Rating: 
Summary: This is not the Bob Caine Batman....
Review: Well everyone seems to think that Batman was created by Frank Miller in the 1985 Dark Knight Returns story, and forget that the character goes back to 1939, as created by Bob Caine and Bill Finger. Those stories are largely over-looked in this new book that basically treats Batman in the post Miller era as a masked lunatic who is distrubed very greatly. Shows no emotion, very reluctantly allows Alfred and Dick Grayson into his world. He comes off as colder then useual and no better then the villians he fights. The pre-Miller stories may have seen a more camp take on Batman, but he behaved more human and was a bit more that you could like about him. Almost every movie that they have done recently as shown Batman as a lunatic and I'm going against popular viewpoints here to say that it does not work. It;s a clear example of a writer who destroyed a character and DC still has not corrected this mistake to this day, Oh well, at least Hal Jordan will be back as Green Lantarn.
Rating:
Summary: Why do it if you're not going to do it right?
Review: 128 friggin' pages. What an insult to Batman and Batman fans. There are too many omissions to begin to count. Actually, if you read the Batman timeline at the end you'll see how many characters and events were left out. The Dark Knight Returns is completely ignored, other stories such as The Cult and Batman: Year Two also go unmentioned. Nearly all of Batman's DC allies are left out, including Superman. Personally, I'm not a fan of The Man of Steel, I don't think he fits in well with the Batman mythos, but to leave him out of "The Ultimate Batman Guide" (yeah, right) is an outrage. What we get instead is tons of garbage about "No Man's Land". What is that anyway? People that grew up with Batman don't care about DC's latest trend. We'd rather not see the Dark Knight we love trashed and revised to fit the current (stupid) DC story-lines. A whole section is devoted to No Man's Land and some other city called Bludhaven. It infuriates me that they devote so much space in this painfully slim volume to that and blow off The Dark Knight Returns. It's as if they went out of their way to screw it up.
I gave this book 2 stars because when it is good, (Batcave, Bat-Vehicle, Wayne Manor specs) it is really excellent. But every time I see the pamphlet-sized length and think about the dozens of omissions, it dampens any enthusiasm I might have had. Try again, DC, and this time do it right.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow! Batfans rejoice!
Review: Finally, someone has written the definitive guide for all things Bat. Scott Beatty must be a big Bat Fanboy because he gets more in depth than all the books of the past. If you ever had any questions about the books and movies, it will be answered here. It is obvious that this guys has poured all over the titles and the many other sources for a cornicopia of information. Normal fans do not get a chance to gain this kind of behind the scenes access to the writers and DC lore, so its nice to get it all collated into one volume. Here is a writer to follow!
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Batfans rejoice!
Review: Finally, someone has written the definitive guide for all things Bat. Scott Beatty must be a big Bat Fanboy because he gets more in depth than all the books of the past. If you ever had any questions about the books and movies, it will be answered here. It is obvious that this guys has poured all over the titles and the many other sources for a cornicopia of information. Normal fans do not get a chance to gain this kind of behind the scenes access to the writers and DC lore, so its nice to get it all collated into one volume. Here is a writer to follow!
Rating: 
Summary: Cool handbook!
Review: Good job on this, and fun for comic fans or just people interested in Batman and his amazing toys. The only reason I wasn't completely thrilled with this book was that it is definitely going to feel dated in five to ten years as the Batman comics lunge forward. That said, its also a great marker in time for Batman as of the time this was released. The pictures and diagrams are really well done. I think if I had a nephew or niece that I wanted to get to read, I would hand them this book. The text may occasionally be over their heads, but the illustrations will keep them locked in.
Rating:
Summary: Cool handbook!
Review: Good job on this, and fun for comic fans or just people interested in Batman and his amazing toys. The only reason I wasn't completely thrilled with this book was that it is definitely going to feel dated in five to ten years as the Batman comics lunge forward. That said, its also a great marker in time for Batman as of the time this was released. The pictures and diagrams are really well done. I think if I had a nephew or niece that I wanted to get to read, I would hand them this book. The text may occasionally be over their heads, but the illustrations will keep them locked in.
Rating:
Summary: Answered a lot of my questions
Review: I bought this book because I am new to the Batman world and I wanted to know about the people around him and his most famous adversaries. The graphics in the book are great. If you are looking for a primer on the major players in the Batman world (friends and foes), then this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: The Dark Knight RULZ!!
Review: I bought this book not to long ago & I like it alot! NUFF SAID!!
Rating:
Summary: It's actually pretty decent
Review: I do have to agree that it was not quite as big as the other books (Spiderman, X-Men, etc.), and that it didn't cover enough of the "classic Batman" that I grew up with (I'm 47). But, I still liked the book nonetheless. It has some great "shots" of Batman in variouis poster-quality poses - I thought they were well done.Batman has been around a long time and has gone through a number of revisionist histories. Despite the fact that much of "my Batman" is missing, I was still impressed by how Beatty was able to incorporate elements of the various histories and timelines that have been in place for the past two to three decades. I really loved his treatises of the bat-suit, utility belt, bat-weapons, bat-gadgets, the Batcave, the Batmobiles and bat-vehicles. (BTW, he did manage to incorporate the Batplane and Whirly-Bat that I knew and loved as a kid.) It was also good to see how he handled the Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler and Ra's Al Ghul. It brought back quite a few memories. And I thought the "Batman Timeline" was a nice touch. I have a nice-sized Batman library, and I'm happy to include this book as the latest addition.
Rating:
Summary: Batman Rules!
Review: I thought this was a great guide. It gave me a lot of information on Batman and the illustrations and graphics were great! I have read similar DK books on Wolverine and this was almost as good. They need to add the Batman Evolution and Batman-Superman series. Not a bad job.
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