Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Difference between revisions

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Several series from [[Marvel Comics]] describing its characters in encyclopedia format. The project was instigated by [[Promoted Fanboy]] and popular writer and editor [[Mark Gruenwald]]; another prominent OHOTMU creator is diagram artist Eliot R. Brown. The first OHOTMU-style pages came as back-ups in the three-issue miniseries [[Contest of Champions]] (also written by Gruenwald) and proved popular enough for Marvel to go with a full-sized series containing nothing but encyclopedic entries.

* The original ''Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe'' (abbreviated to OHOTMU) started coming out in 1982 (cover dates January 1983 to April 1984), about two years before the similar ''Who's Who'' at [[DC Comics]], describing characters in alphabetical order over 15 issues. The series tried to be as scientifically accurate as possible, which may cause unintentional amusement as entries repeatedly explained away the same violations of physics (typically [[Shapeshifter Baggage]], [[Square-Cube Law]], or some [[Required Secondary Powers]]). It also made [[Continuity Snarl|Continuity Snarls]] very obvious when a character's history was laid out all at once.