Customer Reviews

The Batman Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles from the Batcave

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How do you examine the Batman mythos in less than a thousand pages effectively?

Robert Greenberger and Matthew K Manning have taken a look at the Dark Knight from his 'creation'/evolution to the present day complex incarnation. To say that Bob Kane 'created' the Batman, would be a quick lie. Batman is the result of years of influences from the Black Bat (pulp magazine), Mary Reinhart (novel), Lew Merril, the Shadow, and many others. In Detective Comics #27, he first appeared, and overshadowed all of his influences.

The Museum includes chapters on

The Coming of the Caped Crusader
Bruce Wayne and His Family
Batcave and Gear
Robin
Gotham
Women of the Knight
the Allies
Batman Beyond
Essential Reading

Each covers complex matters with different storylines in a compelling manner. The graphics have been chosen with care. For instance, the Dick Sprang inside piece is stunning! Scans of existing original art rocks. The promotional items included in the plastic pockets are cool too. The neatest item is the signed Jewish Theatre playbill.

The book is heavy in 'newer' graphics (post 1980) and that is a weakness. There are many artists that I do not see represented that should be, and identification of many of them is not done. For instance, the Batman A to z Book, (pocket) was done by Tom Gill. This is not marked. Page 14 features a tryout by an unidentified artist, if I were a betting man, I would say it is Jack Sparling or Tom Gill again.

That aside, I enjoyed the book and our journey through history. I do understand the difficulty in choosing what to include, and the limitations of space.

With that, I highly recommend this book and await the opening of a DC Museum that has ongoing displays of artifacts, art, and rare items for those so inclined.

Tim Lasiuta

The Batman Vault is the latest in these "Museums in Books" series that both DC, Marvel, and various other studios such as Hanna-Barbara have embraced. They include reproductions of supposedly "lost," or rarely seen items that many fans may have missed coming across over the years.

2009's entry is DC's flagship character -- The Batman. One presumes that next year's will be Superman, but moving on, Robert Greenberger has done an excellent job in researching the DarkKnight Detective's many, many products which have entertained both kids and adults in his sixty year history.

Standouts include the previously unseen Sheldon Mayer (who previously wrote kid's comics Sugar and Spike)booklet "How to Draw Batman," which must have raised quite a few eyebrows in the seventies when the writers and editors were trying to make Batman more dark and gritty.

This eighteen page story is a highlight and should be required reading for all Bat-writers.

Other rarely seen illustrations include: Bob Kane's Christmas cards featuring the Bat-family, the 1960 Bat-family portrait done for that year's Bat-Annual, the Bruce Timm early design for Catwoman that was scrapped during production, a sixties Batman record cover.

While I give kukos for these items, I really wish Mr. Greenburger could have included some more photos of the sixties Bat-toys, which are now commanding thousands of dollars on ebay. For example, the Ideal Batman Utility Belt had some great box art, maybe some more of Joe Gielisa's newspaper strips from the late sixties. Maybe even a CD of some of Bat children's records or one of the appearances of Batman on the 40's Superman radio program.

I even seem to recall some Bat postcards that were called "Bat-o-Grams" that featured sixties art that I picked up at a Custer, SD store.

Again. A nice collection and should provide hours of entertainment, but me being the nit picker that I am would have liked a bit more.

JThree
carolyn@dia.net
Williston, ND

Got this for a gift for someone who is a huge Batman fan. They loved it!Would recommend for any Batman fan.

I bought this for a comic lover. He opened it up, and didn't put it down for the rest of the week. It was full of great items, and explained more about Batman than even he knew. Excellent buy.

Great in-depth history of Batman..when are they going to do The Superman Vault?? That would be great!!

Looking for a special gift for the Batman fan on your Christmas list? Here's the perfect choice...This is Running Press' latest release in their "Museum-in-a-book" series. The Batman Vault is hardcover, spiral bound, and gift book-sized. The book is a historical look at the Batman character from his creation right up to the present. So what is the deal with the Museum-in-a-book feature? Well the book comes packed with several pieces of reproduction memorabilia. These pieces all come in plastic sleeves for protection although you can easily take them out to examine the pieces. More on this later...

The authors begin with a look at what inspired Bob Kane's creation including a pulp story called "Bat Man" from 1936. Greenberger and Manning have uncovered rare documents that are reprinted in the book such as Bill Finger's original script to Batman #31 from 1945. The first piece of memorabilia you encounter is the uncolored cover to Detective Comics #60, credited to Bob Kane but actually done by Jerry Robinson and Fred Ray. For those unfamiliar with Batman's early days, Batman was often "ghosted" by other artists but Kane was given the credit. Included in this early look are movie poster and rare lobby card reprints from the Batman film serials of the 1940s. There's even a vintage photo of a 1940s theater marquee that was showing the Batman serial.

For baby boomers, the book includes several rare promotional photos and ads for the 1960s Batman TV show including Adam West, in full costume, posing with Mr. TV Milton Berle who portrayed villain Louie the Lilac on the show. This sections memorabilia item is several pages from a 1960s Batman color-by-number coloring book as well as a reproduction 1966 cardboard Batman mask that kids could remove from a book.

Sections that follow include a look at Bruce Wayne and his Family, Gotham City, Batman's Allies, and his villains. Throughout the book there are never-before-scene pieces of artwork, some finished and some just sketches, including rough design work from the various Batman films. Other reproduction pieces included a batplane that you can assemble and fly, a Robin mobile, Batcave Poster, Anton Furst Sketches for the 1989 Batman film, and a 2003 Catwoman sketchbook by Darwyn Cooke. The book is a lot of fun and, at $49.95 fairly reasonably price for the quality of the material.

This is the perfect gift or self indulgence for any Batman fan. No matter which version of the Caped Crusader is your favorite (past, present or future!), it's covered in this massive volume loaded with fun extras (some replicated from the ones I foolishly lost from my own childhood! Great nostalgia for me...). Encyclopedic and handsomely produced, my only gripe is that the spiral binding makes page-turning a delicate operation if you're as fanatical as I am with preserving a special book's pristine condition.

Done with great care and respect for its subject matter, this is a great addition to any comic lover's collection and a bargain, especially at the sale price.