Books : Marvel Encyclopedia Volume 6: Fantastic Four HC (Fantastic Four)

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Rating:

- The Ultimate Gude for a Fantastic Fan
Well, I've bought three of the Marvel Encyclopedias released to date, the first volume (a general overview), the Spider-Man volume and this Fantastic Four volume.

I have to say, this volume is by far the best. It's similar in format to the Spider-Man one, but the Spider-Man volume didn't quite go into enough detail. That's understandable given the sheer number of Spider-Man comics published (one of the reasons I dread to think what the X-Men volume will be like!). However, the Fastastic Four one seems to get the information per entry/number of entries ratio right. Bar the odd niggle, I pretty much think this volume nails everything of interest to Fantastic Four fans.

Personally I think entries like Malice, The Cosmic Cube and Kang could have been bigger, but these are minor matters. Cramming the entire Fantastic Four canon into a single volume always was an impossible task, and each entry's importance is subjective anyway.

As well as the main body of the encyclopaedia, the book also includes a few essays on the Fantasic Four comics, the TV cartoon series and a look at various toys and action figures released over the years. The recent big screen Fox movie is mentioned, but never becomes the focus for these essays (Unlike the prominence of the films in the Spider-Man volume).

Finally, at the end of the main entries there's an appendix listing all of the Alternative Earths we've glimpsed in various Marvel comics... no just the Fantastic Four (but most are connected in someway to the foursome. The ill-judged Ultimate universe in included in this list. What's more, this appendix even has it's own appendix listing lesser examples. I must say, I found these pages to be the most enjoyable section of the book.

Like all of Marvel's new hardbacks the book has a handsome, unified design which really looks consistent with other volumes or Marvel titles. I have no hesitation in giving this book top marks.

Rating:

- A must-have for any FF or Marvel Sci-Fi fan! On a scale of 1 to 5 this is a 10!
By far the most exhaustive of the Marvel Encyclopedia Series. I can not imagine any person, place, thing or noteworthy event that ever even remotely dealt with the Fantastic Four (and to a lesser degree their supporting cast) to have been left out of this volume that flows with seemingly endless information.

-The Encyclopedia: Everything is in here. Everything! Did you know there is a Skrull resort planet where everything is a replica of Prohibition-era America? Worthless yet fun facts such as this abound in the FF Encyclopedia. Not only is the FF covered in excruciating detail, but so are the Sci-Fi and WWII-era remnant corners of Marvel, Silver Surfer, the 1st Human Torch, Thanos, Adam Warlock... the sheer amount of content in this book is astonishing, especially when one considers how the rest of the Marvel Encyclopedia series, Spiderman aside, is a bare-bones quick reference guide- this is the ONLY volume worthy of being called an "encyclopedia".

-Extras: The encyclopedia section is so massive that appendices had to be added, including foot-note characters and a quick guide of alternate realities! Also, the non-comics mediums of the FF are discussed in the beginning of the book (namely cartoons and action figures). The only confusing thing is that the FF Movie was just about to come out a few short weeks before the book was published but it has very little mention... perhaps Marvel did not want to prostitute this book to its marketing department as it did the X-Men Encyclopedia, for example.

If you are a fan of the Fantastic Four not only must you buy this, it's a shame you don't have it already! Also, if you are one of the handful of people who love the Silver Surfer and the small domain of Marvel science fiction the saints who put this together snuck in a good bit of stuff to appease you. Step on anyone who gets the way of you purchasing this book!

Rating:

- Everything you wanted to know about the Fantstic Four & more
The Fantastic Four Encyclopdia has a detailed synopsis of nearly every character the fantastic four has encounter as a group or sepretally. It has chararcters from the 60s all the way to new characters just recently created. It also has characters from the Human Torch's strange tales in the 60s and THe Thing's Marvel-Two-in-One. Yes this has it all and is a must bye for any Fantastic Four fan.

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