Spider-man: Inside The World Of Your Friendly Neighbourhood Hero Review

• 5th Jul 2012

Authors: Matthew K. Manning with Tom DeFalco, foreword by Stan Lee.

I’m finding it tough what to say here. How do you review an encyclopaedia? I’m just going to go and give it a shot.

And this thing is an encyclopaedia. One on all things Spider-man, publishing company DK have collaborated with Marvel on this end to end on the life of your favourite web slinger.

While the book doesn’t go into massive detail on all accounts, which it can’t – this is not a series of books – it does indeed cover everything. And I mean everything.

Spider-man: Inside The World opens with a great foreword from the king of the geeks. We see that Stan Lee has many a poignant word to say about what is potentially his greatest creation. From there we have writer Matthew K. Manning, with the help of Tom DeFalco, leaving no stone unturned as he delves into everything Spider-man.

Throughout the book, Manning introduces what he calls “Key Issues” of the comic, which go into the more important moments in Spider-man history, and go into great detail of each. These include Spider-man’s first appearance, The Clone Saga, Spider-man’s part to play in Civil War and the Death of the Stacey’s.

Each and every villain Spider-man has encountered, no matter how big or small, is looked at. Albeit, some in greater detail than others, but it does make sense – Green Goblin is a tad more important than Boomerang.

His more vicious and well-known villains each have their own character profile, as do the other supporting characters in the Spider-man universe. Aunt May, MJ, Jameson and more feature.

Each of the various Spider-man “universes” are looked at, and everything is up to date, for the moment at least. With regards to Ultimate Spider-man, we see the Death of Spider-man, as well as the introduction of the new Spider-man, Miles Morales.

Basically, this book has everything. It is an encyclopaedia, really in depth and Manning is absolute in his methods. But is this one for the book shelf? Definitely. If you are a Spider-man fan, and would like to know everything (if you didn’t already), go ahead. A fantastic book to open when the mood strikes. Don’t worry about a thing, you will enjoy Spider-man: Inside The World Of Your Friendly Neighbourhood Hero. Trust me.

Chris Droney