Customer Reviews

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

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

 

 

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.

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.

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

At first, when i saw the cover of this book, i thought that it was a book suitable for a five year old but once i opened the book, I knew that i was wrong. This book was filled with facts about your friendly neighborhood spider-man and many of his allies and foes such as Venom, the Vulture, Dr. Octopus, The Lizard, and many many more. This book is great for all ages and is a great to read whenever you want. If you are a spider-man fan, you must buy this book.

It all started when my friend got this book. He let me borrow it and when I read it, it was great! It has a lot of information of what you need to know about the Marvel characters! I think it is the second best one of the Marvel Encyclopedia series! I like the main people, Venom, Hulk, Spiderman, and a few others you just have to read yourself! Thanks to my friend, I have finally wrote a review of a book about the Marvel Encyclopedia. Don't listen to other people that say it isn't a good book because it sure was! It had plenty more information than what other people say! It is a fun book to read and I reccomend it for all you Marvel fans!

Spider-man Marvel Encyclopedia: Is a great find for any Spider-Man or fan of comics. I was alittle afraid that it would be likke the last one
The Hulk Encyclopedia" so at frist I was scared to waste my money on it. But I was surpised and shocked how great the book is. It's far better than the last three. A must have for any fan!!!