COMIC SCHOOL W/ PROFESSOR MIKE - SESSION #1

COMIC SCHOOL w/PROFESSOR MIKE:  SESSION #1


Hey, hey hey, kids!  It's your guy, Professor Mike, ready to dish out some education on some of my favorite books, characters, and storylines from the world of comics.  For those of you who ride Old School...this is a re-introduction into your past, and for those of you on the youthful side of life---or unedcuated---take a seat at your desk, sit up, pay attention, and NO spitwads!  Class is NOW in session!

Today, we're going to take a trip back to the 80's and learn all about the work and effort that went into the series known as The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.  It's one of my favorite collections from those mighty people at Marvel Comics.  Today, we will learn the history of how the series got started, what went into it, and why I feel it's such an important series to know about (and have). 

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is one of the most important collections in the history of comics.  At the time of its premiere in 1982, neither major comics publisher had gone out of their way to catalog all the weird, wonderful, and super denizens that occupied their publishing empire.  DC Comics up to this point, had been around nearly 50 years, and had garnered A LOT of stories and histories with their characters.  Marvel, having been around for barely 20 years, didn't have as much history as the "Distinguished Competition" across town, but nonetheless decided to turn the comics world on its ear when they decided to go out on a limb, and take on this very arduous project.

Back in 1982, Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter got the idea in his head about detailing the various persons, places, and things that occupied Marvel's publishing line.  He conceived of the idea, like how they did stats on baseball cards.  He had originally called the idea the Marvel Super-Specifications Handbook (but believe me...what got used was MUCH better than THAT!).  He appointed Writer/Editor Mark Gruenwald to the project, tasking him with fleshing out the statistics and information on everyone in all the Marvel books.  Gruenwald then tapped writers Eliot R. Brown (who was also responsible as the artist/writer for all the weapons portions and entries within the books), Mike Carlin, and Peter Sanderson.  Gruenwald also got inker Josef Rubenstein on the book to ink all the character entries to give the book a solid feel, and really bring out the look of the characters from the various artists who worked on the project as well.  The covers for this series were originally pencilled by Ed Hannigan.  Each cover would feature the characters that were going to be covered in their particular volume, along with a letter on the front cover of the page, designating what part of the alphabet they were at in that particular issue.  Also, it would inform you who was the first entry in the book and who was the last.  Artist Al Milgrom had taken Shooter's original concept for the name, and appropriated it into the name we now know the series as.  

This book was going to be the equivalent of the Encyclopedia Britannica...but for the Marvel Universe instead.  This was the cover for the 1st issue of the original 1982 edition (or "Volume 1"):

As you can see, it's a beautifully penciled wraparound cover by artist Ed Hannigan, with usually one character drawn large enough to be represented as the prominent character featured in the issue.  You can see the letter of the alphabet represented on the cover, and letting you know who was featured in the book.  On the inside cover, you had the table of contents, that informed you of what character was featured on what page, and the artist who penciled the entry.  They'd give some information in a box on the inside cover, as well as credits of the individuals who contributed to the issue.  They had a $1 price tag on them, and they usually were 32 pages in length.  Another reason for the specialty price is because it was a specialty book, and there were no ads.  

This is what a "typical" entry looked like:

Notice that you get a "main pose" of the character.  You get an instant idea of what they're about.  Also, you notice that the typeface of the information is basic, nothing fancy, just simple and to-the-point.  It gets the information across.  You also have a picture of the character in action (normally a panel taken from an issue of whatever comic they appeared in).  In the information part, you get the character's particular statistics:  height, weight, eyes, hair, as well as real name, occupation, birthplace, group affiliation, and a brief origin.  The one thing that also stands out is the "First Appearance" stat, which informs you when the character first made its appearance in a Marvel comic.  Originally, the staff did their best to keep all entries to about 1 page.  However, with all the history they had acquired in their brief 20 year existence, it proved to be more difficult as the series went on.  Some entries HAD to be extended beyond 1 page, and in order to fit what they wanted into the books, often times, there were two entries a page, having to change the format to fit what they wanted to do, the print was smaller, and the characters were penciled smaller.  Some entries did not even have a picture of the character in action.  But nonetheless, the series ran for 20 issues between 1982-1984.  Here's another example of what I mean as the series went on:

 



With Spider-Man's entry here, you get two pages to cover all information about him that you needed.  You also see that his web-shooters were added to his entry, instead of in a separate book at the tail end of this series' run, which they did.  The origins were pretty much a general overview of the character, how and why they came to be, and any information up to the current time.  All in all, it was a terrific series, and a huge success for Marvel.  It was something that had never been done before.  Of course, it DID have its drawbacks.  Some crticized that there wasn't enough information given out, and it limited the writers.  Gruenwald responded by saying it was giving the most up to date information possible, and it was subject to change.  It wasn't a perfect system, but for what they were trying to accomplish, it hit the mark.  It gave the fans an amazing insight into the Marvel Universe---something comprehensive to go to.  But...if you know Marvel...they weren't going to rest on their laurels.


