The Fantastic Four became a frequent super hero team after the release of their comic books thru Marvel Comics in late 1960. Comic book lovers lost no time taking a liking to the four main characters, who gained super powers after being exposed to cosmic rays for the duration of a mission to outer space for the sake of science. Characters that would later be brought to life through live action in these movies.

Who is the Fantastic Four and why are they fantastic? Here’s the who and why:

Reed Richards also known as Mister. Fantastic, who may stretch and reshape his body in inhuman ways

Susan Storm Richards likewise known as Invisible Woman, who is competent to use light to make herself as well as others and objects around her invisible

Johnny Storm also known as The Human Torch, who may both control and project fire from his body. Additionally he is capable to fly.

Ben Grimm also known as The Thing, who is transformed and has orange rock-like skin and super humane strength.

In the film adaptations (The original movie and it is sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) the characters were portrayed by actors Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Micheal Chiklis and actress Jessica Alba.

The Fantastic Four movies were surely long awaited by comic book fans that get enjoyment from seeing their bestloved stories come to life on the big screen.

Like most comic books, the Fantastic Four’s success led to much media interest, bringing when it comes to animated television series, video games, action figures and other merchandise. Yet, the super foursome wouldn’t hit the theaters until 2005; in spite of the fact that Constantin Film purchased reputation rights to make a film in the mid-1980′s, and even freed a low budget version of the Fantastic Four movies in the early 1990′s, which would never receive an official release.

20th Century Fox Film Corporation would later pick up the rights to the film and try to give it the big budget adaptation comic book fans felt the characters and their story deserved. However, fans of the classic comic books and comic book based movie lovers, as well as critics gave mixed reviews to the initial film and again to it is sequel. The films were merely called decent in their best reviews. Still, there is talk of another film joining the Fantastic Four movies franchise. A reboot that may feature a whole new cast and give the fearsome foursome a facelift!

Encyclopedia Comic Book Heroes Original

The extreme guide to the man behind the mask . . . and the mythology behind the man.

“Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot. So my camouflage must be competent to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible. . . . I shall become a bat!” So declared millionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, orphaned as a boy by a murderous thug and driven as a man to battle the scourge of crime by getting Batman. Batman swooped into ordinary culture in 1939–and for closely seventy years has thrilled audiences in innumerable comics, live-action and animated television programs, and seven feature films. Prowling the darkened rooftops of Gotham City, roaring through the teeming streets in the sleek, high-powered Batmobile, and leaping into action when the iconic Bat-Signal pierces the night sky, the Caped Crusader is a larger-than-life legend. And now, for the original time in more than thirty years, everything there is to know with regards to Batman–from the beginning to the present, and from A to Z–is assembled in one comprehensive new sourcebook. More than 500 pages of entries and illustrations include:

• arousing and attention holding details and the finish background on Batman’s roots
• biographies of each major reputation in the Batman universe–including his nearest allies, from Robin the Boy Wonder and faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth to Commissioner Gordon; and his innumerable enemies, from the Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler to Scarecrow, Two-Face, Ra’s al Ghul and Poison Ivy
• classic black-and-white comic book art throughout
• two sixteen-page full-color art inserts

Even an all-access pass to the Batcave couldn’t rival former DC Comics editor and Batman scholar extraordinaire Robert Greenberger’s indepth uttermost archive. The Essential Batman Encyclopedia is a will have to for each Batman fan’s bookshelf.

BATMAN, the DC Logo, and all related names, characters and parts are trademarks of DC Comics © 2008. All rights reserved.

