Batman Collected by Chip Kidd, Geoff Spear (1996, Hardcover, Illustrated)

I recently returned to BATMAN comics and collectibles after a long hiatus and found this very lavishly illustrated coffeetable book marvelous. The author surveys virtually every pop culture artifact associated with Batman and Robin over their entire lifespan, beginning with the characters inception in the 1940s through the great 'TV-golden age' of 1966-67 and into the darker versions of the 1980s. The book is NOT a dry catalog price listing of every available toy and bubble gum card; rather, it is a photgraphic tribute to the dark spirit of the Batman myth as Bob Kane envisioned it. The photos are composed to accentuate the eerie gothic atmosphere and are surprisingly effective in telling 90% of the story visually. It is a good book to curl-up with and travel to another place, a dark place where a particularly surrealistic form of goodness still prevails over crime, despair, and malice. Highly Recommended. Mars-bonfire