Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (1983) 2
Feb 1983
I’ve decide to start breaking these posts about each issue down into three parts each.
05/24/21 / Cover
I spent way more time than I intended doing stuff other than scanning. I did a bunch of work to make the layout for the OHotMU similar to the one for Who’s Who. I added pages for categories and issues and added links to make it easier to jump between pages. It could use some more cleanup but it’s good for the moment.
I also spent a bunch of time trying to scan the cover, front and back. I got it done but I’m not complexly happy with it but I think it’s gonna have to do.
05/26/21 - Inside Back Cover / Appendix (Part 2)
There are considerably more entries in this installment of the index than there was in the first one. Some entries are extremely brief to the point of just making reference to another entry. There are a few that get their own full page entry in subsequent issues of the OHotMU. There are a few places included in this installment, which was not the case with the first one.
05/27/21 - Page 31 / Alien Races (Page 3)
I am familiar with three of the four alien races on this page: Badoon, Brood, Centaurians. I can’t say the same about the alien races pages in the first issue. They were all unfamiliar to me.
I am starting to put together a spreadsheet to track something that I may or may not put in the web pages, such as first appearances.
05/28/21 - Page 32 / Alien Races (Page 4)
05/29/21 - Page 1 / Baron Mordo
I’ve gone back and redone the scans for four of the pages from the first issue. They look better now. I might do the same for the rest of that issue but I think I will take my time getting there.
05/30/21 - Page 2 / Baron Zemo
This is the second Baron Zemo he first appeared in Captain America 168 (Dec 1968) but his first appearance as Baron Zemo wasn't until about a decade later.
Flipping through this issue I notice that there are no entries for places in this issue except in the Appendix. The entries are all what I would classify as People or Groups. There are a number of entries that are just a half page in length. There are no entries that are longer than a single page in this issue.
05/31/21 - Page 3 / Basilisk, Batroc
There is considerably more text about Basilisk than there is about Batroc. Basilisk had 4 appearances prior to the OHotMU, Batroc had 17 and had been around for 10 years longer. Batroc is described as having no super powers and yet he is also is described as being strong enough to kick through a brick wall.
06/02/21 - Page 4 / Beast
There is mention made of the fact that the Beast wasn't always blue and furry but there is no picture of him in his original form.
06/03/21 - Page 5 / Beetle, Belladonna
I made some changes to the page in which I am tracking first appearances to allow for multiple first appearances of a single character. The Beast, for example, first appeared in X-Men 1 but in Amazing Adventures 11 he became the furry beast. First appearances for things like groups and places are not included in the OHotMU so I am relying on Marvel Database for those first appearances.
06/04/21 - Page 6 / Binary
The origin section of this entry encompasses Carol Danvers’ previous lives in the US Air Force, Ms. Marvel, the loss of her super powers, as well as her transformation into Binary. The powers section of this entry focuses entirely on her powers as Binary.
06/05/21 - Page 7 / Black Bolt
I like the drawing of Black Bolt by Mike Zeck. The logical choice would be Jack Kirby but Black Bolt had been drawn by plenty of other artists in the years prior to this issue of the OHotMU. George Perez, Gil Kane, Neal Adams, and Keith Pollard are just a few of the artists.
06/06/21 - Page 8 / Black Cat
06/07/21 - Page 9 / Black Knight
This Black Knight is the third Black Knight. The first was Sir Percy of Scandia who lived in 6th Century England. Sir Percy’s first appearance was in the mid-1950s but he had less than 10 appearances in the almost 3 decades since he first appeared. The second was Nathan Garrett, the uncle of this Black Knight. Garrett, unlike the other two Black Knights, was a villain. Garrett first appeared in the mid-1960s and had less than 10 appearances in the almost 2 decades since he first appeared.
This Black Knight was the nephew of Nathan Garrett. He first appeared in the late 1960s and was a recurring character in Avengers for a few years. He re-emerged after a long absence from US comic books just a few months before the second issue of the OHotMU was published. He was a regular in the Hulk (UK) weekly comic book from 1979 to 1980.
06/08/21 - Page 10 / Blacklash, Black Mamba
Blacklash was previously known as Whiplash. I’ve read the first few comics he appeared in but that’s about it. I have not read any of the comics after he changed his name. He is listed under Whiplash in the Marvel Database and there is no first appearance issue listed for when he changed from Whiplash to Blacklash.
Black Mamba only had four appearances prior to this issue of the OHotMU. Three of those appearances were in a single storyline in Marvel Two-in-One.
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