There's a new Batman book that's been published very recently by Del Ray called "The Essential Batman Encyclopedia" & I thought I would do a short book review about it. I remember getting news about this book a long time ago & have been kinda excited about it, thought it would be a very cool book to have. Well, after seeing/reading this book, I gotta say I am very happily surprised! First, the thing is HUGE! It's like a giant phone book. Next, it's not only jam-packed with a ton of detailed information but it's beautifully illustrated all through out. The author, Robert Greenberger, has done a really nice job compiling & organizing tons of Batman history. The book has almost 400 pages & the wonderful thing, for me, are all the awesome graphics that are sprinkled about on almost every page. They didn't skimp on that area. There are beautiful pictures from the Golden Age 1940's all the way to the very very recent comic books. That was something that kinda surprised me, how "updated" it was. Now, to be honest, I have not yet read every single line in this book, that would take me months to do. But I have read a lot & the way the information is laid out is really nice. Just like any encyclopedia you look up a name or place & there's a section on that person or thing. I like that they list the "first appearance" of many characters. ( Bat-Mite, Detective Comics # 257, May 1959 ). I think that this is a book that every Batman Fan would love. For example, as a test, I tried to think of a very obscure character to look up. When I was a little kid I always liked a villain named The Eraser. I flipped through the book & not only did they have some nice information about him but they also had a wonderful graphic as well. They reprinted the original comic book cover he 1st appeared on, ha ha! I ran many tests like that & was happily surprised each time, a fun book. One thing I gotta say though. This book's main focus is the "Comic Book Batman" or what most fans call the "real Batman". It doesn't have any facts about the 1966 TV Show, The Animated Series, The Movies...it mainly covers the "comic book" character. But, that's the character we all love & covering those other areas could be another 400 pages! So, I guess, to sum it up...this book is really wonderful & it's a must have for any true Batman Fan or Collector. I like it & hope, that if you check it out, you will too. One last thing: If you have already planned on buying this book from Amazon then please help support the Bat-Blog by using this link, thanks.
