This month in OHotMU A-Z hardcover Volume 1...

[Sean McQuaid]

Subjects profiled in this volume include:

Characters:
Abomination, Abraxas, Absorbing Man, Abyss, Achebe, Acrobat, Adam-II, Aegis, Aged Genghis, Agent (Rick Mason), Agent X, Aggamon, Ahab, Akhenaten, Albert & Elsie Dee, Albion, Abdul Alhazred, Alkhema, All-American, Alpha the Ultimate Mutant, Americop, Amphibion, Amun, Anarchist, Ancient One, Android Man, Angel (Thomas Halloway), Angel (Warren Worthington), Animus, Annex, Annihilus, Anole, Answer, Anti-Cap, Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Apache Kid (Rosa), Apocalypse, Apocalypse Beast, Aqueduct, Arabian Knight (Abdul Qamar), Arabian Knight (Navid Hashim), Arachne (Julia Carpenter), Araña, Arcade, U.S. Archer, Ares, Arides, Armadillo, Armor (Hisako Ichiki), Armorer, Arranger, Arsenal, Asbestos Lady, Asbestos Man, Ashake, Ashcan, Asmodeus, Atlas (Erik Josten), Atleza, Atom Smasher, Aurora, Authority, Avalanche, Awesome Android, Axum, Azazel, Ba'al, Sunset Bain, Banshee, Barbarus, Baron Mordo, Baron Strucker, Baron Zemo (Heinrich Zemo), Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo), Baroness, Baroness Blood, Bastion, Batroc, Batwing, Beast, Benny Beckley, Bedlam (Jesse Aaronson), Belasco, Yelena Belova, Bereet, Berserker, Beta Ray Bill, Beyonder, Bi-Beast, Bible John, Big Man, Big Mother, Big Wheel, Bishop, Black Bolt, Black Box, Black Cat, Black Crow, Black Dragon, Black Fox, Black Knight (Dane Whitman), Black Lama, Black Marvel, Black Panther, Black Talon, Black Tarantula, Black Widow (Claire Voyant), Black Widow (Natalia Romanova), Blackheart, Blackout (of the Lilin), Blackwing (Joe Manfredi), Blackwing (Barnell Bohusk)

Groups:
Acolytes, Agents of Atlas, AIM, All-Winners Squad, Alpha Flight, Anachronauts, Annihilus' Queens, Avengers, Avengers (MC2), Axis Mundi, BAD Girls Incorporated, Band of the Bland, Baron Mordo's Minions, Battle-Axis, Big Hero 6

And a Little Bit of Everything Else:
1602 AD, 2020 AD, 2099 AD, 2099 AD - Marvel Knights, 8162 AD, Acts of Vengeance, Adamantium, Age of Apocalypse, Amatsu-Kami, Angels, Annunaki, Atlantis, Avengers Headquarters & Vehicles, Badoon, Battleworld

240 pages, $24.99 cover price, on sale this week...

-Sean

[Comet Man]

Dammit, no American Eagle!

[mightiness]

Dammit, no American Eagle!

Yea especially after his recent appearance in Thunderbolts.

[Sean McQuaid]

Dammit, no American Eagle!

In every version of the Handbook, there's almost always going to be a few characters who slip through the cracks for whatever reason.

I remember being annoyed, for instance, that Blue Shield didn't turn up in the Deluxe handbook back in the 80s.

Regarding American Eagle, his largely isolated/unconnected status meant he never showed up in any of the past few years' theme handbooks -- for instance, no ties to the Avengers, the X-Men, Spider-Man, etc. And for whatever reason, he never made it into the A-Z books during 2006/2007 (probably in part because he'd been so inactive for so long until recently, by which time much of the A-Z run had passed him by). Plus, the fact that he'd been profiled before -- the original and Deluxe handbooks, recently brought back into print in the Essential paperbacks -- bumped him slightly lower down the priority list than similarly minor characters who hadn't been profiled before (like, say, Equinox or Flying Tiger).

So no American Eagle profile was ever produced in 2004-2007, which meant there was almost no chance of Eagle showing up in the 2008 hardcovers. The hardcovers feature hundreds of pages of new material, but that new material is mostly expansions of and additions to existing profiles from 2004-2007. We're only adding a very few totally brand-new profiles over the course of the HC run, mostly to fill up blank spaces that may emerge during ongoing changes in the profile line-ups for each volume. There was no blank space to fill in the vicinity of American Eagle's name, so no slot for him.

He's definitely a character we've discussed profiling on occasion, especially after his recent star turn in THUNDERBOLTS, which at one point put him on our "MUST DO" list for 2008's handbooks. Of course, that was before we found out we'd be spending most of 2008 prepping hardcovers instead of producing standard handbooks, making poor Eagle a random victim of bad timing once again.

We're aware of the character, though, and we like the character, and the character has been featured prominently in a recent storyline, so I'll be surprised if an American Eagle profile doesn't happen eventually, when circumstances permit. His time will come...

-Sean

[mightiness]

Speaking of Blue Shield will he be in the next Volume.

[Sean McQuaid]

Speaking of Blue Shield will he be in the next Volume.

Nope, for similar reasons: not very active recently, no connections with the major theme handbooks of 2004-2007, no profile-ready digital reference image (his new suit from AVENGERS vol. 3 never got a good full-body shot), plus he has a couple of past profiles recently back in print via the Essentials (he was previously profiled in the Original and Master versions of the Handbook).

Like American Eagle, he's another character we'd definitely like to do someday, though, when an opportunity presents itself.

And in terms of which characters will be in the hardcovers, the best indicator is whether a character was profiled in 2004-2007. If they were profiled in 2004-2007, then they'll probably appear in the current HC run. If they weren't profiled in 2004-2007, they probably won't appear in these HCs (though there will be a handful of exceptions over the course of the run as we plug random holes in the line-up using brand-new additions).

-Sean

[Comet Man]

I guess that means no Comet Man either. :(

Oh well, I still appreciate all the immense time and effort that goes into this thing everytime it's produced, and I'll still be getting them. It's still a heck of a lot of fun.

How about maybe producing a volume for all the obscure characters that were left out when the main ones are finished? Would that be feasable?

[Sean McQuaid]

I guess that means no Comet Man either.

Alas, you are correct, though his past profile is available in the Essential format.

Oh well, I still appreciate all the immense time and effort that goes into this thing everytime it's produced, and I'll still be getting them. It's still a heck of a lot of fun.

Glad you like 'em, and thanks for that.

How about maybe producing a volume for all the obscure characters that were left out when the main ones are finished? Would that be feasable?

I love that idea (and it's one that's been batted around internally now and then), but I doubt we'll ever see a volume devoted purely to obscurities, since the more obscure material doesn't tend to sell as well. Besides which, it would probably take multiple volumes to cover all the significant obscure omissions. That's the blessing and the curse of the Marvel Universe -- it's so big, and getting bigger all the time, that it's almost impossible to profile everyone and everything deserving of coverage. We'll certainly keep trying our best, though...

-Sean