New Marvel Encyclopedia for 2006 (DK publishing)

[rplass]

Alpha Flight makes a few appearances in the new DK Marvel Encyclopedia, with a full-page entry for the team (stopping around issue 6 of v.3) with this image (http://www.alphaflight.net/character_galleries/team/team_gallery4.jpg) and a few other entries for various pre-v.3 members. One awful gaffe is the image of Zuzha in place of the entry for Laura Dean/Pathway... ack! Also they didn't list Northstar nor Aurora as original team members and they mixed up the twins a bit in the index. Oh, well.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0756623588.01._AA180_SCLZZZZZZZ_V39351966_.jpg

The v.3 team members except for Sasquatch don't get individual entries. Vindicator, Guardian, Northstar, Aurora, Puck, Marrina, Sasquatch, Snowbird, Shaman, Talisman, Wild Child, Persuasion and Box all get their own entries, some larger than others. I might be forgetting some more and also my daughter kept trying to turn the pages while I was skimming it at the bookstore, so she may have made me miss a few. Oh, and the Dreamqueen made it in too, but not The Master.

There was some possibly new art for the Weapon X entry showing Aurora with red hair? Maybe someone can explain that... I can't.

Overall it is an amazing book because of its size and scope and it really does include so many characters and Alpha Flight makes a nice showing.

Love,
rplass

[Guardian]

Interestin'. And errors! I'm sooo surprised. :roll:

[Verletzt]

The new encyclopedia is horrible! Save your money. It is full or errors. Not just typos, but many pictoral errors too (like the one you mentioned). I also wonder who decided on the choices that went in there. There are tons of missing characters, and wasted space on other characters. For example, Thanos has a small corner page entry, while Flash Thompson gets a 1/2 page spread. :roll: Lots of examples of stuff like that.

I wonder if the book really had an editor. If it did, the editor knows nothing about Marvel comics. Read the OHOTMU instead.

[-K-M-]

Did the encyclopedia have stats or just bios?

[Phil]

There was some possibly new art for the Weapon X entry showing Aurora with red hair? Maybe someone can explain that... I can't.

I guarantee it'll be Marrow mislabeled. :wink:

[Canucklehead]

There was some possibly new art for the Weapon X entry showing Aurora with red hair? Maybe someone can explain that... I can't.

I guarantee it'll be Marrow mislabeled. :wink:

That's exaclty what I was thinking. 8)

[Verletzt]

Yeah, it's Marrow mislabeled. Surprise. :lol:

The worst mislabeling is the entry for the Soviet Super Soldiers. Half the characters are labeled “Unidentified”. The art is from the Soviet Super Soldiers Special. All they had to do was open the issue they got the art from and read! It’s things like that that make the book not worth the money. The DC Encyclopedia wasn’t perfect, but I don’t remember any picture errors. You can’t get two pages into the Marvel one without finding errors.

The stats listed are real name, occupation, base, height, weight, eyes, hair, first appearance. etc.

[-K-M-]

was there strength, intelligence, speed, etc. stats?

[Banshee]

I had considered purchasing, but with that many errors, I'll steer well clear of the book.

[cmdrkoenig67]

Thanks for the heads up on this book, folks.

Dana

[rplass]

Even though I started this thread, I never bought the book. I just flipped through it at the bookstore. Recently I saw a few copies, but they were either slightly damaged on the dust jacket, or warped from improper shelving, or damaged from public handling at a bookstore.

I always wanted a copy, and today I went to a local comic shop to check it out for Free Comic Book Day, one that I barely ever visit, and I found the Deluxe Limited Edition in shrink wrap! Here is a link:

http://www.amazon.com/Marvel-Encyclopedia-Limited-DK-Publishing/dp/075662472X

So I picked up a perfect, mint copy, and it is just what I wanted. It's very heavy. I can barely lift it. It is 6.7 lbs according to amazon, wow, that's more than what baby rplass weighed when she was born!

Amazon has it new for $275 :shock: , heck I paid less than the cover price ($100) for it, nyah nyah! :P Just wanted to share my happy story.

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

Well, a new "updated and expanded" encyclopedia is due out on Oct 5th. There will be two versions released, a regular one and a deluxe version. I'm likely to go for the deluxe version, as I've been in a deluxe mood for a while now. :)

Pops new window (http://us.dk.com/nf/Book/CoverImagePopup/0,,9780756655303,00.html) <<----- image of the regular version

Amazon is listing the deluxe version for $63 new with free shipping as a pre-order and the regular version for $26.40.

Hopefully they fixed the Alpha Flight related errors from the first edition of the book, we'll see!

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

I flipped through the "updated and expanded" version today, but didn't see many Alpha Flight related differences... didn't get very far, though:

The KEY KEY thing I was looking for was the correction of the wrong illustration in the Laura Dean entry. Sadly, no, they still show Puck instead. At that point, I put it back on the shelf and stopped checking it out. I'm taking a pass at this one. If I have time in the future I'll go back to the store and flip through it again to compare it to my notes on the 1st edition, but I'm doubtful there will be anything related to Alpha Flight that's so different from the 1st edition worth getting it for.

Love,
rplass

[rplass]

3420

DK published a 2014 version of the Encyclopedia which came out today, and I'm much happier with this version than any previous ones.

