My wallet may be suffering, but I'm thoroughly geeked by the new wave of handbooks being put out by Marvel. For those who don't know, they're three issues into a 12-issue A-to-Z official handbook, mostly covering minor characters and characters in need of major updates. For the past few years, Marvel has also been producing themed handbooks dealing with major characters and obscure corners of the Marvel universe -- from Marvel's giant monsters like Fin Fang Foom to its many alternate universes.

Marvel has also released the first of its "Legacy" handbooks, covering major and minor characters of the 1960s. Major characters like Captain America and the Fantastic Four are included alongside forgotten villains like Kurrgo and the Tumbler, but the information only covers their 1960s appearances. A 1970s Legacy book is apparently forthcoming soon, featuring more major and minor Marvel characters of the period.

And as if that wasn't enough, Marvel released an essentials trade paperback of the original Official "Handbook of the Marvel Universe" from 1983-84, and more recently the first essentials trade of the expanded "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition" (including issues 1-7).

As an uber-geek fan of Marvel's excellent handbooks, originally overseen by the great Mark Gruenwald, I'm glad to see the handbooks getting such a thorough revival. Anyone else who coveted the old handbooks should check out the new stuff, jam packed with obscure characters, as well as the "Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe" Web site, , whose staff is involved in the new handbook project.