From School Library JournalGrade 6 Up—Over the last 69 years, Batman has experienced innumerable incarnations. For years, he seemed ageless and unchanging, but not so long ago editors and writers have found a heap of originative ways to explore the superhero’s mythos. Expanding upon Michael Fleisher’s The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes: Batman (DC Comics, 2007), this volume attempts to clarify how Batman fits into these story arcs, and to catalog closely each villain and close ally he came upon amongst 1939 and September 2007. Entries are fixed to characters and selective information within the Batman universe. This focus on characters and internal plot may be arousing and attention holding to fans, but will limit the book’s usefulness as a exploration tool. Fewer than one-third of the entries are accompanied by black-and-white illustrations. Two sets of color plates add much to the flavor of the work, altho they impart little information. Overall, the book is exceedingly exhaustive within it is scope and is well researched.—Dawn Rutherford, King County Library System, Bellevue, WA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.ABATTOIR
Serial killer Arnold Etchison grew up convinced that his family members were evil. He finally murdered them in the faith that their deaths would protect the world from further perils. Etchison likewise believed that he absorbed the life strength from each victim after his or her death. Taking the name Abattoir, he continued his murderous spree until Batman apprehended him. Etchison was declared criminally insane and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum. When the global criminal Bane freed the Arkham inmates while carrying out his plan to weaken the Dark Knight, Abattoir without delay returned to tracking down and killing members of his extended family. Etchison was at last found by Jean–Paul Valley, who at the time was substituting for Batman after the latter was crippled in a fight with Bane. Their confrontation took place at a Gotham refinery where Valley, who lacked Bruce Wayne’s unwavering moral scruples, permitted Abattoir to fall to his death. However, Valley later learned that Etchison had left an innocent victim, his cousin Graham Etchison, concealed away in an undisclosed torture chamber. With Etchison dead, the victim remained undiscovered and ultimately died.

Some time later Etchison’s spirit returned to plague Bruce Wayne, who had healed and wore Batman’s cape and cowl once again. Abattoir’s spirit attempted to cause his last surviving relative, an unnamed cousin, to miscarry, thereby supplying him with a mortal vessel to possess in his plan to return to humane form. Instead, Abattoir animated Valley’s armored Batsuit and fought Batman until the Dark Knight convinced Etchison’s spirit to abandon his vengeful mission and return to his proper place in the spirit realm. (Detective Comics #625, January 1991)
ABBOTT, KYLE
Little is known with regards to Kyle Abbott, whose firstborn recorded aspect saw him in the implement of ecoterrorist Raø’s al Ghuøl. He later swore his allegiance to al Ghuøl’s former employee, Whisper a’Daire, who injected him with a serum made by Raø’s that gave Abbott the capacity to shape–shift into a werewolf and eternal life. The serum necessitated to be taken on a regular basis, thereby granting a’Daire control over Abbott, who became her much–feared second in command. (Detective Comics #743, April 2000)

Abbott was likewise a’Daire’s whipping boy, and was punished each time one of her power–grabbing systems failed. As a result of the some beatings he received, he was left partially blinded and disfigured until a’Daire used the serum to restore Abbott’s health, though he remained blind in one eye. Despite his suffering, Abbott remained unswervingly loyal to his vicious master. When a’Daire took over HSC International Banking, a lawful company fronting for the criminal group Intergang, Abbott remained by her side.

Eventually regaining total sight, Abbott–now competent to modify form from humane to semi–lycan to full werewolf–led a team of shape–changers versus the Question and former Gotham City Police Department detective Renee Montoya, who were tracing illegal alien weaponry to Intergang. Abbott and his men engaged Intergang in a vicious fight that left all of Intergang’s agents dead. Abbott later managed to track Montoya and the Question to Khandaq, framing them for the slaughter that had occurred at the Intergang HSC warehouse. (52 #1, 2006)

When he returned to Gotham, Abbott was alarmed at the fervor Bruno Mannheim, Intergang’s leader, displayed for the task of demolishing the city to fulfill a prophecy from the Crime Bible. As a result, he turned his back on a’Daire and proved indispensable in leading Montoya to the kidnapped Batwoman, when it comes to to be sacrificed by Mannheim. He was last seen accompanying Nightwing in disabling appliances designed to turn the city into a charred lump of rock. (52 #48, 2007)
ABDULLAH
On Earth–2, Batman and Robin, now and then accompanied by Superman, would be hypnotized by Professor Carter Nichols and manage to pierce the time barrier. One such adventure landed the World’s Finest team in tenth–century Baghdad. The swarthy giant Abdullah led the notorious Forty Thieves and swapped a youth named Aladdin a useless oil lamp in interchange for a fortune, and then tried to frame Aladdin as a fellow member of the thieves. The time–traveling trio not only helped the lad regain his fortune, which had been swindled from him by Abdullah, but likewise stopped Abdullah’s planned crime wave through a Baghdad bazaar. (World’s Finest Comics #79, November/December 1955)

