Customer Reviews

X-Men Updated Edition: The Ultimate Guide

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Those who have been reading the X-Men for only a year or two will find this volume an inexpensive, visually-exciting way to connect into the 37 year history of the various X-Men series. For those who have been following the X-Men all along, this book will fall short of their expectations for completeness, depth, and accuracy about the various characters.

The visuals are the most interesting part of the book. Marvel opened up its archives to make it possible to have a wide choice of art. You can compare the various ways the key characters were drawn over time. The design of the book is not nearly as good as the art itself. Many pages have the feeling of a scrapbook done by an 8 year old. Some images are way too small. Some sketches are included for no apparent reason.

The book is also improved by many cutaways such as of Xavier's estate, Xavier's mansion, the Danger Room, and Magneto's bases. A number of maps help keep everything in proper perspective.

I also enjoyed the foreword by Stan Lee in which he explained how he made his initial decisions about the sources and types of the various super-hero powers, and how the title of the series was selected. The afterword by Chris Claremont was interesting as well, but more as a perspective on his personality than on the series itself. New fans will be amazed to read that the original X-Men were a flop commercially, even though they are the top series now.

The character profiles would have benefited from more development and a standard format. You can use either the Contents or the Index to locate a character you want to read up on.

A book with this much color art on this quality paper in hardcover would normally cost much more. If this book had had a cover price of $55, I would have graded it as a three star effort. Because the price is so reasonable, I graded the content up one star to four star status.

On the other hand, if the publishers had created this item at a $70 price point, but made it more complete, accurate, and attractive, I suspect that they would have had a runaway best seller. That opportunity remains for a future edition.

In the meantime, many X-Men collectors and fans will find this edition to be a useful one to have . . . unless you already have virtually all the comic books.

After renewing your friendship with the X-Men, I suggest that you think about the basic message of the series -- that differences are important, and become more valuable when combined in teams. What differences do you have which could become strengths when combined with the right team mates? What do you have to do differently to create this potential?

Look out for the best interests of all!

Ever since Giant-Sized X-Men #1 hit the stands back in 1975, the X-Men have gone on to become a comic and pop culture phenomena with no signs of slowing down. Toys, video games, TV Shows, and now three major Hollywood films have cemented the X-Men as still the reigning kings of the comic book universe. Adding to the mega-blitz of promotion is the newly revised and expanded edition of DK's X-Men, The Ultimate Guide now in its third edition, updated right through the latest feature film, "X-Men: The Last Stand".

The book begins by taking a decade -by-decade look at the team including its very inauspicious start in the 1960's. Stan Lee's introduction provides some insight on how the team and name was developed but in the early days it was a rough go. The book was near cancellation throughout the 60's, bolstered only by the now legendary issues drawn by Jim Steranko and Neal Adams. Bios of the major heroes and villains are including describing their powers and histories and their changing looks throughout the years. One of the most interesting features are the diagrams of Xavier's mansion and the danger room. An entire two page spread is dedicated to the Sentinels, showing the different series' of the robotic villains.

The 1970's started the X-Men boom when writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum took over the title on issue #94. But it was the new team that excited fans, made up of various ethnic groups from all over the world: Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Banshee, Sunfire, Thunderbird, etc...The X-Men craze was on! This chapter again covers all of these new heroes as well as allies such as Alpha Flight, the Imperial Guard, and the Starjammers.

The 80's saw the X-Men continue to gain in popularity, becoming the best-selling comic title. Knowing they had a good thing Marvel decided more was better so this decade brought us X-Factor, The New Mutants, Alpha Flight, and Excalibur, as well as Wolverine getting his own solo title. The Ultimate Guide covers all of these spin-offs in great detail as well as even more new characters like Rogue, Mystique, Psylocke, Sabretooth, Dazzler, and Longshot.

By the 1990's the X-Men excess was at an all-time high. Marvel gave fans even more new group and solo titles such as X-Force, Generation X, Cable, Bishop, Gambit, and Deadpool. The guide concludes its look at the comics with the years 2000 - 2005 with such titles as Wolverine Origin and Ultimate X-Men series.

