The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition

by Matthew K. Manning, Andrew Irvine

The definitive guide to the characters of the DC Multiverse and a vital addition to every comic book fan's bookshelf.

Iconic Super Heroes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and The Flash have been transformed in recent years, along with many other DC characters. This new edition of the most comprehensive A-Z guide to DC's pantheon of Super Heroes and Super-Villains includes the latest earth-shaking developments in the DC Multiverse, with profiles of more than 1,200 characters.

Created in full collaboration with DC, the encyclopedia features characters and art from every key crossover event, including Dark Nights: Metal and its sequel Dark Nights: Death Metal.

With a foreword by DC legend Jim Lee, a brand-new cover design, and thrilling comic artwork, the fun and excitement of more than 80 years of comics history explode off every page.

Experience the DC Multiverse like never before with The DC Comics Encyclopedia New Edition.

Copyright (c)2021 DC Comics. All DC characters and elements (c) & (TM) DC Comics. WB SHIELD: (TM) & (c) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s21)

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Reference, Superheroes, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Comic Book

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2016

About the author

Matthew K. Manning is the author of over eighty books and dozens of comic books. He has written books for Scholastic, Disney Press, Abrams, Amazon, Capstone, DK Publishing, Insight Editions, Andrews/McMeel, and Running Press, dividing his time between writing original chapter book series and coffee table books. His chapter books include the six-book series Xander and the Rainbow-Barfing Unicorns (Capstone), the four-book Drone Academy series (Capstone), Backstories: Batman and Backstories: Batgirl (Scholastic), and Artemis Fowl: How to be a LEPrecon (Disney Press), released in both paperback and on Audible. Many of his books have reached best-seller status on Amazon, including DC Comics: Anatomy of a Metahuman, DC Comics Encyclopedia, and Batman: A Visual History. In addition, Manning specializes in comic books, writing for the titles Beware the Batman, Teen Titans Go!, The Batman Strikes!, Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century, Justice League Adventures, Scooby-Doo, and Looney Tunes for DC Comics, Marvel Action: Avengers for IDW/Marvel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Amazing Adventures and TMNT: New Animated Adventures for IDW, and the top-selling Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures for DC/IDW, nominated by the Diamond Gem Awards for comic of the year. Manning’s work has received acclaim in Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Washington Times. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife Dorothy and his daughters Lillian and Gwendolyn.

Buy his books and support independent booksellers on Bookshop at https://bookshop.org/shop/matthewkman...

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

DC Comics has played “Scotty Pippen to Michael Jordan” for decades (and Marvel Comics fans are eager to rub that in). This encyclopedia shows some of the reasons for that gap in popularity as DC has had a host of non-memorable characters and has fumbled the ball more than once with characters like The Green Lantern.

Whether you have a passion for Batman in his many forms, or Superman (the iconic figure of the Golden Age) or some of the other hundreds of characters, they are all here. The publisher is DK so you can be assured that that the hardbound version has superb artwork rendered on fine paper and weighs accordingly. The electronic version is rendered beautifully for my Kindle Fire.

I even found more information on one of my early favorites, The Martian Manhunter, of whom Superman said something to the effect that he was the most powerful being on Earth!

But enough of that! If you are interested in the history of comic books, then you must understand the contribution of DC Comics. There is no better way to do it than to page through this tome. ---published in 2021. I have an earlier version and this update is definitely worth getting.
4.5*

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review to come...

Progress updates:
◦ Preamble
◦ Front Matter
◦ A.R.G.U.S.–Arsenal
◦ Arkham, Amadeus–Batgirl
◦ Batman–Birds of Prey

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

DC Comics Encyclopedia
Author: Alan Cowsill, Alex Irvine, Steve Korte, Matt Manning, Stephen Wiacek, Sven Wilson, Scott Beatty, Robert Greenberger, Phil Jimenez, Nick Jones, Dan Wallace
Publisher: DK Penguin-Random House
Published In: New York
Date: 2016
Pgs: 368
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Revamped, redesigned, and fully updated to include the New 52 and Rebirth storylines, this is the definitive, until next time, and indispensable, until they reboot and change things next time, guide to the characters and worlds of the DC Comics Universe.
Created in full collaboration with DC Comics, features more than 1,100 characters including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker, and much more.
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Literature
Fiction
History
Criticism
Reference
Encyclopedia
Subject Guides
Art
Comics
Superheroes

