Marvel Universe DeluxeFull title: The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition
Strengths: Extremely dense information. Multiple pages per character. Panels picked from the character's entire history. Neat gadget blueprints. It's not the Master Edition.
Weaknesses: Extremely dense information. Purely functional original character art. Not entirely inclusive.
I've attested to a love for DC's Who's Who, but Marvel Universe Deluxe comes real close. It's just not as re-readable as Who's Who is. Not unless you want to get through 66 pages of 8pt Arial a second time. Still, if you like details, MU gives you the exact tonnage any given character can bench press. Of course, this destroys all the best comic book debates, which all start with the words "Who would win a fight between...?" This issue actually includes an editorial on that subject, saying that on any given Sunday, even a member of Power Pack can beat the Hulk (example mine). That essay remains the only thing standing between us and the implosion of the comic book subculture as we know it.
While I always like to see the more obscure characters, MU's format kinda makes sure you'll get a lot of brighter lights in each issue. SIF to SUNSPOT includes Spider-Man, Storm, the Silver Surfer and the Sub-Mariner, but they still manage to slip in the entire Squadron Supreme, the Morlock Sunder, Kung Fu team Sons of the Tiger, and the Sin-Eater, who can shoot a chair to shreds like no other!
The gadgets featured are usually cool, like Spidey's web-shooters and Stilt-Man's legs, but I wonder about the necessity of including Peter Parker's camera, or this:
Gee, thanks for the detailed schematic of the Silver Surfer's groovy board, dudes!Character artwork is fairly stiff, no more than realistic standing shots with no background. There are some highlights, like anything by Walt Simonson (Sif) or Art Adams (Spiral). Some choices are inspired, like giving Speed Demon to Carmine Infantino, the artist best connected with the Silver Age Flash. Frank Miller's Space Phantom is pretty weird too. But while the original art is generally ordinary, you can always look at the greats from Marvel's past through a variety of reprinted and cleaned-up panels. Some of them are really cool, like this one by Jack Kirby:
Namor hits Iron Man so hard, the air EXPLODES! How great is that? I think Kirby gave other artists permission to draw Namor with exploding fists of fury:
There goes Hercules' freakin' HEAD!!! Of course, sometimes you just can't make a hero look cool no matter how hard you try:
Starfox fighting seaweed? Is that the best they could do? In any case, no matter what issue you pick up, it's chock full of cool stuff.
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