Finally the book covers the animated X-Men TV show (alas, no episode guide) and a look at all three of the feature films including pictures from X-Men: The Last Stand. While I am a long time fan, even I learned quite a few things from the book, particularly about the silver age period. It's very well-written, not the least bit fannish or self-promoting. The images in the book are fantastic and reprinted beautifully in this large, overs-sized hardcover edition. At $25 it's also a great deal, considering the book's quality. This is the Ultimate guide for any X-men fan!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This book attempts to be informative, but contains too much information that is too diffuse to be of much use to either new or older fans. There are out-and-out mistakes (for example, Magneto is Jewish (as has been demonstrated in the comics as well as the movie) not a gypsy; i.e. the alias "Erik Lehnsherr" was the name of his false gypsy identity). There are serious omissions, such as the story of Illyana Rasputin or Magik -- reduced to a few sentences that hardly describe the history of this character. Also, the book tends to present bits and pieces of information about one character in the biography or notes about another; for example, the section on Charles Xavier doesn't mention his father, or step-brother Juggernaut, but if one reads the biography of Juggernaut, one finds some of the missing pieces from the Charles Xavier biography. If a reader is using this book as a reference, it is a clumsy and imprecise reference. On the other hand, there are flashy pictures and dynamic layouts to offset the confusing editorial organization and inaccuracies. Future X-Men books should strive for a more simple, straightforward approach that accurately presents each character's most basic history, as well as give readers the spectacular art and schematics and colorful trivia.

I have to admit, this book is nice. The layout is good, the pictures are good, and it does cover a lot of basic information about the main characters in the X-Men series. Also, the drawings of the layout of Xavier's mansion, the Danger Room, and the Blackbird were very nice. But if you're more than a beginner and looking for in-depth info on the characters, you won't find it here. Somebody should write a reference book for those of us who already know how Wolverine got his adamantium skeleton or that Beast wasn't always furry!

This book is a must for anyone who ever read the X-men and saw the movie an wanted to learn more about the characters and history. True...it does have everything a die hard X-men ( Comic book) would want, but covers enough the story line and characters that it will not confuse the newer reader.

I'm sure the author and publisher struggled with the fact that they wanted a complete history of the X-men but also wanted the book to be affordable for the average consumer.

Yes, I fan of the X-men would pay $50-100 for a complete history, but would a young child? Would you Mom and Dad fork over $50 dollars when you were a kid for a comic book based book?

They also made the book very user friendly for people of all ages. The children in my life will be fasinated with the images in the book and its is my hope that this will prompt them to attempt to read the book.

I think they made a great comprise and created a Must have book for any X-men fan.

With a franchise as diversified like the X-Men, I don't think anyone can't create a guide to satisfy all fans, new or old. Personally I find this a very comprehensive introductory guide to the world of the X-Men. I particularly like the way they structured the guide - 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. with some information on the important sagas. If you're an old-time fan, you may find the book a bit too simple, but overall a credible effort which deserves a 4-star rating.

Ultimate X-men is the book for all X-Men fans! It contains info on pretty much every X-Man there is, as well as popular (and not so popular) villains as well. Along with it comes screenshots from the movie and how they made it. Also, for each X-Man (and villian) that starred in the movie, the book gives a description of what he/ she does in the movie! I truly reccommend this book to all X-men fans, and people who are just getting started to learn about the all popular X-Men.

This anthology of stories featuring Marvel's mutant heroes, the X-Men, was a mixed bag of tales. I felt a number of the stories, while starting out well, fell flat in the final pay off pages; they seemed more like excuses to have a few interesting scenes.

I'd recommend it only to the diehard X-Men fans. There are other better super-hero fiction anthologies out there.

First off I'm a HUGE X-men fan, so this book is great for newbies or someone whom has read the comics since they came out. The info in this book is very well explained. Such as the Ultimates and the original story lines are kept separate so there's no confusion. It's well written when explaining, characters backgrounds and history, the X-mansion layout, the layout of the jet (which I can't think of the name right now), and to name four things, the history of the comics themselves. As for the illustrations, BEAUTIFUL, showing many pics from the first comics with some of the new Ultimates and others. Also in this amazingly awesome guide, all THREE movies, and the animated show from the nineties (which I LOVED!!!!!!!). And you're going to have to buy it to see how truly wonderful this guide is.

As always, hope this helps you in, hopefully, purchasing this book. :P

I haven't read the book, but I can tell you this: I can't keep it on the shelf of our middle school library! I'm ordering two more copies.