In 1985, The creators went back to work.  But, having learned from their experience the first time around, and taking suggestions from the readers, Marvel expanded on the original series with the 2nd volume entitled The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe:  Deluxe Edition.  This series expanded to 64 pages, was printed on better paper stock, and featured more categories than the previous series such as strength level (because many readers wanted to know WHO was the strongest), adding the weapons to that character's particular entry, thus having to save on devoting an entire issue just to weapons and paraphernalia, and relegated the "origin" category as to what issue that character's origin story was told, which sometimes coincided with their first appearance.  Instead of the "origin" category now devoted to giving a background on the character, they created a "history" category for such a thing.  Writers were allowed to stretch out with certain characters to properly tell their stories.  In other words...there was more space to be devoted to not just the main characters, but to the minor characters and things as well.  The format, for the most part, was fairly the same, although all character "poses" were now relegated into a box, which often times changed color from page to page to help them stand out.  The print wasn't shrunk to a small font, thus making it easier to read.  This also meant that the price went up to $1.50, but it was worth the price.  This is where I first got introduced to the series, having missed the original run.  To say the least...I was blown away.  I had NEVER seen anything like it.  Reading a new issue every month was just as exciting, if not MORESO, than the actual comics these characters and whatnot appeared in. My friends and I would comment on the artwork for the entries, read them over and over, and learn all about them.  It truly was a fun time to be a comics fan.  

The covers of the Deluxe Edition were also wraparound covers, that if you had opened them up end to end...they created a giant Marvel Universe poster.  Most of the series' covers were penciled by John Byrne, but Keith Pollard had taken over in the latter stages.  After the initial 15 issues that encompassed the main core of the Marvel Universe, issues 16-20 were devoted to the "Book of the Dead", collecting all those who had passed on in the Marvel Universe.  The covers looked like this:

This is what an entry had looked like, for the most part, in the Deluxe Edition:

You can see that the print is simple and to the point, no fancy logos or anything.  Several new panels showing the character in action.  The history of the characters were allowed to be more comprehensive (some characters' entries got to be as long as 5 pages!).  It was more expansive than the first,  Of course, there were ALWAYS going to be bugs in the system, and fans were quick to point out any discrepencies, which the editors were always glad to post in the front and back of the inside covers of the issue.  They also used the last half of issued 20 to devote to their Appendix...which was reserved for those people/places/things that weren't deemed big or important enough to garner a main entry in the series.  Again, Marvel set the comics world on its ear, and became the standard bearer for being the "comics encyclopedia".

The Deluxe Edition ran from 1985-1988.  It was an exhausting undertaking, but they had reason to be proud.  They'd take a little vacation....until 1989.

In 1989, they were back at it with Update '89, and this time around, it was only an 8 issue series, giving an update on a few characters who had gone major changes, but also introduced new characters, and finally gave SOME characters their due with an entry.  The design was still the same, for the most part, but some of the entries had a "full box" surrounding them, or a "small box" , or no box at all in the character profile.  All information remained the same.  The covers for this 8 issue series looked like this:

A different design.  Instead of the characters running in a direction (normally left to right on the cover), this edition featured the characters just standing there against a blank background.  

The entries looked a little like this, with the colored box varying in size from entry to entry.

After this initial series, Marvel decided to scale back, and create a new Marvel Universe that was a notebook style edition, where you could insert character "sheets" into a notebook style.  They were put on card stock, and gave a simplistic 3 poses to the characters on the front, and on the back, you got a bibliography of sorts.  Not extended history, just the general information, and a slew of issues that pointed out various points of interest in the character's history.  This was something I was NOT a fan of.  It took away from the specialness that was the first two editions, and felt like they were just trying to save time.  Or it could've been they were worn out on the project.  (I'd post pics of it, but nah---I just bypass this as not being the "real thing").

The series took some time off after the Master Edition I had just mentioned, and returned in 2004 with a set of special editions devoted to a specific character and their little "universe", or to a team.  They then decided to get re-devoted to the series with another edition in 2005.  By this time, comics had begun to be printed on a better quality of paper, which made the colors pop brighter.  Instead of a "stock image" that they had an artist render, they let the artist have a bit more freedom on an entry, thus giving it more depth and resonance for the entry.  They still provided the same information, as well as a picture of the character in action when possible.  But they also included a "power table" in the entry, much in the same way they were used on the back of their trading cards.  The covers looked something like this:

Entries had a different look...like this:  

And here:

Admittedly, the new style put a different colored bar at the top of the page, with the character's name written on it.  The general stats information was made smaller, with some categories taken out.  And you see for the Thor entry here, the power grid along with the rest of his stats and powers.  The character gets a picture that shows them in a more heroic stance, or with an instance of using their powers.  Also, instead of a table of contents at the beginning of the book on the inside cover, the artist's name is listed at the bottom of the page.  It's not as favorable to ME as far as a layout, but it's a lot closer to the original version than the pull out sheets.

It's been awhile since this edition was posted, and within the last 10 years, Marvel has produced The Marvel Encyclopedia, which is a tabletop book that gives a brief background of the Marvel Universe denizens, along with bigger pictures.  Some get more than one page, others don't.  Either way, it's the culmination of decades of hard work that go back to a crazy idea that was hatched in 1982.  

The original and Deluxe Editions are my favorite...along with Update '89.  They're great reads, and I recommend them to ANYONE looking to get a bigger, in depth idea of the Marvel Universe and it's 58 years of existence.  They can be found in collections at various comic shops everywhere.  They're great collectors' editions.  

So...that's class for now.  Here's your five question quiz for the day:

1.  What is Spider-Man's first appearance?

2.  How many tons can the Thing lift?

3.  Who were the original members of The Avengers?

4.  In the original origin and history of Tony Stark, where was he when he was hit by shrapnel in his heart?

5.  Who was responsible for the covers of the original edition of The Handbook?

Pencils down!  Leave me your answers in the comments below, and we'll see if you're right the next time!  Please subscribe to this page, and pass it along...I'd greatly appreciate it.

Next time:  We go over to the Distinguished Competition, and see what THEY were up to back in 1985....