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The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is a definitive guide to the imaginary universe of Marvel Comics. At the time that the Handbook (henceforth referred to as OHOTMU) was published, Marvel had published thousands of comic books, featuring adventures by such pop culture icons as the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Hulk, Daredevil and others. In these comics, countless characters, groups of characters, locales and technologies had been introduced — so much so that it was felt that a comprehensive guide to it all was necessary.
The OHOTMU detailed the most significant things in the Marvel Universe, itemizing them into individual entries. Individual entries consisted, in most cases, of:
- A frontal full-body view of the character. These illustrations were drawn solely for the OHOTMU, often by the artist most closely associated with the character; for example, the entries for Elektra and Bullseye were illustrated by Frank Miller.
- Prose text describing the character's history, powers, and other abilities and unique traits, as well as 'statistics' such as place of birth, former aliases, height, weight, hair and eye color and so forth. In the Deluxe Edition, these descriptions were extremely comprehensive, and in a few cases included previously unrevealed information. In many cases, the character's history was the largest section — often even larger than the one where the character's superhuman powers were explained. In addition, major important pieces of equipment were given technical illustrations with breakdowns of their functions and features.
- Example pictures of the character in action, taken directly from the comics themselves.
In the original OHOTMU, characters were listed at one character per page, although minor characters were sometimes listed at two to a page and major characters would occasionally receive more than one page. In the Deluxe Edition, however, every character received at least one page; the most significant characters such as Captain America or Iron Man could receive up to 3-5 pages for their writeups; less important characters, such as Sunspot or Volcana, typically received one or two pages.
There have been many iterations of the OHOTMU concept since it was first launched in 1982:
- 1982-1984: a 15-issue series; this was the original OHOTMU. Issues 13 and 14 were the 'Book of the Dead and Disabled', featuring characters and groups who were, at the time, believed dead or inactive, and issue 15 was the 'Book of Weapons, Hardware, and Paraphernalia', featuring technical drawings of Iron Man's armor, Spider-Man's web-shooters and other notable characters' equipment. The back of each issue in the series featured a brief Appendix, giving one-line listings for minor and inactive characters.
- 1985-1988: a 20-issue series, updating the original into a Deluxe Edition (OHOTMUDE for short). The last five issues of this series were, again, the 'Book of the Dead', cataloguing characters that were believed dead at the time; the technical drawings from the original series' supplemental 'Book of Weapons' were reproduced and updated in the relevant characters' main entries or, in a few cases, receiving their own entries. The '85-'88 run (Deluxe Edition) has also been collected in trade paperback format, a series of 10 thicker volumes of 128 pages each. Although numerous entries reference an Appendix, the Deluxe Edition Appendix never materalized.
- 1989: the OHOTMU Update '89 was published, an 8-issue series. This series is notable for including numerous non-superhuman supporting characters, where previous runs had all but neglected them.
- 1990-1993: OHOTMU Master Edition was a 36 issue series in which each issue was actually a shrinkwrapped pack of loose-leaf pages each featuring a character; rather than offering prose information, concentrates more on trying to make up accurate statistics for characters. Each page offered a full profile of the character's body: front, side, and back.
- 2004-2005: Marvel has been releasing individual one-shot OHOTMUs that are targeting specific families of characters, beginning with Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: Spider-Man 2004. Other entries in this themed, subtitled series include X-Men 2004, Avengers 2004, Hulk 2004, Daredevil 2004, Wolverine 2004, Golden Age 2004, Women of Marvel 2005. One Handbook a month is planned through 2005. These releases are intended to supplement the line of Marvel Encyclopedias, each of which is also themed towards a specific Marvel "family", such as the Marvel Knights imprint.
The OHOTMUDE is the most familiar version of the OHOTMU to fans as it was distributed more widely and was of a more reasonable price than the OHOTMU Master Edition. Its trade paperback version is also the most durable OHOTMU available. Unfortunately, it is currently almost two decades out of date, the last issue having been released in 1988.
In addition to the Marvel Universe, Marvel published a number of handbook-style products for their licensed properties, among them Conan the Barbarian (The Official Handbook to the Conan Universe), G.I. Joe (G.I. Joe Order of Battle) and the Transformers (Transformers Universe).
DC Comics published a guide to their own DC Universe as well, under the name of Who's Who in the DC Universe.
