Captain America The Ultimate Guide to the First Avenger

The book had a lot of pictures and information about Captain America. It also had a lot of the history about him (what he used too look like, his old villains, his old girlfriend, etc.) The book was very good for the price and it came with the most minor nick, it looked as if it could almost be new.This book Overall I liked the book very much.

I'm a huge comic book fan, and Captain America is perhaps my favourite character having collected every one of his comics and mini-series over the years, as well as closely followed his adventures in titles like 'Avengers'. I'm also a huge fan of the line of 'Ultimate Guides' coffee table style books that publisher DK have released over the past few years, covering characters such as Iron Man, Hulk and Spider-man amongst others, and I'm glad to say that 'Captain america: the Ultimate Guide to the First Avenger' - the latest in this line - continues this trend of excellence.Likely released to coincide with the characters 75 anniversary in 2016, 200 pages, full colour, and printed in UK magazine-style oversized format, the book concentrates purely on Captain Americas comic-book adventures and forsakes any analysis of the successful movie franchise, so it may be of less interest to those who are primarily interested in the Marvel films. What the book does though, it does incredibly well.Emblazened with dozens of images plucked from the comics Cap has featured in over the years, and split into broad sections covering each decade of Captain Americas comic book history, from his debut in the 1940's and accurate up to and including the adventures of the latest man to take on the role of Captain America: Sam Wilson, each decade is then subsequently divided into several sub-sections covering subjects like Caps major allies, most notorious enemies, and most famous stories.Its all here. Every man to have ever worn the stars and stripes and carried the iconic shield, from its most well known bearer, the original Captain America Steve Rogers, to its current bearer Sam Wilson (aka The Falcon), and every man inbetween including, Isiah Bradley, Jeff Mace, William Nasland, William Burnside (the Cap of the 1950's), John Walker (aka USAgent) and Bucky Barnes (Caps WWII side-kick).There are sections on the different versions of the costume that Cap has worn, as well as that various shields that he has wielded over the years, including his original tirangular shield, the 'classic' shield, the shield Steve Rogers carried when operating as 'The Captain', and his photonic energy shield.You have chapters on Caps allies, such as D-Man, Hawkeye, Nomad and Rick Jones; friends and family, from his parents, the man who was responsible for the Super-soldier programme - Dr Abraham Erskine - childhood friend Arnie Roth, his first 'boss' General Chester Phillips, and all the loves of his life including Bernie Rosenthal, Diamondback and Sharon Carter (Agent 13), as well as famous team-ups including the WWII era super team 'The Invaders', Nick Fury's 'Howling Commandos', the 'All-Winners' and the group of superpowered movers-and-shakers that were the 'Illuminati'.Then there are the enemies that Cap has collected over 75 years of comic book tales, including organisations such as Hydra, AIM, the Serpent Society, and the Super-AXIS, as well as individuals from major opponants such as the Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Baron Blood, Crossbones, Madame Hydra and Baron Von Strucker, to the minor or even utterly obscure ones like Batroc the Leaper, Ameridroid and the Anti-Cap.A conclusive and coherent timeline of the history of Captain America is included as well as entries on all of the major stories he has participated in, such as 'The Strange Death of Captain America', 'Madbomb', 'The Captain', 'Operation Rebirth', 'Heroes Reborn', 'The Winter Soldier', and 'Civil War' amongst others.The only complaint I have is that this book could have easily been twice as thick - and I would have been quite willing to pay twice as much for such a book. As a result of its relatively modest page count sections for many characters often amount to nothing more than a small insert or side bar, with the majority of the space perhaps understandably reserved for Caps most significant allies, foes and stories, and some very minor characters are ommitted completely (what, no love for Americop, Everyman or Dough-boy?! Not even a specific entry for USAgent?). To make too much of a fuss over that however would be unfair as the difficulty of trying to compress the best part of a centurys worth of stories into one concise volume has to be acknowledged.Despite this, the guide is still a brilliant and informative read - as entertaining and useful to old sweats like me who will likely use it as a pleasant and easily digestible trip down memory lane, as it will be to newer fans perhaps not so familiar with the Captain America stories of earlier generations, or people who are brand new to the character and will now be able to enjoy what is an indespensible tome of knowledge and information to his rich, varied and lengthy history.Excellent stuff!