The past two or three years, Marvel has been going full tilt releasing handbooks or guides or whatever they're called for their characters, group around different themes or franchises. These books have been excellent, even better than their original handbooks from the eighties. In depth, anal-retentive histories on each entry.
DC has been putting out secret files for about ten years now, each based on a character or franchise, with a twelve or so page back-up story which usually relates to what is going on in the main book, another couple of two or three page stories and short bios of the characters. Really short bios. A paragraph or two at the most. Also with new half page pin-ups to go along with the bios.
Which ones do you prefer?
The only slight edge I can give the DC books are the new art and story, but the Marvel books blow them out of the water. Those Marvel books are perfect shitter or smoke-break material. Nothing like working out a huge log while trying to follow the history of Kang the Conqueror. My ass when numb on that one. I don't even notice the fact that all the Marvel art is actually cribbed form a book and not new.
I'm telling ya, those books are the best value every month at the comics store...