Related articles
Bibliography of Official Handbook series
- Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe #1-15 (Marvel Comics, January 1982 - )
- #1: Abomination to Avengers Quinjet (Janary 1983)
- #2: Baron Mordo to Collective Man (February 1983)
- #3: Collector to Dracula (March 1983)
- #4: Dragon Man to Gypsy Moth (April 1983)
- #5: Hangman to Juggernaut (May 1983)
- #6: Kang to Man-Bull (June 1983)
- #7: Mandarin to Mystique (July 1983)
- #8: Namorita to Pyro (August 1983)
- #9: Quasar to She-Hulk (September 1983)
- #10: Sh'iar to Sub-Mariner (October 1983)
- #11: Subterraneans to Ursa Major (November 1983)
- #12: Valkyrie to Zzzax (December 1983)
- #13: Book of the Dead and Inactive: Air-Walker to Man-Wolf (February 1984)
- #14: Book of the Dead and Inactive: Marvel Boy to Zuras (March 1984)
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #1-20 (Marvel Comics, August 1985 - February 1988)
- #1: Abomination to Batroc's Brigade (December 1985)
- #2: Beast to Clea (January 1986)
- #3: Cloak to Doctor Octopus (February 1986)
- #4: Dr Strange to Galactus (March 1986)
- #5: Gardener to The Hulk (April 1986)
- #6: Human Torch to Ka-Zar (May 1986)
- #7: Khoryphos to Magneto (June 1986)
- #8: Magus to Mole Man (July 1986)
- #9: Molecule Man to Owl (August 1986)
- #10: Paladin to The Rhino (September 1986)
- #11: Richard Rider to Sidewinder (October 1986)
- #12: Sif to Sunspot (November 1986)
- #13: Super-Adaptoid to Umar (December 1986)
- #14: Unicorn to Wolverine (January 1987)
- #15: Wonder Man to Zzzax plus Alien Races (March 1987)
- #16: Book of the Dead: Air-Walker to Death-Stalker (June 1987)
- #17: Book of the Dead: Destiny to Hobgoblin (August 1987)
- #18: Book of the Dead: Hyperion to Nighthawk (October 1987)
- #19: Book of the Dead: Nuke to Obadiah Stane (December 1987)
- #20: Book of the Dead: Stick to Zuras (February 1988)
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Update '89 #1-8 (Marvel Comics, July 1989 - December 1989)
- #1: Adversary to Chameleon (July 1989)
- #2: Champion of the Universe to Ecstasy (August 1989)
- #3: Eon to Hulk (September 1989)
- #4: Human Torch to Mannikin (October 1989)
- #5: Marauders to Power Princess (November 1989)
- #6: Prowler to Serpent Society (Late November 1989)
- #7: Set to Tyrak (December 1989)
- #8: U-Man to Madelyne Pryor (Late December 1989)
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #1-#3 (Marvel Comics, December 1990-February 1991)
- #1: Anaconda, Blue Shield, Corsair, Counterweight, Dormammu, Foxfire, Gorgon, Agatha Harkness, Juggernaut, Llyra, Midnight Sun, Modam, Moon Boy, Nebulon, Oneg, Puck, Ronan the Accuser, Spider-Man, Starfox, Stranger, Trickshot, Typhoid Mary, Watchdogs, and Zuras (December 1990)
- #2: Awesome Android, Ulysses Bloodstone, Captain America, Destiny, Doctor Octopus, Eel, Forge, Grey Gargoyle, Howard the Duck, Isaac, Kubik, Leader, Moonstone, Mother Night, Nitro, Orka, Plantman, Quicksilver, Rock Python, Scorpio, Triton, Volcana, and Water Wizard (January 1991)
- #3: AIM, Baron Mordo, Big Bertha, Cable, Diamondback II, Electro, Firelord, Gargantua, Ghost Rider VI, Heimdall, Ka-Zar, Man-Ape, Mister Fantastic, Morgan Le Fey, Porcupine, Razorback, Shocker, Sunder, Thunderbird, Venus, Whizzer, Wrecker, and Zaran (February 1991)
- #4: Apocalypse, Baron Zemo II, Blastarr, Carrion, Devastator, Executioner, Grim Reaper, Hammer, King Cobra, Living Mummy, Madame Web, Malekith the Accursed, Minerva, Mister Jip, Nikki, Puppet Master, Red Raven, Shadowcat, Shape, Texas Twister, U-Man, Vector, Wolverine, Ziran (March 1991)
- #5: Abomination, Blizzard, Boomerang, Captain Marvel, Crimson Dynamo V, Dagger, Doctor Malus, Eternity, Fandral, Guardian II, In-Betweener, Knick Knack, Magma, Man-Thing, Mesmero, Nighthawk, Owl, Punisher, Quasimodo, Sleeper, Speed Demon, Titania II, Vulture, Wizard (April 1991)
- #6: Astronomer, Bullseye, Cannonball, Copperhead III, Darkoth, Fixer, Gatecrasher, Hela, Hobgoblin II-III, Hobgoblin IV, Immortus, Leir, Mirage, Mister Sinister, Mordred, Nomad III, One Above All, Professor Power, Rintrah, She Hulk, Starlight, Thin Man, Ursa Major, Vertigo II, Whirlwind (May 1991)
- #9: Air-Walker, Black Panther, Chameleon, Doc Samson, Ego, Firebird, Gremlin II, Hyperion, Isis, Lightspeed, Machinesmith, Moon Knight, Overmind, Phantom Eagle, Rocket Raccoon, Scarlet Witch, Silver Dagger, Skids, Taskmaster, Vidar, Colleen Wing, Xemnu the Titan
- #10: Ajak, Black Talon, Blob, Captain Britain, Constrictor, Grandmaster, Hercules, Jigsaw, Misty Knight, Llan the Sorcerer, Mad Thinker, N'Astirh, Odin, Poundcakes, Red Ghost, Siryn, Thanos, Umar, Venom, Wong, X-Ray
- #11: Ares, Balor, Cloak, Crucible, Death Adder, Gilgamesh, Hydro-Man, Impossible Man, Jocasta, Kronos, Lupo, Madrox the Multiple Man, Master Order, Nezarr, Power Princess, Rocket Racer, Spider-Woman II, Storm, Tana Nile, Tinkerer, Vanguard, White Tiger, Yellow Claw
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