Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #14 (Unicorn to Wolverine, Volume 2) (Vol 3) [Deluxe Edition] [Comic]

Mark Gruenwald (Author), Peter Sanderson (Author), John Byrne (Author), Bob Layton (Author), Eliot R. Brown (Illustrator), Dave Cockrum (Illustrator), John Romita (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 4 and up

How many rooms in the X-Mansion? What makes web-shooters work? Find out as Spider-Man and the X-Men join forces to highlight the third volume of this Guide to the Greats! Featuring full profiles on Rogue, Shadowcat, Storm, the White Queen, Wolverine and more! The Scarlet Witch, the Silver Surfer and so many more in glorious color! The secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D.! The schematics of the Sentinels! The story of Subterranea and the wonders of Wakanda! Plus: details on more than a hundred alien races! Collects Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - Deluxe Edition #15-20 (3 of 3).

Product Details

• Comic: 424 pages
• Publisher: Marvel; De Luxe edition edition (July 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785119361
• ISBN-13: 978-0785119364
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Final Chapter in a Unique Classic, September 26, 2006

By 

R. Hall "Dazed Genoshan" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #14 (Unicorn to Wolverine, Volume 2) (Vol 3) (Comic)

Note: The description for this volume provided by Marvel (on Amazon and the sites of other online book-sellers) is really a description of Vol. 2, not this, the 3rd volume. Also, this series origionally came out nearly 20 years ago, so it is quite dated, but still provides more info. than any other book of its sort, and based on the recent Marvel Encyclopedias (which I loved but were NOTHING next to the level of info. put into the Hand Book series), nothing like them will ever be seen again.

Never before nor hence has there ever been such an indepth, painfully detailed source book of information for Marvel Comics (or any other company for thart matter). The majority of this, the Third and final volume in the initial Delux edition of the Marvel Handbook, tome collects the "books of the dead" in the series, meaning the info here relates mostly to those Marvel characters who were considered dead and buried for good at the time they were written. However many of them have, as Marvel is prone to do, come back to life by one means or another, since the Hand Book was written. Also included is the Appendix of Alien Races, a fair handling of the alien races in the Marvel Universe seperate from the major three (Kree, Skrull and Shiar). Around 100 alien races are discussed.

The high-lights of the books of the dead are mostly of the Marvel Sci-Fi realm, such as Capt. Marvel (Mar-Vel), Thanos and Adam Warlock and crew. Other fun entries include losts of the old western characters, the Rawhide Kid included, who has recently been "outed"; mini-profiles of the surprisingly high number of Savag Land-unique races; and an extensive entry covering the Vampires as they are/were in the Marvel Universe.

Also, it is here that the X-Men and X-Factor etc... are covered in the few ramaining pages of the last issue (non-books of the dead that is) before going into the extensive Alien Races Appendix.

This volume, and the previous two (meaning those of the DELUX editions), are simply a must-have for any fans of Marvel in general, but this volume is a necessity for specifically those following the sci-fi and X-Men families. Also, if you read and loved the Earth X series, you simply can not pass this up.

I only have two small criticism:
1. This volume is much shorter than the previous two but still costs the same.
2. Through out the whole run of the series the appendix is referenced, but nowhere in this or the previous two volumes does the appendix ever manage to reach the point of covering the teams and characters demoted to it, instead the whole of it heavily focused on "alternate realities", and lots of space was used for the rambling of the creative teams behind this stellar gem of nerdom.

Yet neither of these petty complaints take away from the volume or series as a whole.

Enjoy!