebra Files," which deal with non-affiliated characters. While one or two pages each are dedicated to the major characters, less relevant players have to share their page with up to three of their fellow second- or third-stringers. Accordingly, the length of the profiles ranges from two pages to zilch, depending on whether you're reading up on Wolverine or No-Girl. Further included in each character listing are boxes indicating the characters' "power ratings" on a scale from one to seven (whose significance is explained in detail on a page in the back of the volume), as well as the characters' "Real Name," "First Appearance," "Height" and "Weight," and a short description of their "Powers/ Weapons." Additionally, the Encyclopedia contains tech specs of the X-Mansion and the Blackbird, an introduction by Joe Quesada, an "Essential Reading" list, and an "Index" that lists all characters in alphabetical order, and tells you what pages you can find them on.

Through all this, the layout looks fairly professional, clear and inviting, which is a definite plus.

Turning to quality, the book is a bit of a mixed bag. There aren't too many typos or punctuation errors, and the occasionally somewhat clumsy and overly contrived prose can probably be excused by the particular complexity of some characters' histories. (From the Apocalypse biography: "After centuries of plotting, planning, and waiting, Apocalypse put his master plan into action when he gathered together twelve mutants who had long been destined to usher in a new golden era for mutantkind. Apocalypse intended to use them to boost his powers and alter reality to his liking. But his plans went awry when the Twelve broke free, and Apocalypse attempted to use X-Man as a new host body to replace his own, which he had nearly burnt out.")

What's more distracting, however, is the lack of a consistent writing style in some places. While the biographies read rather well as long as things stay matter-of-factly and focus on getting information to the reader, there are several instances when they suddenly switch to sledgehammer melodrama, which, unfortunately, doesn't work quite as well. According to the Marauders section, "Where there is killing, where there is chaos, where there is mayhem, there is always something else: Marauders." Further, it tells us, "They embody the deadly combination of sycophant and killer," and that, "In the absence of goodness and mercy there are Marauders." This smacks of bad fan-fiction, frankly. In the Hellions profile, we learn that "The dead survive only as memories now -- terrible ghosts of an idea too awful to come to fruition. And the living are left to bear the legacy of all the young who died too soon." Yeuch. Too awful to come to fruition, indeed.

With regard to accuracy, the Encyclopedia does a respectable job. There are a number of minor mistakes, but nothing too significant. An exception to this is the Acolytes profile, whose account of the group's history, as well as the histories and capabilities of some of its members, barely resembles the actual stories. Since the Acolytes haven't appeared for a while now, though, and are rather unlikely to pop up anytime soon, this is hardly earth-shaking, either.

The profiles, generally, are limited to the essential parts of the characters' histories, which certainly makes sense. In some places, one might argue that the priorities are a bit out of order; there are biographies for the Marauders and the Hellions, groups that haven't appeared in ages, while on the other hand there is no feature on Genosha, which would have been relevant to the current Morrison run. The Rachel Summers biography refers to Rachel's stint as Mother Askani, which was effectively "removed" from continuity, but neglects to mention that she has since returned to the present-day Marvel Universe; the Hellfire Club section ignores the Inner Circle's most recent "Kings," Blackheart and Daimon Hellstrom; and -- for better or worse -- the Dark Beast retcon is ignored, with regard to the Morlocks. Apart from these, there are no major omissions, though.

In order to streamline things and prevent confusion, the terms "X-Factor," "Cable" and "X-Force" are widely avoided and substituted by "government-sponsored team of mutants," "Nathan Summers" and "mutant strike force founded by Nathan Summers," respectively. Fair enough. What's weird is that the characters from Geoff Johns' "Elseworlds" Morlocks series are lumped in with the Marvel Universe Morlocks.

My overall impression of the book, all told, is fairly favorable, in spite of the bugs. The choice of characters is as ambitious as one could hope, allowing an unbiased look at all the major players in the comic's rich history. Whether they're representatives of the "classic" sixties and seventies, the "mysterious" and "edgy" eighties and nineties, or the current, colorful potpourri of retro and deconstructionist stories, if they played a major part somewhere, chances are you'll find them here. While the writing may not always be top-notch in terms of style and grace, the creators and editors are to be complimented for the rather well-balanced biographies, which most of the time pull it off to introduce the characters in a transparent and accessible way, without ignoring the organic complexity and interwoven structure that has become a hallmark of the X-Men and their world in the past forty years.

If you're looking for a competent, comprehensive, up-to-date guide to what's relevant and essential in the X-Men universe in 2003, you won't find anything better than this book.

(Copyright 2003: Marc-Oliver Frisch)