A bit of a change of pace - An invitation to ask for Marvel Handbook profiles

[icon_uk]

Whilst tidying up recently I found my set of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition lurking in a longbox, and got my mind thinking on this long weekend.

For those youngun's who don't remember the dark and dismal days before the steam-powered interwebs were fired up, this was a remarkable tome which was close to weaponised geek-juice for fans at the time.

For each major (and quite a few minor) character, there was; a commissioned portrait shot; images from the comics; as full a bio as was possible; a list of personal details, and perhaps most fun, a delightful pseudo-scientific attempt at explaining how their superpowers work in the "real world".

It was fun stuff



It seems apt to start with a simple example, and a favourite of mine.



Even then note how they have to point out that Doug's powers don't work in any logical fashion; he just KNOWS languages after exposure to them and couldn't explain HOW he knows them to a trained linguist, which would be incredibly frustrating I suspect...

Now s_d rules are quite clear, that a two page comic is the most that can be scanned. Treating each entry as a "comic story" seems fair. So some entries for the more popular characters take three pages, and will be either declined, or I might take out a small part of it. So if you ask for, say, Cyclops, then I might post the mechanics of Scott's visor that they came up with, or something along those lines. We'll see how it goes. I'll also post no more than a third of an issue, if we ever get far enough along that that's an issue.

Bear in mind that this series came out in the mid 1980's, so more recent characters won't be possible under the terms of this offer, so no Maggott (1997), heck, no Bishop (debuted 1991), but you could get Cybele of the Eternals!

So if this concept appeals, try asking and we'll see where this takes us! :)

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

Here's what I remember about OHOTMU: They tried their own way to explain some really confusing things. And they weren't always Silver Age stuf either.

Example One: Janet Van Dyne decided to marry Hank Pym after he shows up as Yellowjacket saying "I killed Hank Pym!" She did it because she was worried Hank would go even crazier if she didn't.

Example Two: Venom (in the 1989 update). The symbiote bonding with Eddie Brock drove the symbiote insane and also drove Eddie over the edge. Since then, certain stories make it clear Eddie wasn't that stable before bonding with the symbiote.

[pyynk]

I loved those books! Plus there were the cutaways of stuff like Xavier's Mansion, Avengers Mansion, and Four Freedoms Plaza that made it even more fantastic.

[donnblake]

Hmm. I'd be interested to see what the official stance on Kang was at the time.

[icon_uk]

There you go

[beyondthefringe]

Truly, there was a Golden Age when Marvel was issued its Handbooks and DC was putting out its Who's Whos, and they made for some gloriously obscure and illuminating reading. I was but a young comic fan at the time, and these series introduced me to hundreds of bizarre and unknown characters from before my time.

Even today, I'll read these old issues (thankfully collected in omnibus editions in recent years) and delight in the absolute nerd-depths of the stuff covered.

Marvel especially had some gloriously geeky mojo going with the in-depth technical explanations for things like Cyclops' visor, Hawkeye's arrows, Quinjets, Iron Man's armor, Mandarin's rings.... I forget exactly who did those. Eliot R. Brown, perhaps?

For a fun drinking game, go through the Books of the Dead and take a shot for everyone who's no longer dead. One for characters who were retconned into not being dead, two for characters who were brought back to life, three for anyone who's never come back in any form or fashion. :)

The third (Master) edition was a grave disappointment at the time, as that's when they discarded the idea of including bios and other interesting info and just went for listings of significant issues.

But hey, you can find the good stuff reprinted as Essentials!

[randyripoff]

For me, some of the best stuff was getting an idea of the strength level of various characters. This was when I first learned that Spider-Man could lift 10 tons(tonnes for my UK brethren), Ben Grimm could do 55 and both the Hulk and Thor could do 80--except when the Hulk was angry, at which point his actual strength level was unmeasurable.

Some of the other stuff was darned useful, because no one was laying out the powers and how they worked in the actual comics.

Some other stuff made you think much more carefully about how a particular character's powers worked and how they were limited by the imaginations of the people writing the stories. I think there were more than a few stories that were launched by OHOTMU entries.

[icon_uk]

Some of the hoops they jumped through were amazing, my favourite probably remains the Melter, when they tried to explain how he could have beams that would liquidise wood, but nothing else etc.

[dr_archeville]

I loved these!

Since someone mentioned it, and he is returning as a prominent foe, could you post The Mandarin (or at least his rings)?

Rocket Raccoon and Ultron would be nifty, too!

[icon_uk]

Well, I can give you two out of three

[magus_69]

Storm would be awesome.

[icon_uk]

As you wish, so mote it be

[magus_69]

Thank you!

[halloweenjack]

To me, Eliot R. Brown's schematics of various devices were always the money shots of the Handbook.

[icon_uk]

They are wonderful!

[jetblack927]

I always wondered if there was an entry for Cosmic Spider-Man...

[icon_uk]

That was in December 1989 so was too late for the first run, not sure if it was in time to be in any of the Updates. I'll see what I can find.

[jetblack927]

1989!?...Really?!, Okay, I feel so OLD now...I'm jus going to hobble to the nearest rocking chair and wait for death to claim me....

[mekare]

What a cool mutation! And I love the hug picture of them both here!