Rating: 
Summary: Better than expected, but...
Review: The number of entries in this collection is huge, basically making up almost all the characters in the X-men universe. The character considered the more important one gets more pages than the other (e.g. Cyclops, Wolverine, etc. get two pages while some get only one. Inactive characters get only like a fraction of a page. That is, in some pages, there is more than one character entry).I really don't like this idea since the inactive characters get less attention (like Rachel Summers) while excess characters (like the X-statix members) get one page per character. Just because a certain character is more active at present than the other it doesn't necessarily imply that he has played a more crucial role in the X-men continuity. I mean, I really doubt if an offshoot title like X-statix could have an impact on the Marvel universe greater than what Rachel has made. This could make people think that the characters with a longer bio are more significant than the other character that has a shorter one (which goes to show that a book that's updated doesn't always make it better than the older ones). And since the entries here are arranged by character names, you'll have a hard time figuring out the events that took place in the X-Men continuity. You won't know much about the Dark Phoenix Saga, X-Cutioner's Song, Phalanx, Brood Saga, Mutant Massacre, Siege Perilous, etc. because there are no individual entries for the major events. You have to gather pieces of information of these events from individual character entries. In my opinion, a better way of understanding the X-Men continuity is by understanding the storylines more so than the characters (i.e. knowing when a certain event occurred with respect to the other event (especially since X-Men continuity can be convoluted at times) as well as how the event occurred). Understanding the character would have to follow later. So what do I suggest?
1.Get Peter Sanderson's Ultimate X-men guidebook first. It's cheaper, more reader-friendly, and it will provide you with better understanding of the events in the Marvel Universe more than this book could ever do.
2.If you want more depth on character biography (since Peter Sanderson's book is more like a scrap book (in a good sense, that is)), get this book too, though I have to admit that the depth on the character bio of this book may not be enough for the extremely hardcore fans. Still, nothing beats the character bios in websites...
3.And while you're into Marvel guidebook shopping spree, you might as well get the Science of the X-Men book for the most entertaining science book there is right now. :D
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This book has its highs as well as its lows. While it covers most of the main characters and quite a few lesser known characters, there are some huge omissions. X-Force, X-Factor, and Excalibur are mentioned NOWHERE in this book. If a character was on one of those teams, the book skips over that part of his or her history. And while it nice that they include a lot of obscure morlocks (though most without any written description), obscure Acolytes, etc., more well known characters (but still a little obscure in their own right) like Strong Guy, Shard, D-Ken, Mondo, Master Mold, Game Master, Revanche, X-Treme, Red Lotus, The Nasty Boys, Silver Fox, Mutant Liberation Front, Jean Grey's makeshift X-men members, some members of the Starjammers, some members of X-Factor, some members of Excalibur, etc. are also omitted from the book. Instead of wasting 13 pages on X-Statix, they should have added more characters and expanded some bios.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: This book has its highs as well as its lows. While it covers most of the main characters and quite a few lesser known characters, there are some huge omissions. X-Force, X-Factor, and Excalibur are mentioned NOWHERE in this book. If a character was on one of those teams, the book skips over that part of his or her history. And while it nice that they include a lot of obscure morlocks (though most without any written description), obscure Acolytes, etc., more well known characters (but still a little obscure in their own right) like Strong Guy, Shard, D-Ken, Mondo, Master Mold, Game Master, Revanche, X-Treme, Red Lotus, The Nasty Boys, Silver Fox, Mutant Liberation Front, Jean Grey's makeshift X-men members, some members of the Starjammers, some members of X-Factor, some members of Excalibur, etc. are also omitted from the book. Instead of wasting 13 pages on X-Statix, they should have added more characters and expanded some bios.
Rating:
Summary: Better than I thought it would be.
Review: This book is superior to the Ultimate X-Men Guide, but has problems which make it incomplete. I appreciate the fact Marvel went out of their way to include most of the obscure characters in the X-Men universe (even though they left out Deadpool, which is ridiculous). There isn't a lot of information for most of them, but at least they're there. It's too bad they weren't able to produce better artwork for these characters, however. Most of it's below average. All the characters from the early '90s deserved Jim Lee depictions of them, perhaps his work from the first series X-Men cards. Others have mentioned the omissions of X-Force, X-Factor, and Cable, which are definite negatives. I could have forgiven that, but the real problem is the lavish attention X-Statix got. Several members of this dopey group got full page profiles, and their section goes on and on. Something like twelve pages all together. They deserved no more than two. So I would have given X-Men Encyclopedia four stars, but the X-Statix section and the omission of Deadpool bothers me. Three stars. By the way, how can this be volume 2 in Marvel's "Encyclopedia" series when it features identical artwork, as well as rehashes of the same stories for the majority of characters as volume 1! That is a rip-off. This book's recommended, but you should probably also pick up Ultimate X-Men Guide to fill in some of the missing parts.
Rating:
Summary: Almost everything
Review: This covers pretty much all the characters in the X titles, but there are quite a few that managed to escape the pages. As was previously stated, it doesnt go into any of the sagas, which is very important, most people dont just want to know who the characters are, they want to know what has happened to them. Im hopin that this isnt the last volume on the X Men that they do, that way they cover the stuff they left out.
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