Some gadget diagrams are perhaps less necessary than others, but now you can answer a riddle about something that has a face, a neck, two teeth, one knee and a bell.
OHotMU had one thing on Who's Who, and that is the fact that is was basically 100% like an actual encyclopedia, exhaustive in detail to say the least.
I don't know about you but it was a real chore to get through for me. Modern OHotMU is mostly plain uninteresting, especially since they don't even have original art anymore
Anonymous said…
OHotMU had its moments, for example finally explaining how Hawkeye always had the right arrow for the occasion. In his quiver he kept his arrows without any arrowheads attached, while carrying all manner of trick arrowheads in his pockets -- so it was just a matter of attaching the right head to an arrow, and bam, he just happened to pack the right arrow like magic.
As with all magicians' tricks, it's obvious when you know how, but until this point nobody ever came up with an explanation. Also, Green Arrow pretty explicitly DOESN'T do things that way -- GA's trick arrowheads are built onto the arrows -- so points go to Hawkeye.
And yet Hawkeye still manages to fire off 37 arrows in 5 seconds despite having to select and attach all those arrowheads. He really should race Quicksilver sometime with speed like that.
I think the exhaustive detail is in fact a failing of the OHOTMU. Ties a writer's hands. Who's Who had much better art as well. OHOTMU and thise stiff poses...these are ACTION heroes, for goodness' sake, and they're standing there like Sears catalogue models.
I loved OHotMU when I was a teenager because yes, it seemed much more exhaustive, and I was all into those stats and who could benchpress the most, etc. AND I had a lot more free time. I can't imagine reading one of those today and consequently haven't read any issue since the Master Edition originally killed the brand.
Who's Who frustrated me originally because of its very slim Powers section, but was the more fun to peruse again and again. Still do. I eventually got my wish for a compromise between the two, with the loose leaf version's longer histories and slightly more detailed powers sections supplemented by the DC Heroes RPG pages that stated out everything in game terms I understood.
Anonymous said…
I always liked the "Kree" entry, showing their various uniforms for different ranks -- the same guy xeroxed over and over but with different colors and logos. Dude, make an effort!
The OHotMU carried a disclaimer that it was the best available information at the time and may always be superseded by updated, more correct information. Didn't tie a writer's hands who had good ideas that were worth implementing, same as any other matter of continuity and the retroactive alteration thereof.
Speaking of the Kree and ideas probably not worth implementing, here's a fan fictiony idea I had.
- Krypton: in old Golden Age tellings, a world where mankind had reached its pinnacle of evolution, where the inhabitants were all stronger, faster, and more durable than humans
- Kree: a world whose people had reached an evolutionary dead-end, where the inhabitants were all stronger, faster, and more durable than humans
Seeing any similarities between the two? Even the names sound related. I don't know what I would do with this idea if I had to write a comic about it, but it's an idea I'm fond of.
The Supreme Intelligence and Brainiac could Amalgamate nicely.
Oh, and how about this: when Superman is needed, Jimmy Olsen presses the button on his signal watch, which makes him switch places with Superman in the Phantom Zone. And just as a historical "screw you" to Fawcett Publications, the Amalgamated version of Superman is called Captain Marvel.
Comments
I don't know about you but it was a real chore to get through for me. Modern OHotMU is mostly plain uninteresting, especially since they don't even have original art anymore
As with all magicians' tricks, it's obvious when you know how, but until this point nobody ever came up with an explanation. Also, Green Arrow pretty explicitly DOESN'T do things that way -- GA's trick arrowheads are built onto the arrows -- so points go to Hawkeye.
I think the exhaustive detail is in fact a failing of the OHOTMU. Ties a writer's hands. Who's Who had much better art as well. OHOTMU and thise stiff poses...these are ACTION heroes, for goodness' sake, and they're standing there like Sears catalogue models.
Who's Who frustrated me originally because of its very slim Powers section, but was the more fun to peruse again and again. Still do. I eventually got my wish for a compromise between the two, with the loose leaf version's longer histories and slightly more detailed powers sections supplemented by the DC Heroes RPG pages that stated out everything in game terms I understood.
The OHotMU carried a disclaimer that it was the best available information at the time and may always be superseded by updated, more correct information. Didn't tie a writer's hands who had good ideas that were worth implementing, same as any other matter of continuity and the retroactive alteration thereof.
Speaking of the Kree and ideas probably not worth implementing, here's a fan fictiony idea I had.
- Krypton: in old Golden Age tellings, a world where mankind had reached its pinnacle of evolution, where the inhabitants were all stronger, faster, and more durable than humans
- Kree: a world whose people had reached an evolutionary dead-end, where the inhabitants were all stronger, faster, and more durable than humans
Seeing any similarities between the two? Even the names sound related. I don't know what I would do with this idea if I had to write a comic about it, but it's an idea I'm fond of.
Oh, and how about this: when Superman is needed, Jimmy Olsen presses the button on his signal watch, which makes him switch places with Superman in the Phantom Zone. And just as a historical "screw you" to Fawcett Publications, the Amalgamated version of Superman is called Captain Marvel.
Good eyes!!