[Spider-Man Character Encyclopedia] [By: Wallace, Daniel] [April, 2014]

by Daniel Wallace, Lisa Lanzarini (Illustrator)

Discover over 200 heroes and villains from the amazing Spider-Man universe. It's your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, and all his friends and foes in the Spider-Man Character Encyclopedia. Featuring profiles of over 200 allies and adversaries, plus fascinating facts about the Wall-Crawler himself. Created in full collaboration with Marvel Comics and packed with original comic book art, this scintillating guide to Spider-Man's world also offers interesting info written by Spider-Man expert, Daniel Wallace, from how each character interacts with Spider-Man to the powers each character possesses. Listed in alphabetical order, each character's profile is crammed with facts, stats, annotations, and exciting original artwork. Plus, get the inside scoop on the Spidey suit and the Webhead's alter-ego, Peter Parker. A fantastic book for Marvel fans everywhere. This hardback book has 208 pages and measures: 28 x 22.5 x 2cm.

Genres: Comics, Nonfiction, Reference

Hardcover

First published March 31, 2014

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is exactly what it says on the cover. At 200 pages long, it isn't comprehensive; Spidey's been around for a loooong time now and it wouldn't be possible to cover every character he's ever worked with or fought against in a book this size.

It doesn't do a terrible job, though; there are some pretty obscure characters in here, some of whom I'm pretty sure have only ever appeared in one issue.

The book is aimed at younger readers and the characters bios are definitely simplified. In fact, some of them have been simplified to the point where they're actually inaccurate and/or misleading.

The biggest oddity is that some characters have multiple entries. This seems a bit odd in a book that was clearly restricted space-wise.

This book's not a bad starter tome for a young Spidey fan but as they get older and more interested, they'll definitely crave more in-depth reference material. Back issues of the comicbooks themselves wouldn't be a bad place to expand their knowledge.

[Mole Mann]

Having thumbed through this years ago, I remember it being a somewhat decent introduction to Spider-Man's rogues gallery.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kind of going through a Spider-Man phase right now. So my husband brought this back from the library for me to look at. I thought I was just going to glance through it and be done, but I ended up reading the entire thing.
You should read this book if you want general background and bios of most spider-man characters (over 200). I liked that they had a "spidey status" that told you whether the character was an ally, neutral, or an enemy. It also had "web files" that gave power ratings in areas such as intelligence, strength and fighting skill. I enjoyed the pictures and it was an interesting read for a Spider-Man fan.

[Sand Dry · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much of my knowledge of the Spider-Man character and history has come from this book. It has all the information that you'd ever wish to know about Spider-Man, his different comic stories, the villains, the allies, the tools, the fun, and so much more! I don't know if there is a more updated version of this encyclopedia but this of defiantly worth it if you're a comic book fan

[Daleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting act about me: I have a small obsession with spiderman.
So obvs I loved this.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Asher (9yo) read. "Pretty cool. Learned about some new villains I didn't know about and a few allies as well. Cool pictures and powers."