Why this book:
I’ve loved this kind of thing since Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
_________________________________________________

Favorite Entry:
Aquaman; Black Alice; Black Hand; Black Racer

The Feel:
I love the backstory and meat on the bones that you get with these. I know that all of this info is available on DC Wikia and other sources. There’s just something about a real book. And in this format, I’ll end up glancing at entries that I wouldn’t ever come across online.

Favorite Scene / Quote:
At one time, I was a weekly and multi-comic reader. But overtime, and reboots, I fell away. I read the occasional trade now. So many of the stories referenced in the Encyclo are either new to me or I have a cursory knowledge of that I’m drawing more enjoyment than I expected from them. Very nice primer on where their universe stood a year ago.

Word Choice / Usage:
Birds of Prey entry: Batgirl unites her sisterly allies…
...really?

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Some entries glaringly contradict others.

Error - The Secret Society of Supervillains entry refers to their first facing the Crime Syndicate in the 60s. A villain group may have faced off with the CSA in one of their 60s appearances, but the SSOSV’s first appearance was in 1976. The two groups do face each other during the primary run of that title.

Hmm Moments:
This mentions the end of Nu52 and the beginning of Rebirth. Wonder how out of date some of these entries already are.

The updated Alpha Centurion sounds a bit like Aztek.

Reading this makes me want to start writing fan fic again. Want. Not that I will.
_________________________________________________

Last Page Sound:
That’s a lotta info.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
glad I read it

Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library
South Campus
Irving, TX

Dewey Decimal System:
741-5973
DC

Would recommend to:
genre fans
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[Douglas Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! The only thing preventing me from giving it an "it was amazing" rating is that for the fact that for most of the characters the majority of the information comes from the New 52 reboots (which I understand was the most current incarnation at the time this was written). But I would have preferred for characters that have 30 plus years of history (which is the majority of the characters in the book) that their complex backgrounds and histories would have been given more than a few sentences in a text box called "For the Record."
Aside from my own bias on that issue- this book is a great resource!! I have used it over a dozen times to look up characters and find clarification as I read my comics.
I guess they'll be writing another edition in a year or two to help clarify all the reboots that occurred to the continuity after Rebirth.

[Horus Lupercal Online · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s taken me quite a while to get through this book. Not because it wasn’t enjoyable, but because it is basically what it says on the cover: an encyclopedia :) That’s to say there is a lot of stuff in this book, and as I’ve been more partial to Marvel comics than DC, I’ve been quite a bit of a noob when it comes to the Detective Comics. This book contains a wealth of information for heroes and villains that are both familiar and not so familiar. Combined with great art this is definitely a book for both newcomers to DC and fans alike. I highly recommend it, that’s for sure :)

[Madison Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHERE IS TIM DRAKE

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this enough! I used to love DC as a child and I got back to DC lately, so I needed to brush up on my knowledge of the characters and I got this. I didn't expect it to be this good especially for the price point. There is a huge amount of characters explained - popular and not - along with beautiful art and overview of their main story arcs and essential comic recommendations. Now, the quality of the book is also very high when it comes to the materials used and the binding! Also, note that this is a pretty big book. All in all I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone: old fans/newcomers, young fans/older fans etc. It's the perfect present for friends and yourself.

[RumBelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the first version of this that was published in 2004, and loved it. Reading this updated edition was all the more enjoyable. It added newer information about the characters, and their story-lines, up through 2016. The art was, as always, impeccable. Reading superhero, and super-villain, character biographies is always enjoyable for me. This book allows you to better understand the characters that inhabit the world of DC comics. Every character you read about is interesting, and intriguing.