ACADEMY, THE
Organized crime in Gotham City has taken a lot of shapes over the years, but none so blatantly mirrored the attempts of law enforcement as the Academy. A mystery training facility for criminals, it also doubled as the headquarters for the underworld group that most benefited from the training. Standards for admittance were high, the Academy accepting only those men with an IQ higher than 135 who were physically at their peak. Upon learning of the Academy’s existence, Batman was determined to shut down the facility for good. The Caped Crusader dissembled himself as a recruit and went through all the training courses upon acceptance. His well–developed mind and body ensured that he innovative rapidly, and at long last he became a campaigner for the next leader of the organization. Batman took the leadership role and subsequently brought regarding the Academy’s downfall, with the aid of the Gotham City Police Department. The Academy’s hoard of stolen property and it is current membership roster were taken into custody, and the facility was shut down for good. (Batman #70, April/May 1952)

ACCORD
The little town of Accord was said to be located Òtwo hundred or so miles north of Gotham City.Ó Accord was founded by the great–grandfather of it is local physician, Lynn Eagles, who aided the Batman for the duration of a case involving the Joker. (Legends of the Dark Knight #67, January 1995)

ACE THE BAT–HOUND
When would–be counterfeiters kidnapped en-graver John Wilker, Batman and Robin launched an investigation. They saved Wilker’s abandoned German shepherd, Ace, from drowning in a river, and used the dog’s innate tracking abilities to aid locate his master. During the search, Bruce Wayne likewise placed an ad for Ace’s master. Given the distinctive diamond–shaped mark on Ace’s forehead, Wayne hoped somebody would recognize the dog and provide some utile information. Sure enough, one of Wilker’s neighbors gave Bruce a critical clue.

Wayne was likewise concerned that people might associate Ace and his distinguishable diamond mark with Batman and his unfeigned identity; as a result, he speedily fashioned a black hood and bat–symbol collar, and Ace joined the Dynamic Duo. A criminal tracked by the cowled canine soon dubbed him Ace the Bat–Hound.
Wilker’s kidnappers were attempting to steal ink from the Eastern Printing–Ink Company when the crime fighters caught up to them, only to be subdued for the duration of the fight. Fashioning a crude Bat–Signal from cloth and a flashlight, Batman managed to summon Ace, who gnawed through Robin’s bonds, freeing the heroes and permitting them to defeat the counterfeiters. (Batman #92, June 1955)

Wilker loaned Ace to Batman for a heap of cases over the next few months. When Wilker took a new occupation that required him to travel frequently, Wayne in the end adopted the dog. By then Batman had added a receiver to Ace’s collar that used an ultra–high–frequency sound to summon the canine. (Batman #125, August 1959) Ace went on ordinary adventures with the Dynamic Duo, and worked alongside Batwoman as well. Bat–Mite, the magical imp from another dimension, once bequeathed Ace temporary superpowers, with disastrous results.

In the reality formulated by the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Batman came across the German shepherd when the dog was pet to a 130–year–old Native American shaman named Black Wolf. Batman was drawn to a bat–shaped patch on the dog’s shoulder, and followed the dog. Batman was led to and rescued Black Wolf from members of his own tribe, who wanted to silence his protests at their evil plans. Batman and Black Wolf worked together to stop the tribe from committing atrocities that they felt would remainder the heinous crimes devoted by European settlers in 1863. After their mission, Black Wolf passed from physical life and Batman brought Ace back to Gotham City. Ace aided Batman on assorted occasions, including tracking the monstrous and elusive Killer Croc. (Batman #462, May 1991) Once ensconced in the Batcave, Ace was drawn to the mute hunchback Harold, who had also come to live in the cave and build tools for the Dark Knight. Harold, in return, built Ace a mechanical mouse to play with. Ace was last seen prior to events known as No Man’s Land.

Ace has not appeared in the reality invented after the events of Infinite Crisis.

ACTUARY, THE
As a way to commit crimes without interference from Batman, the Penguin once recruited an unnamed actuary. This actuary observed that the best way to commit a crime without being foiled by Batman was to do so in wide daylight. As the Penguin made his plans, he was incognizant that Batman had already aimed one of his current gang members, Nico Vanetta. Batman learned from Vanetta that the Penguin intended to rob the annual Gotham Flower Show. The Dark Knight then engineered events so that the show was plunged into darkness, and the Penguin’s latest system was foiled. Evidence assembled at the crime scene prevented Batman from linking the near robbery to the Penguin. In his role as a casino owner, the Penguin not only had an alibi, but could explain away circumstantial proof as well. Still, to settle the possible criminal charges, Penguin maneuvered the actuary into pleading guilty to the flower show robbery. The actuary was subsequently sentenced to Blackgate Penitentiary. (Detective Comics…

Most helpful customer reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
A triumph…
By Colin Smith
Wow!
I’ve been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it (October 2007??) and have had it on pre-order since.

