Jayson’s Reviews > The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe > Status Update
Jayson
is starting
Notes:
(1) Yes, I am reading an encyclopedia.
(2) This is the 2018 update to the 2016 edition.
- I assume this means it was written without Rebirth in mind and subsequently updated with Rebirth art and inset Rebirth updates, which seems the case.
- That suits me fine. I'm just starting Rebirth now and any information past this edition I'll find out eventually in due course.
— Jan 03, 2024 05:30AM
Notes:
(1) Yes, I am reading an encyclopedia.
(2) This is the 2018 update to the 2016 edition.
- I assume this means it was written without Rebirth in mind and subsequently updated with Rebirth art and inset Rebirth updates, which seems the case.
- That suits me fine. I'm just starting Rebirth now and any information past this edition I'll find out eventually in due course.
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Jayson’s Previous Updates
Jayson
is on page 40 of 368
Notes:
(1) This lists Batman at 6'2" and 210 lbs. For some reason, I thought he was taller and heavier.
- I mean, Tim Drake, the next entry over, is listed at 6'0" and 198 lbs.
(2) It's explained how Beast Boy turned from red to green during the New 52 but not why, they only offer a guess.
- I appreciate it nonetheless. I'd never have thought the answer was in "Animal Man."
— Oct 13, 2024 02:00PM
Notes:
(1) This lists Batman at 6'2" and 210 lbs. For some reason, I thought he was taller and heavier.
- I mean, Tim Drake, the next entry over, is listed at 6'0" and 198 lbs.
(2) It's explained how Beast Boy turned from red to green during the New 52 but not why, they only offer a guess.
- I appreciate it nonetheless. I'd never have thought the answer was in "Animal Man."
Jayson
is on page 28 of 368
Notes:
(1) Apparently, Aquaman weighs in at 325lbs. Is that with or without the suit?
- I've never considered him particularly large or heavy, you know, given his swimmer's physique.
(2) Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi share the Atom entry.
- Gets a bit cumbersome. The stats sidebar has two sets of everything, side-by-side.
- I suppose it's like when twins share a Twitter account.
— Sep 18, 2024 06:25AM
Notes:
(1) Apparently, Aquaman weighs in at 325lbs. Is that with or without the suit?
- I've never considered him particularly large or heavy, you know, given his swimmer's physique.
(2) Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi share the Atom entry.
- Gets a bit cumbersome. The stats sidebar has two sets of everything, side-by-side.
- I suppose it's like when twins share a Twitter account.
Jayson
is on page 20 of 368
Notes:
(1) This is essentially the old "Who's Who" DC put out in the '80s, but modern.
- It's strictly a character encyclopedia. No places or things.
(2) Contrary to what the foreword and introduction say, I don't know how enjoyable this would be in discovering previously unknown characters.
- Being only facts and bios gets tedious. Though, it's great for looking people up.
— May 22, 2024 03:50AM
Notes:
(1) This is essentially the old "Who's Who" DC put out in the '80s, but modern.
- It's strictly a character encyclopedia. No places or things.
(2) Contrary to what the foreword and introduction say, I don't know how enjoyable this would be in discovering previously unknown characters.
- Being only facts and bios gets tedious. Though, it's great for looking people up.
Jayson
is on page 10 of 368
Notes:
(1) The foreword and introduction are pretty general. The only useful information provided is that the most current (New 52) histories of characters will be used.
(2) There's a timeline at the front that's been included for clarification, but it's also needlessly confusing.
- It calls the period after "Crisis on Infinite Earths" the Dark Age.
(Continued in comments)
— Jan 03, 2024 05:30AM
Notes:
(1) The foreword and introduction are pretty general. The only useful information provided is that the most current (New 52) histories of characters will be used.
(2) There's a timeline at the front that's been included for clarification, but it's also needlessly confusing.
- It calls the period after "Crisis on Infinite Earths" the Dark Age.
(Continued in comments)
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Chad
(new)
Feb 12, 2024 06:51PM
DC used to do these Who's Who? books back in the 80's that I really liked that were like this. They'd have a big drawing of the character and then the character's history and powers. Then in the 90's they redid it and they were loose leaf pages that you could put in a binder so they'd all be in alphabetical order. Those things were fantastic. I've got them all down in the basement somewhere.
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Chad wrote: "DC used to do these Who's Who? books back in the 80's that I really liked that were like this. They'd have a big drawing of the character and then the character's history and powers. Then in the 90..."Yeah, I was planning to mention in my next update that this encyclopedia is essentially a modern-day Who's Who. Not that I've read any actual issues, but I'm familiar with them from portions DC's included as bonus material in the back of trades.
Of course, with the internet, having a reference book like this is more novelty than a necessity, but I always prefer the official version of something than some wiki or fan article.
Marvel did them too. I think they were called "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" or something to that effect. They weren't as good because they were all character reference drawings that just showed the front and back of each character by lesser artists. DC would go all out with original drawings by top notch creators of the time. But of course I have all those too. I was a sucker for those loose leaf pages I could organize however I wanted.
Chad wrote: "Marvel did them too. I think they were called "The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe" or something to that effect. They weren't as good because they were all character reference drawings tha..."I really wish the encyclopedias commissioned original art. Though, with so many characters and no real need or demand, I can understand just using existing art. Even the cover reuses an Ivan Reis DC Universe: Rebirth variant. I suspect if this were entirely a DC project they might have pumped more production value into it, but it's a DK/Penguin Random House product so it's more generalist and, despite its utility, not so much geared toward the regular comic book reader.
I just looked and the Who's Who from the 80's along with the yearly updates are on DC Infinite. For some reason most of the 90's version is missing. They have one issue from 1991 and two updates from 1993. I think I have two full binders so there's a lot missing. I just picked one of the '87 updates and there's art by Todd McFarlane, John Byrne, Eduardo Barreto, Kevin Maguire, Brian Bolland.
Chad wrote: "I just looked and the Who's Who from the 80's along with the yearly updates are on DC Infinite. For some reason most of the 90's version is missing. They have one issue from 1991 and two updates fr..."It's possible that DCU Infinite didn't include them because they were only released as loose pages and not published as a comic. Looking at Infinite, I can see that the three Who's Whos from the 90's are all 50+ page books. I figure they may not have even bothered digitizing and recoloring the loose pages. Really, all the comics available on Infinite are sold on Kindle too, and so I don't know how they would be able to monetize single pages.
The three from the 90's there were loose leaf pages. They came out each month shrink wrapped together and glued together on one edge with a loose glue and then you'd rip them off one by one and put them in the binder. After the initial release came out, they'd do updates for new characters every couple of years. I'll have to see if they are on a shelf in the basement I can easily find and take some pictures. It'd be cool to look at them again myself.
Chad wrote: "The three from the 90's there were loose leaf pages. They came out each month shrink wrapped together and glued together on one edge with a loose glue and then you'd rip them off one by one and put..."Okay, I see what you mean. Sort of like college course packets. Well, it's nice to know they at least made those available digitally. If there's content missing, my guess would be that they either don't have full rights to the art or they just haven't bothered.
Jayson wrote: "my guess would be that they either don't have full rights to the art or they just haven't bothered.."That would be my guess as well. I was honestly surprised to find any of it on DC Infinite with all the wikis out there to replace them now.
Chad wrote: "That would be my guess as well. I was honestly surprised to find any of it on DC Infinite with all the wikis out there to replace them now."Well, a big selling point of DCU Infinite is its comprehensiveness. I don't know if you get access to every single issue DC's ever published, but it seems like it. I just presume nobody looked too closely and they just tossed it on their digitization assembly line with everything else.