[Sam]

I'm convinced the people who made this are biased against DC and purposefully made this one worse than the Marvel one... Wym Marvel has 6 pages for Captain America while this one only has 4 for Supes and Bats

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect addition to my growing pile of coffee table books I look at every once in a while!

[Ben Truong · Rating 5 out of 5]

DC Comics Encyclopedia Updated Edition is a visual encyclopedic reference book about the DC Universe compiled and contributed by (in alphabetical order) Alan Cowsill (AC), Alexander Irvine (AI), Steven Korté (SK), Matthew K. Manning (MM), Stephen "Win" Wiacek (WW), and Sven Wilson (SW). One could tell who wrote which entry by their initials provided above.

DC Comics Encyclopedia is a colorful visual encyclopedia with entries varying in length from an eighth of a page for a minor character with half-page spread, full page spread, two-page spread for the major character depending on how prominent they are and two two-page spread (four pages) to the Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman).

Each entry from A.R.G.U.S. to Maxie Zeus has the basic stats in a box: their real names, height, weight, hair and eye color, their debuts and current version (i.e. New 52), their power and abilities, and the allies, enemies, and associations. Their entries are short and concise to give a sense of the superhero, super-villain, and team in question. It is primarily focused on the rebooted version of the characters, but in many entries, they mentioned the previous incarnations.

Aside from the encyclopedia and the entries itself, there is a two-page spread about the history of the DC Universe from the Golden Age of Comics to the current age – the Modern Age. It is very brief, but highlights the main events of each Comic Age. At the end, a Roll Call section that spotlights characters that would be too brief for an eighth of a page section. Instead, they are listed here in an eighteenth of a page. There are eighteen pages in all with 323 entries from Abra Kadabra to Zuggernaut. A detail index is rather helpful to find out how many times a character appears in the encyclopedia with their own entry bolded.

The editors and writers had down a wonderful job of collecting the extremely vast information on the DC Universe. It is far from exhaustive, but that would take volumes to do, but this tomb is more than adequate for what it sets out to do – to give a visual history of the DC Universe. As a Robin lover, I was disappointed not to see an entry for Red Robin/Tim Drake. He is mentioned throughout the encyclopedia, but he does not even get an eighteenth of a page entry of his own.

All in all, DC Comics Encyclopedia Update Edition was wonderfully constructed and illustrated reference of many of the superheroes, super-villains, teams, and races of the DC Universe.

[Adam Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 / 5 for 'The DC Comics Encyclopedia (2016 Updated edition)' by Cefn Rideout et al

This is an absolutely fantastic guide to what must be every DC Super-Hero Comics character.

It is however just that - a guide to all DC Super-Hero comic characters, whether powered or not, whether support cast or not. I think it's a little bit of a stretch to use the word 'encyclopedia' as this would suggest locations, peoples, concepts and artifacts are included too; but they are not. I do think that this has been amended accordingly in the most recent updated versions, with the title changing to 'Ultimate DC Character Guide'.

This is an extremely well presented, glossy-paged list of all characters, with fact boxes listing important facts and statistics succinctly and with a bio / info section explaining the characters background and major events, all accompanied by cover-pose style art as well as random comic panels.

Obviously, the more important the character, the more column inches / pages are given, with less important characters getting between a tenth and a quarter of a page, and more important characters getting up to 4 whole pages.

The text itself is informative and engaging, offering all of the important information for every single character, and all of the art selected is absolutely first class. There is even a 'Roll Call' section at the back with about twenty-five small boxes per page, over about ten pages, covering the smallest, most unimportant characters. The claim on the rear of the book, that is covers over 1000 characters, is completely true.

This is an excellent character guide, beautifully presented, and well worth the small cost of purchase. Highly, highly recommended to comic fans!

