I was at a book store the other day and came across some old books I used to have from when I was more into Star Wars: The Essential Guide series.
These books were a great reference for fans, the character guide had bios on most of the hcaracters seen in the movies, including most of the funky bunch from Jabba's palace and the Cantina, as well as primary characters from the EU books.
The guide for vehicles had great specs and details of the space craft and land vehicles used through out the universe.
I seem to recall there being volumes for all the planets, all the species, the weapons and droids. Like I said, these were great refrence guides for fans.
Is there such a guide for G.I.*Joe? I saw on Amazon there is an "Essential Guide,"
http://www.amazon.com/G-I-Joe-vs-Cobra- ... RKWK4KF1H2, but in reading the reviews on amazon and a couple other places, it doesn't seem like it'd be worth it.
Personally, I'd love to see a series of essential guides like the SW books that break it down by topic: characters, equipment, weapons, etc. It could even be split in two for each volume; one for the Joes, one for Cobra.
It looks like one place that is difficult for the Essential History is how Cobra-La and Sigma 6 fit into the mix. I'm not familiar with Sigma 6, but as far as Cobra La and CC evolving from a reptilian race vs. him being a disgruntled car sales man, I'm gonna go with the car salesman angle.
I never read the comics as a kid, but I do consider them to be the canon stories. There were a few dicrepensies between the comic and the cartoon that I know of, like the Duke/Scarlett, SE/Scarlett relationship difference, Springfield being a bigger part of the comic universe and how some characters played bigger parts in the comics (cough, SE!) than they did in the cartoon.
An essential guide focusing on the vehicles would be pretty easy considering that almost all the vehicles come with some kind of blue prints, same with the weapons; as most of the weapons are real world weapons and not a lot of stuff would have to be made up like in the SW universe.
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Some people, when trying to avoid thinking about those things that cause them pain, turn to drink, food, or drugs...I turn not to any of those...I collect action figures. Over the years, I've found that alcoholism is much more socially acceptable by far.
