DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide
Written by Brandon T. Snider
Art by Various
Have you ever read DC Secret Files one shot? Or a Marvel handbook? Or even a Who’s Who of the DC Universe? To make a long story short, that’s what this hardcover book is, a collection of information pertaining to the DC Universe. At the same time, given how much ground this book covers, you don’t come out with the same level of information you’d find in one of those Marvel handbooks. This book covers around two hundred characters in alphabetical order, from Adam Strange to Zoom, and while it isn’t a series of wikipedia entries, it provides a good resource for readers ranging from young ones, to new ones, and there’s even something to enjoy for the seasoned veteran.
Now, when I say it isn’t a series of wiki entries, I mean that each character and team is granted a single page entry. No more, but occasionally less. It’s a guide book, not the place to go if you want to know the complete history of Booster Gold, but where you can go to learn enough about him to not be confused when the character shows up. Each entry features the name of a character along with a brief few word description (Batman is “The Dark Knight”, Martian Manhunter is “Sole Survivor”, and Red Hood is “Robin Gone Wrong”, to name just a few), and then has a short and to the point bio followed by vital statistics. The vitals include things like real name, occupation, height, weight, base of operations, friends, and foes. From there there’s a bubble to explain the characters powers, and then another box featuring a little random factoid. Each character is represented by a piece of art ripped right from the comics, featuring artists from Doug Mahnke, to Jim Lee, to Nicola Scott, to Alex Ross…there’s a LOT of artists represented in this book, far too many to name, though I imagine the cover is the only original piece for the book, as the inside covers for both the front and back are Carlos Pacheco from JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice. To wrap up the pages, each of the character images is accompanied by two bubbles to explain (usually) two visual features of the character (though in some cases just to tell more random facts, Dr. Light has one pointed at his head to detail his mind wipe).
The listing of characters obviously covers the big guns, as pretty much everyone to ever be in the Justice League gets a page, not to mention the League itself gets one. This isn’t even counting in the supporting cast members as Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Alfred all receive pages as well. The villain listing is pretty extensive too, covering everyone from Lex Luthor to Gentlemen Ghost. Teams are covered; the JLA, JSA, Teen Titans, Outsiders, Legion, and tons of others. Each receives a page to explain their purpose and give a brief listing of members past and current. Now, for as many characters are listed, there’s really just one omission that makes my inner fanboy rumble. So many of my favorite DC characters are listed here; Booster Gold, Stargirl, Nightwing, Black Adam, Mon-El. And I mean, there’s a ton of Green Lantern entries as the Corps gets a page, Hal, John, Guy, Ganthet, and Kilowog all get separate pages, heck, Parallax gets its own page. But my Green Lantern? Kyle Rayner? His name is mentioned in the members listing for the Corps, and that’s about it. I understand the omission (and actually had a nice discussion about comics with Brandon while he explained it), but I can’t help but let my inner fanboy rage.
For a reader like me who is known to randomly spend hours researching the most random of characters just for the sake of it, there is nothing in this guide that’s really new to me. However, one of the reasons this review took a little bit of extra time to get done is that a friend of mine saw the book, started flipping through it, and then borrowed it for a week. When they finally returned it they had a bunch of questions and wound up borrowing quite a few of my trades. Will it get him into a comic shop? Who knows, but it was accessible enough to take a person with a passing interest and get them to read a stack of trades, and in my book that’s always a win. Then, while I can’t speak from experience, I can imagine it being the kind of resource that might draw in the mind and imagination of a child. Bright colored characters, easy to read information, and a PG level of accessibility that shouldn’t create confusion in young minds. If my nephew were older I’d try it on him, but he’s at that magical age where the pages would just get ripped out. I would honestly say it would make a good gift for a kid who has an interest in superheroes, and who might need an excuse to start reading something.
Maybe it’s bias from my personal experience, I mean, I learned how to read with comics, but it’s a great medium to not only start someone reading, but to keep them doing it. Reading Calvin & Hobbes and Superman as a kid kept me reading all of the time, I always wanted more of the stories I was reading, more of the characters, and I was relatively insatiable. Really in a way that the standard print mediums never did a phenomenal way in gripping me.
So I’d have to say that if you’re a long time fan with a wealth of knowledge, this probably isn’t the book for you unless you want a coffee table book that might get some of your friends interested in your hobby. If you’re a casual fan who doesn’t know a ton but is interested in expanding your knowledge, this could be the thing for you. But if you’re a parent looking to inspire your kid to read, or give them something that they might really grow interested in, then this is definitely the book for you.
