Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 4: Spider-Man HC (v. 4) [Hardcover]

Kit Kiefer (Author), Jonathan Couper-Smartt (Author)

Book Description

Series: Marvel Encyclopedia | Publication Date: November 17, 2003

Marvel's best-selling Encyclopedia series continues! This fully illustrated, comprehensive deluxe hardcover volume includes in-depth biographies, statistics, and essential reading lists for the world's most popular comic book hero, Spider-Man, and all his friends and foes like the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus and Mary Jane Watson! An essential Who's Who of the Spider-Man universe for fans new and old of all ages!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics; First edition. edition (November 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785113045
• ISBN-13: 978-0785113041
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Education & Reference > Encyclopedias > Pop Culture

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars (Mostly) Spectacular Spider-Man Factbase, August 24, 2004

By 

Brendan Collins (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 4: Spider-Man HC (v. 4) (Hardcover)

An informative read, this book contains a highly ambitious study of past characters/cross-overs in the Spider-Man realm from 1963 to 2002. The textual chapters, however, are written in a rather trite form, filled with annoying, smarmy pop-culture references seemingly aimed (and misfiring) at younger audiences. And yet, these chapters are mercifully brief, and not the real grabber for the book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read the review. I still recommend this 100%, May 13, 2006

By 

Mr. Reader (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 4: Spider-Man HC (v. 4) (Hardcover)

It' a shame, but I have decided to only give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's not a bad book by any means. In fact, considering what we could have gotten, it's an 'amazing' book. So I still recommend it for new or veteran spider-fans, however reading the rest of this review will reveal with a star was dropped.

The bulk of the book is made up of a comprehensive encylopedia, which covers most of the people, places and objects linked to Spider-Man over the past 40 years or so (It seems to end around 2002-2003ish). These are presented in a clear and readable style in alphabetical order with other entries clearly marked. I cannot fault the design of this section, like the Fantastic Four Encylopedia, it is instantly searchable, readable and colourful.

What I can fault however, is the content. No, its not a disaster. Far from it. But the page count requirements have obviously taken their toll on the length of a large percentage of the entries. The Fantastic Four book more or less got away with it's page count as for the most part it only have one comic to cover (but that volume does cover the Human Torch's time in Strange Tales, the Thing's in Marvel Two-In-One and Fantastic Force as well as numerous one-shots and mini-series). But compare that to Spider-Man who has had over his 40 year history and average of 3 or 4 titles a month published, in addition to various one-shots and specials. Simply put, although Kit Kiefer does miracles with his brief, it's not enough.

The main encylopedia has an addendum which lists entries which have smaller, more tenuous links to Spider-Man, with smaller entries and no pictures. This is a welcome addition.

In addition to this, the book also contains a number of text essays which focus on various toys, television series and, as one would expect, the big budget blockbuster movies.

Spider-Man is the public face of Marvel. This book is still a must-have purchase for anybody remotely interested in investigating Spider-Man's long and complex history. I just feel the character deserved more respect from Marvel, who could easily have upped the page count and delivered the ultimate Spider-Man reference book.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Great, February 21, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 4: Spider-Man HC (v. 4) (Hardcover)

As a Spider-Man fan, I loved this book. It has everything a Spider-Man fan needs to know. So I would give this a 5 star book. Read it!
Edward Park