Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universeby Tim Leong
07/30/21 - Page 115 - Birds of a Feather: Scrooge McDuck’s Family Tree
There’s a lot of names here that I don’t recognize. The most interesting part of this family tree is seeing how Scrooge is related to Donald and how he is related to Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
07/31/21 - Pages 116-117 - Bat Channels: Every TV Show Starring Batman
There are 18 shows in this chart, 8 of them have Batman’s name in the title. Most of the others are an iteration of Super Friends or Justice League. The one exception which clearly does not belong in this chart is Young Justice. I would also argue that shows like Super Friends and Justice League, team shows, should be classified differently from shows that have Batman’s name in the title.
08/01/21 - Pages 118-119 - Character Kingdom
This chart organizes a couple hundred characters into 6 major groups (amphibians, birds, anthropods, fish, mammals, reptiles) and 21 minor groups based on the animals in their names. In some cases the names are just names and in other cases the characters have superpowers that are similar to those of animals.
08/02/21 - Pages 120-121 - The Punisher’s Kill Count
This “chart” compares the Punisher’s kill count in the three movies to that in comic books (1974-2011). The total for the three movies is less than one-half of one percent of the total from comic books.
I did a quick google search and think I found the source for the total kills from comic books. The exact same number was mentioned by Stephen Wacker in a press conference in 2011. It isn’t clear where he got that number from. I found another source that pegs the number much lower. That source (listofdeaths.fandom.com) actually lists all the comic books in which he had kills but includes comic books up to 2021.
08/03/21 - Pages 122-123 - Fighting Forces: Oppression and Rebellion in Persepolis
This chart details all the major points in Persepolis along the horizontal axis of time and the vertical axis of high/low. This is just one big spoiler filled chart. It could be useful to someone who wants to analyze the two books of Persepolis further but by itself it seems a little underwhelming.
08/04/21 - Pages 124-125 - Mutant Manhattan: A Guide to New York Locations in the Marvel Universe
The title is inaccurate in that it isn’t mutant themed. I think the word Mutant is in there just for the alliterative effect. The title is accurate is accurate and the subtitle is inaccurate in that this is just a guide to locations in Manhattan. The other 4 boroughs are not included in this chart.
I am not a fan of putting light colored text on a light colored background. This chart has white text on a light blue background which is very hard to read.
There are 13 locations in this chart or map. I was was familiar with most but not all of them. I doubt that I could have told you approximately where they were on a map of Manhattan.
08/05/21 - Pages 126-127 - To the Grave and Back: How Long Characters Stayed Dead
There are 46 characters in this chart. I think this is a valid subject for a chart but there’s something about this one that doesn’t work for me. 36 of these deaths occurred in the 90s or later, well after my sweet spot for reading comics.
08/06/21 - Pages 128-129 - Choose Your Own Adventure: The Mad Magazine Mystery Record
I was completely unaware of this. I was never a big reader of Mad but I have an issue or two. This is an interesting way to present this information.
08/07/21 - Pages 130-131 - Fast Company: The Four Faces of the Flash
This chart presents a high level chronology of the careers of the 4 Flashes (Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, Bart Allen). I like the presentation and the information in this chart. There is a lot of empty, unused space on the the first of these two pages.
08/08/21 - Pages 132-133 - A Watchmen Primer
These charts fill the pages to the point that one of them is turned sideways so that it can fit. The charts explain quite a bit about the story but there is no way that the charts can convey the way in which it is drawn or told visually.
