Superheroes V. Supervillains: A - Z Book Review!

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Superheroes V. Supervillains: A - Z Book Review!

About the Book: A is for...Angel. Warren Kenneth Worthington III is a comic book anti-hero in the Marvel Comics universe. Originally known as the Angel and later Archangel, Worthington is one of the founding members of the X-Men. B is for...Batman. Created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger he is comic book superhero. Batman first appeared in Detective Comics in 1939, and since then has appeared in many of DC Comics' publications. Originally referred to as "the Batman", he is additionally known as "The Caped Crusader", "The Dark Knight", "The Darknight Detective" and "The World's Greatest Detective". C is for ...Captain Marvel. Monica Rambeau is a superheroine in the Marvel Comics universe. Initially known as Captain Marvel, the character became a member of the Avengers and served for a time as their leader. She later used the codenames Photon and Pulsar after another Captain Marvel Surfaced.

Our Take: We have a great respect for the written word here at the Legion.  I've never authored a book myself, and thats not due to a lack of material or ideas, but when I undertake a Batman guide I'm going to ensure that its complete and does justice to the legacy of the character.  I will run my facts by several other fans to ensure that I didn't miss something, because I'm not so arrogant as to assume that I know it all.  It appears that the author of this book, Sarah Oliver, didn't run this book by anyone..even an editor.  This author pumps out A-Z guides on such subjects as Taylor Lautner, Justin Bieber and Glee.  I say stick to your vapid subject matter and leave the comic book universe alone.  Its not something an amateur can just breeze by using IMDB.

I will start with whats wrong...where do I begin?  First of all, this isn't an A to Z guide of superheroes and villains...its an A to Z guide of their movie and live action TV appearances.  There are no animation credits listed for major characters like Batman...but in a fit of inconsistancy with organization there is for some other characters. 

The appearance listings for Batman list all of his films, including the 1966 feature, although not his appearance on the Birds Of Prey pilot.  In another great contradiction, Catwoman's appearances do not list the 1966 film, of which she was one of the main villains.  Oh, and of the other villains in the film how many have the 1966 film in their credits?  NONE!  Seriously?!  I could go on and on...I mean there is no listing for Robin in this book, but she lists Barbara Wilson, the Batgirl in the feature film travesty Batman & Robin?!  No Batgirl from Birds of Prey either.  Way to go.

The writing is juvenille at best.  It reads like a junior high book report.  'This is Batman.  Batman has a cape.  Batman is called the Dark Knight' and so forth.  Its really disturbing to think that this person has written a so-called Superhero book and some poor kid or fan may actually spend money on this!  

I usually try to find the good in things, but this book just enraged me.  The ONE cool thing about it is that it starts with the heroes and to see the villain listings you have to flip it over.  Design-wise it was a win...its just that the content is complete nonsense.  Thanks for giving me a glorified (and rather inaccurate and inconsistant) IMDB listing in print.