The KEY KEY thing I was looking for was the correction of the wrong illustration in the Laura Dean entry. Happily, yes! The error has been fixed. Yes, 8 years and now I'm happy. I'll go through some of the changes that I can discern from the last version I checked, which was the 2006 version:

The Alpha Flight entry still omits Aurora and Northstar as original Team members (???). The main illustration was changed from a v3-era image to a v4-era image. The text narrates to the end of v4.


Aurora, Box, Madison Jeffries, Dreamqueen, Guardian, Marrina, Northstar, Pathway, Persuasion, Puck, Sasquatch, Shaman, Snowbird, Talisman, Vindicator, Wild Child and Windshear still have entries, many with different illustrations and most with updates to the text where appropriate.

Note in the list above that Pathway entry. It's the corrected Laura Dean entry with a correct illustration!

The Puck entry now mentions Zuzha Yu and has the illustration formerly (and incorrectly) used on the Laura Dean entry.

New entry !! Master of the World has a new entry.

The Omega Flight entry, added in the 2009 version is also included, and is a full page, including various incarnations of the Omega Flight team, up to and including the recent Omega Flight team from Avengers #10 with Validator, Kingdom, Boxx and a Wendigo.

THIS version of the DK Encyclopedia I can finally recommend to Alpha Flight fans.

[Le Messor]

Hm... My version doesn't even have a Pathway entry.

~ Le Messor
"millihelen" - the amount of beauty required to launch a single ship."
~ Isaac Asimov

[Flightpath07]

The Omega Flight entry, added in the 2009 version is also included, and is a full page, including various incarnations of the Omega Flight team, up to and including the recent Omega Flight team from Avengers #10 with Validator, Kingdom, Boxx and a Wendigo.

Does it say anything of interest about this newest OF team? Any more info about who the members are, where they came from, etc?

[rplass]

It lists the members and says that Validator was the only surviving member after Regina, SK. Note that this DK book isn't canon so we can't use that as confirmation the other three died.

And Le Messor, the version you have is the 2009 version, which does not have the Pathway entry. It has a Laura Dean entry with an illustration of Puck (Zuzha Yu).

[Phil]

It lists the members and says that Validator was the only surviving member after Regina, SK. Note that this DK book isn't canon so we can't use that as confirmation the other three died.

I'd take #10 as confirmation personally.
It says the Boxx unit was 'Lost', we saw Wendigo getting pulled apart with the tagline 'Mission Failure' and Kingdom getting shot with the tagline 'Kingdom Prime Terminal'

After the end of #10, Validator is alone in #14 and mentioned singularly in Avengers World #1.

But hey - comics!

[Le Messor]

And Le Messor, the version you have is the 2009 version, which does not have the Pathway entry. It has a Laura Dean entry with an illustration of Puck (Zuzha Yu).

Hmm... You're half-right. It's got her under 'Dean, Laura', but that's her pictured. It's a Pat Broderick pic, I think, with Laura in the uniform BF wore at the time, and looking over-muscled and very, very buxom for a child. (It was the 90's.)
It's definitely not Puck II; the girlwoman in my encyclopaedia is black.

~ Le Messor
"Millwall! That's the one. Do you know this chant? 'Millwall, Millwall, you're all really dreadful, and all your girlfriends are unfulfilled and alienated..."
~ Bernard Black

[rplass]

OK that's good! DK must have re-printed the 2009 version with that correction. It's nice to know someone fixed it!

[Le Messor]

Yeah! And nicer to know my copy is fixed. :)
Also:
3437

That actually turned out better than I expected! (Very hard to line it up, and the pic is next to the margin in a hardcover.)

~ Le Messor
"Minister: "We need to take up the tax" Groucho: "I'd like to take up the carpet." Minister: "I still insist we take up the tax." Groucho: "He's right - you've gotta take up the tacks before you can take up the carpet."
~ Duck Soup

[rplass]

DK came out with another book today. It's Marvel Comics: 75 Years of Cover Art.

4458

It's huge. According to DK it's 320 pages, 9.88 x 13.38in, and it weighs a ton. Well, not really a ton but it's heavy.
Here's a link to the DK page: http://us.dk.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781465420404,00.html#

OK So is Alpha Flight in it? You bet! Here's what we got:

p98 Aurora on the cover of Alpha Flight v1 #3 w/a blurb in the Featured Artist section for John Byrne 1/9 page size


p146 Snowbird cover of UXM #139 in polar bear form 1/4 page size


That's the Bronze Age section. In the Modern Age 1986-present section:


p292 Puck cover of Wolverine #35 1/4 page size


p304 AoA Wild Child on cover of X-Men Alpha (non foil image - 1/2 page size because it's a wraparound cover)


p317 Puck cover of Uncanny X-Force #1 1/4 page size

The selection of covers in this book is a bit strange. I think it's more of an artist showcase than a 75 year journey through major comic books in the Marvel Universe. Consider it more like a curated presentation. For instance, the Wolverine #35 cover mentioned above, which really doesn't stand out as one of the best covers [even in that series!], was presented to show how Lady Deathstrike was portrayed by Marc Silvestri. It comes in a big slipcase and has 2 bonus prints. I recommend getting it if you like very large unwieldy books.

[Le Messor]

p98 Aurora on the cover of Alpha Flight v1 #3 w/a blurb in the Featured Artist section for John Byrne 1/9 page size

That is one classic cover!


I recommend getting it if you like very large unwieldy books.

I do! Great for hitting people!

~ Le Messor
"In filling out an application, where it says, "In case of emergency, notify..." I answered "a doctor.""