It didn’t disappoint. Not one bit.

The book is much in the same style as the Michael Fleisher Encyclopedia of the 1970s (recently reissued).

It has hundreds of entries on a myriad of Batman characters, places and gadgets, ranging from the the very famous to the extremely obscure.

And when I say obscure, I mean it. I also mean that in a positive way.
As a Batman fan of 30 years, I’m extremely interested in him and his supporting characters.
I’m therefore thrilled that this book isn’t purely dedicated to well-known characters like Alfred, The Joker and Gordon. It also has entries on such oddball characters as The Eraser, Hydro and The Bouncer.
Some of the characters listed in the book only appeared once or twice, and often not as the main villain of the story (there are entries for various henchmen and gangsters).

In comparison to the Fleisher book, there is less detail, sometimes quite considerably.
However, I think this is a good thing. Mr Greenburger has covered a lot more comics, over a greater number of years than Mr Fleisher. To be able to go into minute detail (as Fleisher did) for the number of comics that represented here would mean several volumes would need to be released (and probably several more years).
In addition to this, sometimes I felt the original encyclopedia to be overly descriptive in parts, sometimes quoting lengthy text portions from the comics. This doesn’t happen in this new book. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Fleisher book for this, and treasure it as the devoted work that it is. I just feel that this wasn’t needed in this case and I’m glad Mr Greenberger decided to go with listing more entries rather than adding more text per entry.

If I had to list areas where improvements could be made, I would have loved to see some maps, diagrams and tables showing things such as a detailed Batcave plan, major Batmobiles, family tree of the Waynes, listings of such things as Gotham City mayors, bat-equipment etc.

Also, full colour illustrations would have been nice, but I understand that would have bumped the price up considerably.
The black & white illustrations are nice though – lots of variety of artists (although quite Jim Lee heavy (not a bad thing, but I’m more of a Neal Adams fan)) and a good selection too.
There are two colour sections and these are lovely. Really eye-popping and a great choice (gotta love that Brian Bolland Poison Ivy pic – stunning!!).

Overall though, I can’t fault this book. It has surpassed my expectations and is exactly what I want in a resource for the Dark Knight.

Truly outstanding and a fine tribute to one of our most enduring icons.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Very Happy with Product
By Gid’s Mom
I bought this book as a Christmas present for my nephew who is really into Batman. I was very happy with the large size of the book and the quality of photos, etc. My nephew seemed to really enjoy it too. A great purchase and a good price!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Great Book, FAR Too Short
By John C. Hyde
This is indeed a great book. As a batfan you’ll definitely need to make this purchase because this is by far the best book of its kind. All of the positive things said by other reviewers are true.

My problem is in finding out the Wonder Woman Encyclopedia is 100 pages longer than Batman’s. 488 pages to 388. That means Batman’s is about 250 pages short. Because Batman is the greatest superhero of all time, with BY FAR the highest number of different villains, allies, and supporting cast. There is no way the Wonder Woman book could be longer than the Caped Crusader’s. It’s too ridiculous to even fathom. Just ask yourself, how many Wonder Woman supporting cast members can you name? I’m a hardcore comics fan and I can only name a few. Meanwhile, my grandmother could name half a dozen Batman characters off the top of her head. Yet Wonder Woman is entitled to a 100-pages longer encyclopedia than Batman?

Now, on the eve of the release of the final chapter in this particular trilogy, The Essential Superman Encyclopedia, I come to find out the Superman volume ALSO checks in at 100 pages longer. It seems as though Robert Greenberger realized he was outdone by Phil Jimenez and now he’s attempting to fix it by making the Superman book a more appropriate length. But what does that do for Batman, and the people who bought his encyclopedia? It leaves them out in the cold, with a stunted volume that contains far too many omissions. There are so many omissions, I assumed there were space constraints. But now that I know there were no such constraints, I can’t help but feel that this book is incomplete.

Still a great volume. I’m certainly hanging on to my copy. But it stings to know they’re doing these books on a grander scale now, and we’ll have to settle for this scaled-back version… until the Updated and Expanded edition comes out, of course.

See all 13 customer reviews…

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