It ran concurrent with Crisis on Infinite Earths, IIRC. The Update came later, featuring characters left out of the original run (either because they hadn't appeared yet, or they were just overlooked.)
I thought it started just a bit before Crisis started, but it was around there. The original series went well past it as it was 26 monthly issues. I remember making the trek up to Waldenbooks every month to make sure I got the new one. Still useful reference material and great for sketch material at cons for artists. I bring my Legion one with me every time, just in case.
What I read at some point was that Len Wein was going to write CRISIS and Marv Wolfman was going to write WHO'S WHO, but they decided to swap shortly before they both got started. Perhaps they figured Len's specialty as having encyclopediac trivia knowledge would come more in handy with the "handbook". Also, it allowed the TITANS team to stay together.
The 1990s was a looseleaf version where characters were put into each issue more or less randomly. Well, everyone got the same characters, but there was no particular rhyme or reason as to why they were in that issue.
Anyway, you peeled them out and put them in binders in alphabetical order.
I like the original Who's Who better, for the quality of information. However, I like the looseleaf version because I could put it all in alphabetical order no matter how many times they updated it. Unfortunately, they only did that one series.
I desperately wish DC would do a definitive version that wasn't net-based. I love these, but I fear we will never see a series like this again from Marvel or DC.
Actually, it confused me. Who's Who was how I was learning about the DC Universe, a company that I wasn't familiar with. The whole Batman-1/Batman-2 thing made no sense to me, especially since their entries where so similar.
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
They are a bit of a treasure as far as comic book history goes. Having Superman 1, Superman 2 and the rest separated probably helped newcomers.
Replies
It ran concurrent with Crisis on Infinite Earths, IIRC. The Update came later, featuring characters left out of the original run (either because they hadn't appeared yet, or they were just overlooked.)
I thought it started just a bit before Crisis started, but it was around there. The original series went well past it as it was 26 monthly issues. I remember making the trek up to Waldenbooks every month to make sure I got the new one. Still useful reference material and great for sketch material at cons for artists. I bring my Legion one with me every time, just in case.
What I read at some point was that Len Wein was going to write CRISIS and Marv Wolfman was going to write WHO'S WHO, but they decided to swap shortly before they both got started. Perhaps they figured Len's specialty as having encyclopediac trivia knowledge would come more in handy with the "handbook". Also, it allowed the TITANS team to stay together.
They are a bit of a treasure as far as comic book history goes. Having Superman 1, Superman 2 and the rest separated probably helped newcomers.
The GCD tells me there was a second series and update in the 1990s.
The 1990s was a looseleaf version where characters were put into each issue more or less randomly. Well, everyone got the same characters, but there was no particular rhyme or reason as to why they were in that issue.
Anyway, you peeled them out and put them in binders in alphabetical order.
I like the original Who's Who better, for the quality of information. However, I like the looseleaf version because I could put it all in alphabetical order no matter how many times they updated it. Unfortunately, they only did that one series.
I desperately wish DC would do a definitive version that wasn't net-based. I love these, but I fear we will never see a series like this again from Marvel or DC.
Actually, it confused me. Who's Who was how I was learning about the DC Universe, a company that I wasn't familiar with. The whole Batman-1/Batman-2 thing made no sense to me, especially since their entries where so similar.
Mark S. Ogilvie said:
I loved the Who's Who books. I still have them.
They were supposed to have done another round of those suckers recently, weren't they? Wasn't that in the talks?
Lumbering Jack said:
Curiously enough, I find it worthless as a reference, because it contains so many errors in information.
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