Techtite's Hardcopy: Book Reviews

"The place where this book really shines are the cutaway drawings of the more elaborate Batman items...they take the totally intangible world of Batman, and make his most renowned items --only seen in comic books-- into tangible-looking cutaway drawings."

---from the review

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Also reviewed: Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide. 

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Never the ones to take sides, DK Publishing has released two simultaneous guides, to the saga of two separate superheroes: Spider-man, and Batman. However, while which is the better superhero is left wisely unanswered, the real question is which is the better guide? On the one hand, each guide has traits the other does not. However, Batman admittedly has been around longer, and therefore, his book should have the more thorough back story, yet it doesn't. That alone is reason for bat-fans to be disappointed...if only to a certain extent.

Batman: The Ultimate Guide to The Dark Knight is a 128 page hardcover book, whose information is divided mostly according to Bruce Wayne's Bat-gadgets, bat-friends, and bat-enemies. Newcomers to the Batman comic scenes (particularly those who haven't read the comics since they were a child, or only saw the films/TV series) will be particularly intrigued at the dossiers offered here, from the downfall of the original Batgirl (who was shot and paralyzed by The Joker), to the rise of a new Batgirl (who I had no idea existed; she came on the scene, apparently, only recently). Bat-fans should love this compendium of everything Batty, preserved in hardcover form.

The place where this book really shines are the cutaway drawings of the more elaborate Batman items. DK Publishing has offered similar cutaway drawings in books for Star Wars films and the like, though here they take the totally intangible world of Batman, and make his most renowned items --only seen in comic books-- into tangible-looking cutaway drawings. This includes a thrilling cutaway map of the Batcave, the Batmobile, and the Batwing, among others. There's even an exterior artist's conception of Wayne Manor, and an additional pair of pages showing how the Batcave has recently expanded into several additional levels. This is worth the whole price of the book alone.

That is a good thing, because for veteran Batman fans, there's not much to peruse here. Much like Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide, two side-by-side pages are devoted to each character or item, and yet the overall saga of Batman's 63-year run, is minimized to a mere 6-page timeline in the back of the book. By comparison, the Spider-Man guide wisely divided additional chapters by decade, devoting dual pages to each main story. This bat-guide, aside from the gadget/hero/villain pages, offers few additional pages for any number of story arcs batman has faced through the years. When looking at how much participation each character has played in Batman's life, their bios seem extremely abbreviated. Surely, an arch-nemesis like The Joker deserves more of a listing than two pages! In the Spider-Man book, there are pairs of pages about Mary Jane Watson herself, her marriage to Peter Parker, her ill-fated pregnancy, and on and on. In this, we get only the most superficial overview of The Clown King of Crime. It's worthwhile to read --and to have preserved in hardcover form-- and yet any average comic book fan will tell you it's not enough.

Such omissions in detail range from the severe snubs to the acceptable omissions. Signs of the latter include the most paltry mention of Bane, Azrael, and the whole saga where Bruce Wayne's backbone was cracked by Bane, leaving Azrael as "The New Batman." Only one tiny picture on Azrael's page keeps record of this story arc ever existing. However, at least Azrael has his own pair of pages; surely, Joker's main squeeze Harley Quinn deserves more than just a one-paragraph mention on The Joker's page! Likewise for romantic squeeze Talia, the daughter of Ras Al Ghul, who has had a more relevant role in Batman's life than is merely alluded to here. As for obscure characters like Bat-mite, they aren't mentioned at all, regardless of how much we'd all like to forget this little bat-brat from another universe. If you want the definitive guide to everything Batty, you have to be thorough.

However, is this book worth the purchase? Yes, thanks to those cool batcave/batmobile cutaway drawings. The whole book is priced at the same amount many would give for a foldout photo of the batcave alone. To have it added into a hardcover compendium of bat-history makes the purchase even sweeter. So what if this is merely Batman 101, when we all expected, indeed, "The Ultimate Guide"...?