Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

[jjreason]

and UPDATED Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe were awesome! Did anyone else have these? Imagine what that cocksucker would look like if they tried to publish it nowadays.

http://marvel.com/universe/OHOTMU

[Tom Foolery]

My first version was the '89 Update series.
I have an earlier version and I'm pretty sure it's the Deluxe series. I should probably add the original to my find list.
I also have the Master Edition, but I opened mine. The stack of hole punched pages all collated alphabetically is probably 7-8 inches high. They offered a 3-ring binder as a promotion in the comics back in the 90s, but you'd need like 4 crammed tightly to hold the entre run.

I got most of the 2004-5 issues when they came out and found a majority of the All New and All New Update out of cheap bins at shows.

Most recently, Marvel's been doing oneshots tailored specifically to recent launches of A-list titles that will have a mix of big characters and D-list characters that haven't had OHOTMU entries before.

I realize the internet and wikis have made these sorta obsolete but I still love 'em.

[Tom Foolery]

I wanna create an App that IS the OHOTMU. But make it fun like a trivia or a trading card app where you can unlock characters or earn coins to buy character pages.
Each page is updated with each characters appearances bibliography every month. Each bibliography checkmark has a cover image so you can have a visual list if you want (possibly covers are also unlockable). As you read a characters handbook profile, the comic cover pertaining to the paragraph/story you were reading would be on the side and you could click on it and it would link to all the other characters linked to that issue. Maybe have a synopsis of that issue, so the app would be a combo of OHOTMU and the Official Index.
There would be checklists of all their various uniform changes over the years.
There would be special "team" files, of team rosters that changed over the years.
Maybe spotlight various locations like team bases (Baxter Building) countries (Latveria) or other worlds and cultures (Kree, Shi'ar etc).
You could input two characters and get a co-bibliography of the two where they've met, teamed up, fought, fought and then teamed up, etc.

It would be especially handy for editors and writers who seem to have stopped actually reading the books they write and edit.



Ahhh...shit. I don't know anything about creating apps.

[jjreason]

It would be fun if you got a free pack of cards each day with chances at cards to cash in for bonus packs or rare cards of your choice. Each "card" being random & you could trade them with others to get ones you wanted & complete the set. I think the cards for the MU would number around 40 billion though (give or take 6 billion of course), so it would take a long time to get the whole set. I'd be game for trying.

[Tom Foolery]

And there would be new cards being added constantly. Just like actual collecting, you'd never catch up!!