An incredible wealth of information.
Creative Staff:
Matt Forbeck, Daniel Wallace
What They Say:
The most comprehensive single volume ever published on Marvel’s premier Super Hero team, Marvel’s The Avengers Encyclopedia is an expansive encyclopedia detailing the genesis of the team and its individual heroes and foes. Explore the origins and powers of more than 250 characters and 40 teams and lineups including fan-favorites such as Captain America and Black Widow.
Discover twenty of the most significant storylines in The Avengers’ history and see prominent characters, such as Iron Man and Thor, explored in impressive detail, with special features including a lineup of Iron Man’s many suits and all the characters who have wielded Thor’s hammer.
Structured in a fun and accessible way and packed with fantastic comic book art, Marvel’s The Avengers Encyclopedia is a must-have guide to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
DK Publishing has put out a number of massive tomes over the years for a wide range of subjects and they’re books that I look at regularly while in the store. They’re works that really come across in a great way with what they present, but having grown up with so much of it I tend to find that they don’t do too much for me personally because I’ve long been invested in these particular worlds. But when I saw the Avengers Encyclopedia, I had to really dig into this as a coffee table took that could easily be left out in my home for everyone else to check out. With my family being quite into the Marvel world though the movies and TV shows only, this proves to be a fantastic tome that lets you read in-depth about a lot of different things that may or may not impact those other worlds.
The 352-page book is broken out into seven different sections that cover different areas of the Avengers universe in Marvel.Each runs a varying length, with some being seventy pages while others are closer to forty or fifty. But each of them provides a wealth of material to really dig into that will expand beyond the basics while still making it wholly readable. And that’s an important part of this because while you can write to the hardcore fan, you also have to make it incredibly accessible to the new fan. And this means to both adults and kids. I can’t imagine getting something like this as a kid because it would just overwhelm me in a way and make me a hardcore fan because of all that it offers. Simply breezing through some of the characters reminded me of stories and origins I had loved and forgotten while others detailed stories that came after I drifted from comics for some time.
The Greatly Gifted section digs into characters that were born that way or gained it through various evolutions, forced and natural. This means kicking off with a big character like the Hulk but also working through older and (sadly) lesser known ones like Captain Mar-vell and Firestar. There are nods to several Spider-Man type characters and some good quirky ones as well, including Squirrel Girl, but also nods towards Star Brand, which delighted me. They character pieces vary in length, depth and pages based on importance, but it breaks down the basics well, showing off all sorts of key aspects of them and actually talking about it beyond the details. It’s not story mode, but it’s an engaging read.
The Upgraded section naturally works through the more inventive side and creative people that find ways to get involved. There are quite a few well-known characters here, from Iron Man to War Machine as well as Star-Lord, but it also gives some prominence to the Ant-Man family of characters in its first pages with Hank Pym, Wasp, and Scott Lang. Even Jarvis gets included here. There’s a lot of really good material here with the Ant-Man family of characters as they get a lot of attention after Iron Man and that works surprisingly well. There are a lot of self-made characters in this section and naturally that means smaller pieces overall, but each feels like they get some good material presented, from High Evolutionary to Stature.
Mystic Ways delves into the mystical obviously and it covers a really good range of characters of very different types. Interestingly, Scarlet Witch gets the most material here and toplines it, but there’s a lot that goes into her and it plays well visually. Her section is a bit longer than the next two follow-ups, which is surprising since that’s Doctor Strange and Black Panther, both of whom I thought should get more attention. I love that we get some decent time for Hellcat here as well as Red Wolf while also delving into some like Dormammu and Starhawk.
Never Surrender is your section that digs into those that are truly self-made in the physical sense where there are now powers and no major gadgetry in a way such as suits of armor that makes them who they are. This is your big Captain America type section, along with a lot of SHIELD types from Black Widow to Nick Fury and more. I like this section for giving us interesting ones like Baron Zemo and Taskmaster – long a favorite of mine – as well as digging into Ka-zar, Sharon Carter and even a spot for Phil Coulson alongside Maria Hill. It’s a spy-heavy section, but there are some neat additions to it.
More Than Mortal is all about those that are far more than human. These are your gods, your Inhumans and those that are of Earth but not quite human like Namor. Thor naturally gets the most attention here, but it also digs into the movie-iconic types such as Vision, Ultron, and Thanos as well as Loki. Thor’s varied history is well covered across the decades, including the new Thor from last year, which is matched with some great visuals across the board. I was definitely glad to see Jocasta get more than a mention here, two pages, in fact, since it often feels like she gets the short end of the stick. I also liked what we get for Namor since he’s such a longstanding character and deserves some true attention. The book also focuses on the new Ms. Marvel with two really great pages and ties to her mentor.
Shoulder to Shoulder is one of my favorite sections though as it really drives home the variety over the years. Across the forty or so pages that we get, it talks about the different incarnations of the team, the spin-off teams and the interactions with others. The Avengers primary is obviously the big one, but we get a good West Coast Avengers follow-up since that was the first spin-off series. It digs into a lot of different organizations, connections and newer pieces of the puzzle, from Teen Brigade to Force Works and even Pet Avengers. It even adds a nod to the new A-Force team from the new Secret Wars event. Because most of these teams are so variable there isn’t a firm membership list but most of the primaries are given a nod with each of them. The book also gets a really big bonus for talking about Squadron Supreme with a great two-page spread.
The Key Storylines section doesn’t get its own space per se but is rather spread throughout the book between the other sections. They tend to work in a chronological order for the most part and dig into the motivations, events and some of the timeline trajectories that exists within it. There are some really good bits covered throughout it though I would have wanted a bit of Secret War time from the original one since there were quite a few Avengers involved in there. The book covers the later events in a bit more detail, simply because the stories were more sprawling and complex than some of the earlier ones, and there are some good background aspects that are brought to light here. They make the stories accessible while explaining it while also leaving it in a way that should make you want to go and read some of them, which is important.
In Summary:
The Avengers Encyclopedia cannot be all-encompassing. It’s simply an impossibility. What it does though is to bring together a 350-page book in full color with an immense wealth of information and material in a form that’s engaging to read and dig through. It’s accessible in a quick way through the index in the back to find a character and their mentions so you can find their primary piece and some of their event inclusions. Each section is well thought out, the book as a whole is incredibly well laid out considering how much is here, and the quality of the packaging is top notch as it really feels worth its weight in that alone. It’s certainly not flawless and I’m sure die-hard fans can find plenty to pick over. My only real complaint is that I wish their data pieces included the character’s first appearance as well as their first time appearing with the Avengers. It would be interesting, I think, to see how long they were around before they were involved with the team. And to see who is newer and who has been around an age. Beyond that, though, this is an utterly fantastic resource, a fantastic coffee table book, and something that should delight new and old fans of the Marvel universe in general. Very highly recommended.
Grade: A
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By DK Publishing
Release Date: October 6th, 2015
MSRP: $40.00