It’s not every day that I get an offer to review something that’s available exclusively in the UK and Ireland, but that’s just what happened when the folks at Eaglemoss Collections asked me to check out the first couple installments of their new MARVEL FACT FILES collection. Back in March (I’ve been busy), a package arrived at Rock Father HQ near Chicago via Royal Airmail, and while it’s taken me a bit to share some thoughts, I dug in right away. In fact, with FREE COMIC BOOK DAY having taken place this weekend, and IRON MAN 3 in theaters now, this might be the perfect time to discuss this.
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MARVEL FACT FILES touts itself as “Your Complete Guide to the MARVEL Universe,” and from what I can see in the first two issues (presented weekly, they’re in week 7 right now) it’s quite an in-depth reference collection to characters appearing in MARVEL Comics, films, and beyond.
Each 32-page issue is designed to be pulled-apart and filed into special 3-ring binders (available Free to subscribers), a presentation that immediately brought to mind WHO’S WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE, a collection published by rival DC Comics that I purchased (and filed in binders) as a pre-teen. In an age of digital everything (and yes, there is a digital edition of MARVEL FACT FILES), there’s a charm to having a binder full of printed material that you can literally thumb through.
MARVEL FACT FILES are divided into seven sections:
- AVENGERS
- X-MEN
- FANTASTIC 4
- SPIDER-MAN
- MARVEL KNIGHTS
- COSMIC (Alien races, Different Dimensions, Alternate Timelines, etc)
- REAL MARVEL (History of MARVEL Comics, creator profiles, etc)
Each section is then broken into five chapters:
- OVERVIEW
- HEROES
- VILLAINS
- LOCATIONS
- TECHNOLOGY
The detail is both impressive and overwhelming. This is the type of thing that, when completed, would be enjoyed not at once, but likely in multiple sittings in The Rock Father Throne Room™. In fact, the more I got into the MARVEL FACT FILES, the more I missed the print days of publications like WIZARD Magazine and the recently-shuttered COMIC BUYER’S GUIDE (which I’d actually been mentioned in a few years back).
MARVEL FACT FILES is something I can definitely recommend for my friends in the UK – but only if you’re in for the long-haul and plan to be a subscriber ’till the end. Having never completed by WHO’S WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE as a kid, I still have an empty feeling about it nearly 25 years later.
Interested in getting in on the action? Check out http://marvel-factfiles.com/ for updates.
FTC Disclosure: As noted above, copies of MARVEL FACT FILES #1 and #2 were provided to The Rock Father by Eaglemoss, Ltd. for the purpose of review consideration. All opinions are that of James Zahn, a man you should probably agree with. Seriously, he knows what’s up!
