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The past two or three years, Marvel has been going full tilt releasing handbooks or guides or whatever they're called for their characters, group around different themes or franchises. These books have been excellent, even better than their original handbooks from the eighties. In depth, anal-retentive histories on each entry.
DC has been putting out secret files for about ten years now, each based on a character or franchise, with a twelve or so page back-up story which usually relates to what is going on in the main book, another couple of two or three page stories and short bios of the characters. Really short bios. A paragraph or two at the most. Also with new half page pin-ups to go along with the bios.
Which ones do you prefer?
The only slight edge I can give the DC books are the new art and story, but the Marvel books blow them out of the water. Those Marvel books are perfect shitter or smoke-break material. Nothing like working out a huge log while trying to follow the history of Kang the Conqueror. My ass when numb on that one. I don't even notice the fact that all the Marvel art is actually cribbed form a book and not new.
I'm telling ya, those books are the best value every month at the comics store...
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I like the handbooks better with their power ratings and more detailed bios.
The Secret Origins books feel like $6 of pure filler.
Bow ties are coool.
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Marvel's. I expected DC's SF to be a better supplement to their respective main titles. They aren't. Marvel goes more in depth with theirs. Winner...oddly enough...Marvel.
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Yeah, they really help loosen up the old bowel movements...
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I like Marvel's better bios & DC throwing some new story. If they did a better job with the file end of things, DC would be better. Why so skimpy DC?
Anybody pick up that last Essential that did Marvel's first Handbook series? It's BW but nice to have all in one book!
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Quote:
rufusTfirefly said:
Nothing like working out a huge log while trying to follow the history of Kang the Conqueror.
Now you're talking!
I much prefer the Marvel books, purely for the obssessively researched character history.
S'funny, whilst reading the 'Werewolf by night' bio in the Horror book, interesting as it was, I knew it would be much more fun reading it then to actually read the actual comic appearences of Werewolf.
Again, agreed with the others - the only drawback is that Marvel hasn't commisioned new art for the main profile pic - they used to! This was the biggest travesty I felt with Marvel Encyclopedia HArd covers - no new art!
I don't much care for the Power charts - they seem to inconsistent and surely 10 would be a better number than seven!
Having said that, I am disappointed by the Powers description, it's not detailed enough - made so apparent by the recent Ultimate handbook, nothing much was revealed about these new characters!
DCs profiles are laughable.
Me No Rikey Rob, he's a banana queer!
I shit on Hogan!
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Yeah, the reason behind using the old art was just a money thing. They couldn't afford to publish the books if they paid for all new art, but could afford to do it if they cribbed their old stuff. I don't mind really. I still think it's worth the money...
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Marvel Handbooks have always been excellent, and as ROY says, brilliantly researched. They are one of the few story-less comic book publications, and yet you can sit and read over and over again.
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Quote:
rufusTfirefly said:
Yeah, the reason behind using the old art was just a money thing. They couldn't afford to publish the books if they paid for all new art, but could afford to do it if they cribbed their old stuff. I don't mind really. I still think it's worth the money...
I don't care, I wants new art! btw, don't buy the encyclopedias(badly researched and way too much filler) or the DK hardcovers(horrendous art) - complete sheet!
Thanks Dave.
Me No Rikey Rob, he's a banana queer!
I shit on Hogan!
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Any recommendations, or simply buy them all?
He fixes the cable?
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Buy 'em when you see 'em.
I did like the Book of the Dead, though (made me realise the big deal with Captain Marvel), and especially the Book of Weapons and Vehicles.
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I looked at the alternate universe one. That was neat.
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They've all been pretty neat so far, but the only one I didn't really dig was the Ultimate X-Men/Ultimates volume that came out last month, but only because neither series has had much of chance to really develop characters to the point that you read the entries and go "What the fuck were they thinking??!?!" That's the best part of reading some of these books. Try some of the X-Men handbooks if you wanna get a good laugh at some of the shit they came up with...
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