The DC Comics Encyclopedia
with entries by Scott Beatty, Robert Greenberger,
Phil Jiminez, and Dan Wallace
published by DK Ltd., 352 pgs., $40.00
DK has published yet another volume reference
guide. Past editions usually referred to one
subject (JLA, X-Men), or one character (Batman,
Catwoman, Wonder Woman, etc.). The DC Comics
Encyclopedia is their largest undertaking to date.
The book has caused some controversy and
criticism, and deservedly so, on comics message
boards regarding some entries prematurely
revealing the death of a character in a current
storyline. Fans speculated whether the book would
ultimately be correct regarding the death; and as
of this writing, the death in question has since
occurred in the comics. [Writer's note: For the
sake of not spoiling it for anyone who has yet to
read it, I will not reveal the character who
dies.] Others were upset for essentially ruining
the climax of the story.
I can see the book editors' dilemma. On the one
hand, you want the book to be correct and up to
date as possible; on the other, you risk of
leaking details of stories in progress. Could the
release date of this edition been held, or did
anyone care? I don't know.
The book contains over 1,000 entries and separate
pieces regarding vehicles, weapons, bases, alien
races, great team-ups, romantic moments, great
battles and strange times and places.
Since it's an overwhelming amount of facts and
details to be culled, it's obvious that no one
individual took such a task compiling data and
writing entries; rather, it was a team effort.
That led to one of my quibbles, regarding
character first appearances, specifically. One of
the writers included both the first historical
appearance and the post-Crisis first appearance.
However in the case of ... say, Bizarro ... his
first appearance is listed as "Man of Steel #5"
and there's no mention of Superboy #68 v.1, his
first historical appearance.
Also, it was interesting to see what character(s)
rated to get an entry and which didn't. For
example, there's entries on some of the women of
Batman such as Vesper Fairchild, Sasha Bordeaux
and Silver St. Cloud; but there's no entry for the
popular villain Hush, though he's mentioned in
other character's entries.
Other tidbits that struck me ...
- They DID get the first appearance of Sgt. Harvey
Bullock correct (Detective Comics #441). Previous
"Who's Who" volumes had erroneously cited a
different comic.
- Though "H-E-R-O" has been out for over two
years, it's current events is glossed over in one
sentence. Instead, the "Dial 'H' for Hero" entry
mentions more about Chris King and Vicki Grant,
not Robby Reed, the one who found the H-dial
first. Further, I thought it's first historical
appearance in House of Mystery should have been
mentioned, NOT the title (Legion of Super-Heroes
#272) cited.
- John Byrne is currently retconning Doom Patrol
(which has gone through a few incarnations
already). The Doom Patrol entry here is
questionably now obsolete.
- The events of Batman: Death and the Maidens
(regarding Ra's al Ghul) are included; the current
events of Identity Crisis are not. The events of
Batman: War Games are only partially mentioned.
- DC's new Firestorm title has been out for 6
months, but it's the former Firestorm who's entry
is here. The fate of the first Firestorm is not
revealed in the book. The new Firestorm gets no
mention.
- In an on-going puzzle, what the middle initial
(W.) of Commissioner Gordon's name stands for has
still yet to be revealed.
- Lois Lane's middle name is Joanne.
- I had always thought the Bronze Tiger had
murdered Kathy (Batwoman) Kane. Here, the book
says that the Bronze Tiger was framed for the
murder.
- Previously, there had been TWO different Mad
Hatter's in DC continuity. In this book, only ONE
Mad Hatter is mentioned.
- The current whereabouts of Major Force is already
incorrect.
- The book does get the Metamorpho entry right by
mentioning his clone, Shift.
- I thought some of the Bat-villains got a bit of
the short-shrift. I would've liked to have seen
an entry for Dr. Tzin-Tzin.
- The current events regarding Orpheus are already
incorrect.
- There's even entries for Prez, Brother Power the
Geek, and Merry, girl of 1,000 gimmicks.
Perhaps I was a bit nitpicky, but longtime and
hardcore comics fans care about such trivial
details. (Heck, this book IS trivia!) But the
book does get a lot of things right. I think the
book is at it's best summarizing story details of
DC's major characters. Instead of rereading long
story-arcs, and pulling comics from your boxes (or
searching for back issues), this book is a great
and essential recap in some of the more confusing
areas of DC lore and characters, notably Wonder
Woman or the Legion of Super-Heroes; short,
to-the-point, crisp, and not boring.
From my DC fan's eyes, I don't think any of art
accompanying the entries is original; that is, I
don't think anyone drew anything new for this.
However, there is a nice Alex Ross wraparound
cover that makes up for it.
This is a coffee table-like book for anyone with a
passing interest in DC Comics characters. If you
like the characters, you'll like this. If you
LOVE the characters, you'll love this.
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