X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe

by Michael Mallory

The Characters and Their Universe tells the story of this unique band of comic book heroes from their creation in 1963 by the dream team of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, through their late 1970s re-emergence as a platform for socially and politically relevant storytelling, and up to the present as one of the globe's hottest franchises. This colorful, lavishly illustrated volume also traces how the characters have been adapted into the media of television and film, including the ground-breaking 1992 animated series and the blockbuster feature films, including X-Men The Final Stand, released in May of 2006. For fans of the comic books, this volume also provides a unique one-source catalogue of every major character that appeared from 1963 to the present, including all the various teamings of characters, the significant comic book series, the various character relationships and evolutions, and the classic storylines that have all woven together over the decades to create the dazzlingly complex and fascinating tapestry of the world of mutants. The Characters and Their Universe is a book that no fan of Marvel Comics, of super heroics, of animation and action adventure filmmaking, even of popular culture of the late 20th century itself, will want to be without.

Genres: Nonfiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Superheroes, Reference

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 29, 2006

About the author

Michael Mallory is an internationally-recognized authority on the subjects of film, animation and 20th century pop-culture, and the author of sixteen nonfiction books, which include The Art of Krampus, Essential Horror Movies, and Marvel: The Characters and their Universe. With the legendary American animation artist Iwao Takamoto he co-authored the memoirs Iwao Takamoto: My Life With a Thousand Characters, and has written more than 600 magazine and newspaper articles that have been published worldwide. A former newscaster, occasional actor, and frequent public speaker, Mike lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book for my X-Men loving fiance and he was not disappointed. Though the text could be better at times, the pictures and the sheer amount of X-Men history packed into this book is worth the price. My only negatives were that there was no character spotlight for Rogue, but that is a personal nitpick as she is my favorite X-Man, and that Mallory frequently tried to pull parallels between X-Men and Harry Potter. We get it. You think that J.K. Rowling took her idea of Hogwarts from Xavier's boarding school, and that the struggle between mutants and normal humans is the same one that Rowling used in her wizard vs. muggle mentality. I would just have rather that those opinions been left out to solely focus on the amazing creation that is the X-Universe. Still, it is a gorgeous volume and makes a nice coffee table book for comic fans. I give it three stars.

[R Killian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wonder if many reviewers have read this book. It's littered with errors and misinformation (not understanding the progression of Angel to Archangel, strangely characterizing Havok's plasma as "blasts of heat", an image of Bobby Drake undergoing his secondary mutation that is mislabeled as him "demonstrating his transformation", a condescending correction surrounding Generation X that is incorrect, a picture of Deadpool that suggests Mr. Sinister is the one pictured--!...)

It seems to have been written with lazy, cursory research, and an emphasis on tying itself into the then-current X-Men movies, as that seems to be the major extent of its (as a result, extremely incorrect) knowledge about Lady Deathstrike.

Packaged nicely and with some nice art, but since the information inside is questionable at best, that's all there is to be said for it. Not worth the time at all.

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very basic introduction to the X-Universe. Madelyne Pryor's name was spelled a few different ways throughout the book and I don't think any of them were the correct spelling. Would have appreciated the usage of the term "Earth-616" to distinguish the main continuity from the alternate realities and characters presented, especially when talking about the Summers family tree.

[Joshua Bertram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aside from a few editing screwups, this is a very well put-together book, nicely bound in black leather and full of gorgeous full-colour gloss images. It's basically an overview of 40 years of X-Men history (covering up to just past the release of X-Men: the Last Stand). A must have for True Believers!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book was a wonderful Christmas gift from a wonderful friend

[Jocelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great coffee table book. Wonderful illustrations and great stories about the X-Men.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for myself. Love the size, photographs, and background of the characters. Great coffee table book.

[Jessica L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone who has minimal information on the X-men, this book helped me get caught up in the information for up until 2005.

[Jeremy Echols · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't want to sound like that guy, but this book was grossly inaccurate in a lot of the details provided about the x-men. For example, one page details Storm as having lost her parents in a plane crash, while a classic comic panel on the same page states that her parents died from a bomb. Dates are wrong, storylines are misattributed to other series: bottom line, the information in this book is a mess.
Pictures are pretty, though.