The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #7
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIssue #7 of the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe sits at the heart of one of the most consequential publishing experiments in Bronze Age Marvel history: the first systematic, encyclopedic codification of a shared superhero universe in comic-book format, predating DC's competing Who's Who by roughly two years. As the seventh installment of the 15-part alphabetical march through the Marvel Universe, it consolidated definitive power descriptions, vital statistics, and origin summaries for a dense block of 'M'-initial characters — from cosmic heavyweights like Mephisto and MODOK to team players like the Morlocks, Mockingbird, and Marrina — giving writers, editors, and readers a common canonical reference that shaped how Marvel's continuity would be policed and discussed for decades. The entry-format template established across this series, with its full-body character portraits drawn specifically for the handbook (often by each character's signature artist), set the visual and prose standard that every subsequent Marvel and DC universe guide would imitate.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series originated with editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, who envisioned a character-statistics guide modeled on baseball-card data sheets; he appointed Mark Gruenwald as editor, and Gruenwald expanded the scope into a full-blown encyclopedia, borrowing the 'Marvel Universe' phrase from Al Milgrom's working title for Marvel Fanfare. The core creative team on the original 15-issue run — Gruenwald, writers Peter Sanderson, Tom DeFalco, and Mark Lerer, and inker Josef Rubinstein, who was selected specifically for his ability to harmonize disparate penciling styles — worked under grueling conditions, reportedly pulling all-nighters at Marvel's Park Avenue South offices to meet monthly deadlines. Issue #7, released on April 12, 1983 with a July 1983 cover date, was edited by Gruenwald and Michael Carlin under Shooter as editor-in-chief; each character portrait was assigned to an artist historically associated with that character, resulting in a remarkable concentration of top-tier 1983 Marvel talent within a single issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue #7 is the seventh of 15 installments in the original 1983–1984 OHOTMU series, covering characters alphabetically from Mandarin through Mystique.
- The issue's roster includes Mephisto, MODOK, Mole Man, Molecule Man, Moondragon, Moon Knight, Mystique, Mockingbird, Marrina, Martinex, Man-Thing, Medusa, Mister Fantastic, Mysterio, and the Morlocks (with individual entries for Caliban, Callisto, Masque, Plague, and Sunder), among others.
- Character portraits were drawn by artists closely linked to each subject: Moon Knight by Bill Sienkiewicz, Mephisto by John Buscema, Mister Fantastic and Molecule Man by John Byrne, Mr. Hyde by John Romita Jr., Mysterio by John Romita Sr., Mesmero by Walt Simonson, and MODOK by Mike Zeck.
- The issue features a wraparound cover; all issues in the original 15-part run have wraparound covers designed so that, when placed side by side, they form a single composite panoramic image of the Marvel Universe.
- An appendix section at the back of the issue provides one-line listings for additional minor characters not receiving full entries, a format consistent throughout the original series.
- The entire original 15-issue run, including this issue, was collected for the first time in a single hardcover Omnibus by Marvel Comics (ISBN 9781302920609), co-credited to Gruenwald, Eliot R. Brown, Tom DeFalco, Mark Lerer, and Peter Sanderson.
- The series was also reprinted in black-and-white in the Essential Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe trade paperback format, making this issue's content accessible in collected form to later generations of readers.
- DC Comics launched its own competing Who's Who in the DC Universe approximately two years after the OHOTMU began, widely acknowledged at the time (including by Jim Shooter) as a direct response to Marvel's initiative.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Edderkoppen #3/1985 (1985), Edderkoppen #3/1985 (1985), Spindelmannen #3/1985 (1985), Spindelmannen #12/1987 (1987), Essential Moon Knight #1 (2006), Essential Man-Thing #1 (2006), Essential Marvel Horror #2 (2008), Essential Man-Thing #2 (2008), Avengers: Hawkeye #[nn] (2009), Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus #1 (2011), Avengers: The Korvac Saga #[nn] (2012), Fantastic Four by John Byrne Omnibus #2 (2013), Marvel Héroes #59 (2015), Marvel Héroes #60 (2015), Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection #1 (2015), The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus #3 (2016), Alpha Flight by John Byrne Omnibus #[nn] (2017), Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Omnibus #[nn] (2019), The Eternals: The Complete Saga Omnibus #[nn] (2020), Adam Warlock Omnibus #[nn] (2023), Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor #22 (2023)
Key issues in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
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