Marvel Absolutely Everything You Need To Know (A Madman Re-Read)

I've been re-cataloging my comic book collection into a new, hopefully more dependable database. It's been a lengthy, often times tedious, process. Going into my second year of working on this project, I've begun focusing on my graphic novels. That's how I came across this book for a re-read. (And yes, I know that this book is NOT a graphic novel.)

My first read was back in 2017. So a lot of the factoids I previously glossed over, had been essentially forgotten. Especially a lot of the more recent stuff. The more established lore of the heart and soul of the Marvel Universe, I pretty much know like the back of my hand. So I felt I'd benefit from a second glance at Absolutely Everything You Need To Know. True, this book is almost a decade old, published in 2016. That means there's a lot of material that's not even covered here like the coming of America Chavez, Spider-Gwen and Gwenpool. You will not learn about 'The Reckoning War', 'Extreme Carnage' or 'The Death of Doctor Strange.' Readers shouldn't even expect recent anthropomorphic fan favorites Alligator Loki and Jeff, the Land Shark here. 

DK did release an update. But that was in 2019! There's just too much newer stuff that won't be found in this book. If you're a newer reader of comics, you'll learn a lot about the foundation of Marvel Comics. If you're a more established reader looking to get caught up on what you've been missing in recent years, you are out of luck. And I would say that it's not just 2016-present that you will miss out of of you read this edition. I feel like the years 1995-2010 were just glossed over. Deadpool is barely even mentioned. Same goes for Blade, Ghost Rider and even your favorite team of mutants. Yes, the X-Men, arguably Marvel's most popular franchise, only get 4 pages out of over 250+ focused on their exploits. It really feels like the Avengers are the Star attractions of this book.

Avengers heavy exploits such as 'the Civil War,' 'the Age of Ultron' and 'Secret Invasion' are given a prominent place inside. Be glad the authors and editors included those episodes here. Without them, I don't think Wolverine or She-Hulk would even be mentioned in this book. I've not read the reissue of this book. But I'm hoping that instead of trying to revise the information in the first print, DK would have made the 2nd edition more of a compendium of overlooked characters and recent Marvel events. 

Also, despite this book focusing on alternate Earth's and timelines, you will not find anything on Marvel's impressive backlog of comics based on licensed franchises such as Star Wars, GI Joe or Transformers. 

Once again, my biggest peeve with this book was the format. I appreciate that they tried really hard to jam pack as much information and factoids into every 2-page feature. But I hated how they formatted it. Some paragraphs would be printed sideways. The data flow had no set pathway. Everything was so random, I'm pretty sure I missed something. 

Some 2-page spreads were entirely flipped on a 90 degree axis. Instead of reading about the history of Thor and Loki like you would hold a traditional book, their article was formatted in such a way that you had to read it like you were looking at a Playboy Playmate centerfold. I'm so very glad when I got to those segments of the book that my wife didn't assume that I was looking at some dirty pictures of the Invisible Woman or something. 

I enjoyed the read. Lots of knowledge to be gleaned. An amazing assortment of thrilling artwork from over 80 years of Marvel Comics history. Though trying to navigate it was like walking through a labyrinth without a map, a torch and assurance that the Minotaur isn't secretly about to pounce on you. I think it's time to pass this on to another reader. I just hope that the used bookstore that I am gonna trade this in at doesn't think that it's a reference book that is too out of date for readers.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.