Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Book of the Dead 2004

    (Marvel, 2004)
™ and © Marvel Entertainment Group

A collection of facts about dead comic–book characters is morbid at best and likely naïve. Nevertheless, these “Books of the Dead” have been appearing periodically since the mid–1980s. Of course, many characters who merited listings in previous editions have since returned to the land of the living. Among these are Adam Warlock and his entire supporting cast (Pip, Gamora, Drax, etc.), The Mimic, and Phoenix. (Although, with a name like that, what did you expect?) The phenomenon is not limited to popular characters (witness the return of Red Raven) or the recently deceased. (Norman Osborn was gone for how long?)

The linchpin here is that all of these characters are dead. But come on, how long do you think Thor (a “god”) will stay dead? Or Phoenix (again)? Even Hawkeye will be back eventually. Count on it. Minus such “big guns,” readers are left with second–stringers (Scott Lang), third–stringers (Cypher), losers (Gilgamesh, Omega), and the chronically dead (Bucky, Uncle Ben). With the logical linchpin removed, things fall apart.

Enjoy it before it’s inevitably moot.

— Jack Abramowitz
Jump to issue:
  NotesWriterArtist
#1


Cover Price: $3.99
2 copies available from $0.99 		Jeff Christiansen, Ronald Byrd, Michael HoskinSalvador Larroca, Chris Sotomayor