Rating: 
Summary: 99% of This Information and Art on Marvel's Website
Review: ...The spine identifies this as "volume one" of what is supposed to be a comprehensive, total reference resource to Marvel comics. It's not even close. Instead of the first three or four letters of the alphabet, like a true encyclopedia, it's subdivided by COMIC. Then, in the X-men entry, it's subdivided into Hero/Villain. That could be overlooked if there was anything of value within the book, but there isn't. Most of the entries are copied almost word-for-word (mistakes included) from the Marvel website. To make matters worse, there is no cross-referencing between entries - but the hypertext links in blue from the website are STILL THERE - and some entries are so misfiled (Scarlet Witch, for example) that you might find her with a treasure map. The information contained in each entry lacks any real depth. Magneto's entry (one of the longest, almost three pages) is more artwork than text, and what little is embellished from the website mostly just repeats the same basic facts over and over. The book even ignores the recent "Origins" story for Wolverine - an effort to get people to buy another expensive hardcover, I suppose. The artwork comes either directly from the comics, or is Alex Ross' work reprinted. It doesn't really add anything to something that was advertised as an information resource. Volume One of an encyclopedia should have included entries on every Marvel character, organization, and major plotline in the letters A-E, in alphabetical order, with references to other characters, organizations, and events. It should have cited every fact with a comic reference. Then, it would have been worth the money. As it stands, this book is a [money] advertisement. Final Grade: F
Rating:
Summary: 99% of This Information and Art on Marvel's Website
Review: ... The spine identifies this as "volume one" of what is supposed to be a comprehensive, total reference resource to Marvel comics. It's not even close. Instead of the first three or four letters of the alphabet, like a true encyclopedia, it's subdivided by COMIC. Then, in the X-men entry, it's subdivided into Hero/Villain. That could be overlooked if there was anything of value within the book, but there isn't. Most of the entries are copied almost word-for-word (mistakes included) from the Marvel website. To make matters worse, there is no cross-referencing between entries - but the hypertext links in blue from the website are STILL THERE - and some entries are so misfiled (Scarlet Witch, for example) that you might find her with a treasure map. The information contained in each entry lacks any real depth. Magneto's entry (one of the longest, almost three pages) is more artwork than text, and what little is embellished from the website mostly just repeats the same basic facts over and over. The book even ignores the recent "Origins" story for Wolverine - an effort to get people to buy another expensive hardcover, I suppose. The artwork comes either directly from the comics, or is Alex Ross' work reprinted. It doesn't really add anything to something that was advertised as an information resource. Volume One of an encyclopedia should have included entries on every Marvel character, organization, and major plotline in the letters A-E, in alphabetical order, with references to other characters, organizations, and events. It should have cited every fact with a comic reference. Then, it would have been worth the money. As it stands, this book is a [money] advertisement. Final Grade: F
Rating: 
Summary: Not that bad
Review: After reading some of the really harsh reviews on this book, I feel I have to defend it. Yes , the lack of classic artwork is an abomination and I agree that many of the people writing Marvel now know less about the characters than a lot of us older fans but the book was still fun to read and informative to those of us who have not kept up . The Power Rankings was effective and for those of us that do not have thousands of dollars to spend on back issues, the Essential Reading is helpful.
The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe still rules but I sure do not want to have to wait through two more years of Devil Dinosaur and Paste Pot Pete entries to get to some great characters. But I'll tell you I have no idea what would make me buy Volume II.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Money
Review: Everyone already knows what Captain American, Hulk, and Wolverine have done in the comics. I thought this book would be an (almost) complete encyclopedia of marvel characters. Due to its small size I just figured it would provide brief descriptions of each character. It doesn't even cover all of the first x-men. And yes, everything was just cut-and-pasted from the marvel website. Don't judge a book by its attractive cover!
Rating:
Summary: WHERE IS THE GUIDE TO MARVEL UNIVERSE AT?
Review: I bought this under the false belief that this would be an awesome edition to my collection.
this is so full of errors those tech specs are soo off when it comesto strenght.. duribablity and fighting skill. and contradict what are tthe known superpower levels.
It's mainly Eye candy and not even that when it comes to artwork because it's artwork we've already seen before. The history background is VERY VERY breif and actually forgets some good points in character development. I'd say this is good foora kid but not a mature comic reader. If you want info and accurate info on character look for the guide tothe marvel universe set.. I'm sure you can get it on ebay.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad--for a [$$] advertisement for the current Marvel line
Review: I have to begin this review by stating how much I loved the Handbook to the Marvel Universe line of comic books from the 80's and 90's. For those of you who don't know, The Handbook, over several volumes and updates, gave background information on almost all of Marvel's characters. It gave detailed, specific information that would be any fanboy's dream. So needless to say, I was excited to hear that this book was coming out. I imagined that as a [$$] hardcover, it would be as comprehensive, if not more comprehensive that the Handbook line. Imagine my surprise when I opened this book. I think the first thing that threw me was the title. The Marvel Encyclopedia. To me an encyclopedia is a book that you go to find information on a topic that you do not know much about. The Handbook title would be more appropriate. Because this volume doesn't tell you anything that you don't know or couldn't find out by reading the latest issues. And the slant is on the modern characters, characters who are currently appearing in the books. For instance, Avengers entries are for members of the current team in the book. No past members who has had an impact on shaping the team. No Mantis, no Swordsman, and no Moondragon. All of this leads me to believe that this was intended as a means to promote the Marvel books currently on the market. If the book was exclusively marketed to non-comics readers for this purpose, fine. But this item was promoted heavily to the fan press too. But I would not recommend this book for the hardcore Marvel fan to buy. The book is not worth the price. For more bang for your buck, go for the DK guides to the various DC and Marvel characters. You can get two books for the price of this one and much more information on the topics covered.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent resource!
