Friday, February 6, 2009

HUGE X-Men Hardcover Book

I came across this book yesterday when I was at Popular Central @ Bras Basah Complex. Why? It's near Roy's shop a.k.a The Falcon's Hangar, the number 1 toy shop in Singapore, that's why :) When I found out it only costs S$26.90 (was S$29.90 but was reduced further with Popular Card discount - feel bad for them), I couldn't resist not getting it. I'm glad I did. This book published by Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc. is HUGE (28 cm or 11 inches wide x 36 cm or 14.25 inches high x 3 cm or 1.25 inches thick), heavy, hardcover bound and crammed full of interesting facts (288 pages in all) about the X-Men. Before this, I only knew of Dorling Kindersley's X-Men: The Ultimate Guide which I didn't find interesting.

Just to show you the size of this book, both Wolverines volunteered to pose with it to give you an idea of its scale.

X-Men: The Characters and Their Universe by Michael Mallory. The impressive cover was what caught my attention. There's a foreword by Bryan Singer, director of X-Men, X2: X-Men United and Superman Returns.

Growing up reading X-Men comics, you cannot help but feel nostalgic when you browse through the pages and see familiar faces. There's Professor X, founder of The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters and mentor to the original X-Men, who believed in using their mutant powers for the good of all mankind. What a shock when he gets killed by Dark Phoenix/Jean Grey in X3, after Cyclops.

Storm and Nightcrawler

Phoenix

Gambit/Remy LeBeau. Can't wait to see him in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", to be released in May 2009. There's also Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool and Liev Schreiber as Victor Creed/Sabretooth (Dragon's Operation Enduring Freedom figure "Dean" has his likeness).

There's a chapter on some of the X-Men merchandise produced over the years, up to 2006 because that was when this book was published.

There's also a chapter "Mutants in the Media" which covers the X-Men animated series and the very successful X-Men film franchise. Too bad Medicom never produced the rest of the X-Men movie figures.

Almost half of the characters produced by Toy Biz for their "Famous Cover" series were from the X-Men - that shows you their marketability. More pictures here. Click on the pictures for a larger view.
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6 comments:

  1. Little Plastic ManFebruary 6, 2009 at 5:28 PM

    Wow...nice...how much did you get that for...I actually compile my own x-men characters guide by printing out from the internet.

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  2. alex teoFebruary 6, 2009 at 5:48 PM

    hey adrian, it only costs $26.90 after discount with Popular Card, otherwise it's $29.90 :) well worth it

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  3. Little Plastic ManFebruary 6, 2009 at 10:42 PM

    Thats cheap! Thanks

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  4. alex teoFebruary 7, 2009 at 11:07 AM

    yup! i dunno how Popular makes money from selling these books but it's GREAT for us ;)

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  5. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2009 at 4:43 AM

    Word of advice, don't try and read the X-Men comics. The whole franchise has simply gone to hell in a handbaseket. Its probably best to stick with the movies. A lot less history (only 8 years vs. 40 plus) and the character relationships aren't as overdeveloped.

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  6. alex teoFebruary 8, 2009 at 7:18 AM

    thanks for the advice - ha! ha! although I'm already quite aware of Marvel milking it to death. When I was reading X-men comics, things were less complicated and there were less titles. Now there are countless X-men related comics and extremely complicated storylines. I tried going back to the comics but gave up on them.

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