5 / 5

[Nihal Vrana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why I like to read this kind of stuff, but since my childhood I do. This Universe creation thing is so appealing to me. That said, having read a similar book for Marvel, the DC Universe is considerably weaker in structure and character quality. Of course, there is nothing like Watchmen or the Vertigo lines in Marvel; but overall Marvel is a more interesting Universe with more interesting characters. The saving grace for DC is Batman and his Villain and supporting character gallery. What is ruining DC is the whole Lantern Corps and Galactic shenanigans. This coming up with a new Lantern corp whenever you need one was a very bad idea (Given the how comics used to be printed, it is a shame that they didn't have Cyan and Magenta Lantern corps). Legion of Heroes and Apokalyps/Darkseid lines are equally weak, but they cover an important part of the overall DC structure. It was good to learn about it though.

[Brian Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stonking great book covering all of DC comics major and minor characters.
It starts with an overview of the different ages (Gold/Silver/Bronze) and how they led to modern comics, then explains about all the various reboots that have taken place in DC characters histories.
This was helpful, as not being a regular comic buyer, I tend to lose track of why something appears to have changed when I do get one.

Most characters have a brief biography, detailing their first appearance, their looks and affiliations/enemies. Important but not major characters will get a half page giving more of their background and major storylines. Major characters get multi-page spreads, sometimes with a pre and post reboot section to show how they have been changed around.

There is a section at the back of the book with very brief notes about all the other characters who didn't warrant a full sized biography.

This is worth reading cover to cover at least once, although it can seem a bit of a chore sometimes (probably why this took so long to finish). After that, it will make a useful reference. As you'd expect, this has tons of illustrations to go with each character.

[Dennis Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book to read from cover to cover, but one you can repeatedly examine to improve your knowledge of the characters and their relationships to the DC Universe.
The focus here is entirely on the characters, but no writers or artists are ever brought up.
There are many pages that are disorganized and frequently repetitive. Sidebars interrupt the content, and they layouts are visually very distracting. It’s as if multiple authors wrote the different sections for each character, but nobody did a final edit of the various bits.
Hundreds of characters get full paragraphs or multiple pages. But many more minor characters are buried in another section of tiny pictures and very brief paragraphs.
High marks for content, but points lost for scrambled layouts.

[Prince William Public Libraries · Rating 5 out of 5]

The DC Comics Encyclopedia by DC Comics

This isn't really a book but I still read it and it was.. AWESOME! I've learned so much about my favorite hero The Flash along with one others and I've discovered new hero's well new to me because I didn't know of them. But anyways It's Amazing and if you're a DC Comics fan then you should definitely get this.

--Sakina A., PWPLS Teen Reader
http://librarycatalog.pwcgov.org/pola...

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly comprehensive guide to the characters of the DC Universe. I liked that some easily forgotten characters were included, though several somewhat prominent heroes and villains were left out. The book would have been much better overall if there was more information about the characters and their creation as opposed to their fictional biographies, which have all changed multiple times anyway.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice DC reference /character encyclopedia. I particularly like the larger spreads with major story moments / comic arcs explained for more prominent characters, and the "roll call" at the end of the book.

While I skimmed this more than I read it, I'm glad to own it. I own the Marvel version as well - though I think DC wins out on this one, as it seems better organized (though I own the more recent edition of the DC encyclopedia than Marvel's)

[Josh McInnis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought both the marvel and dc dk editions and found the dc edition it be worth the money, character info is extremely detailed and the overall encyclopedia was very well made. 👍👏👏

[Polo Gutierrez · Rating 5 out of 5]

You missed Tim Drake and Kyle Rayner bio, both very important in the DC story, other than that I love the encyclopedia, cant wait to read a new one with the "Rebirth" characters.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of information about mostly all of the characters in the DC universe, fun and good stuff.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be on everybody’s bookshelf!

[Ushnav Shroff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The updated version definitely makes this a collector's edition.

[Nate Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. First time I’ve read an encyclopedia cover to cover.

[audjoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

best book ever

[Michael Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revised edition to let you know about every hero and villain in the DC comics universe. Some of them were new to me.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice overview of all of the DC Comics characters. Lots of information.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great body of knowledge for DC Comics fans!

[Allie220 ✊👊 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love flipping through this thing! It’s so fun to look at all these characters I could do it forever!

[Ryan Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best dc comics encyclopedia I have ever read!