Review: I have to wonder whether some of the other reviewers read the same book I did. No, not everyone knows what Captain American, Hulk, and Wolverine have done in the comics. No, the entries weren't "just cut-and-pasted from the Marvel Web site". And I had to laugh at the obviously clueless person that said "many of the people writing Marvel now know less about the characters than a lot of us older fans"! This is an excellent, well-researched, visually-attractive, informative, and up-to-date guide to the Marvel Comics universe that will appeal to both new and long-time readers. Granted, it's nowhere near as in-depth as Marvel's older Encyclopedias, but it was never meant to be. Marvel are promising future editions and updates of the new Encyclopedia, so If you like Marvel's comics, movies, or TV shows, and want to know more about the characters, then get in on the ground floor with this great book!
Rating:
Summary: Marvel Rocks!
Review: I thought this book was great! The illustrations are cool and beautiful. It's a great example of Marvel's genius at character creation. Incredible!
Rating:
Summary: this is like a bad joke
Review: I was all excited that they were bringing back the Marvel Universe/DC Who's Who idea. But they haven't done anything of the kind. It's not very well written and is very badly organized, but thosde are hardly the biggest problems. The *many* omissions are thrown into even higher relief by several rather dubious inclusions. In fact, there's so little here (240 pages and it has less information than any two issues of either edition of the Marvel Universe series) that it's pointless to look at the omissions, just at what little inclusions there are. I don't know who this is aimed at; it's not informative enough for comic fans, it's too [$] and both too informative and not informative enough for non-fans. Equally problematic is that for a number of characters, the write-ups are all about recent-vintage redesigns that in several cases aren't even a part of Marvel Comics continuity, and in all cases have yet to prove they have the legs to warrant inclusion at the expense of longer-lasting, classic versions of the characters. And the sections on Ultimate Marvel and The Call Of Duty are just freaking *ads* for those comics. ... P>... Some of this art is good, some of it really isn't, and again they've elected to forget the classic versions of these characters in favor of retreads that may not last another year. Forget it. ...
Rating:
Summary: Nostalgic Types - DO NOT COME HERE!
Review: If I could have flipped through this before purchasing, I would have put it back on the shelf and spent my money on something else. Alas, it was covered with shrink-wrap, and the comic store conveniently didn't have a store copy for browsing. "If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas." Oh, well... I'm not a stereotypical "fanboy" of comics. I have read them since the early '70s, collected them since the early eighties, and I have a fair collection of special older comics (all of Byrne's X-Men, Miller's Daredevil, etc.). I just love comics (DC and Marvel), and this book is a total disappointment. If you are looking to waltz down memory lane, and be treated to artwork from Jack Kirby, John Romita, Sr., Steve Ditko, Frank Miller, John Byrne, you're looking at the wrong book. The focus here is on the current crop artists and their versions of the heroes many of us have come to love over the years. Newer characters are also depicted. If, however, a character you may remember from the past doesn't play a large part in the current Marvel Universe, you will not find them in this book (e.g. Moon Knight, Black Knight, Sunfire, Banshee, Polaris, etc.). Basically, this book sucks pretty badly. There is practically no "history" to be found in the book. There is more artwork to adorn the pages than there are words. AND to top it all off, the lazy slobs at Marvel already have the profiles of these characters thrown up on their busy website. Diehard comic fans like myself will feel terribly short-changed at this shallow piece of junk. I've come to expect that when the word "encyclopedia" is used, the work should be pretty exhaustive - for example, the Baseball Encylcopedia, The World Book Encylcpedia, etc. Of course, to be fair, this huge coaster/paperweight/doorstop is labled Vol. 1. This implies that there should at least be a Vol. 2, right? Maybe readers should give Marvel the benefit of the doubt and assume that this was intended to be a very brief overview of the current Marvel Universe, with no depth and practically ZERO historical treatment. NOT!!!! Save your money and read the profiles on the website if you really care to learn more about the current major players in Marvel's Universe. Works like this really frustrate me. Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada, and the other honchos at Marvel that oversee creative content should hang their heads in shame. Or, maybe I should hang my head in shame for falling for their "over-promise, under-deliver" marketing strategy. I've learned my lesson. I won't buy a Vol. 2 (if one is ever published) until I can flip through it at a store and judge it myself to see if it is worth the chunk of change Marvel wants for it. This rates ZERO stars.
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