DC Comics: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know

DC Comics: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know by Liz Marsham, Melanie Scott, Landry Q. Walker and Steven Wiacek. (Dorling Kindersley, a Penguin Random House Company, 2018.) HB RRP $39.99  ISBN: 978 0241314241

Reviewed by Julie Anne Thorndyke

DK (Dorling Kindersley) books have long been relied upon by teachers, parents and librarians to provide clear, factual, well-illustrated information books for children. The imprint has also been a standby for reading advisors trying to find material for the hard to reach non-reader. Being able to put a well-researched and visually interesting book into the hands of a child, who is more interested in facts than fiction, is easy with the books from DK.

DC Absolutely Everything You Need to Know brings this same factual and encyclopaedic approach to the fantasy world of comic books. Arranged with a well-laid-out contents page as well as a detailed index, children will be able to swiftly find and enjoy information about their favourite superheros and villains.

Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, Batgirl, Cyborg, Poison Ivy, Green Arrow—the entire stable of DC characters are represented in full-colour double-page spreads crammed with fact boxes, lists and dialogue speech balloons. Written with the support of Warner Brothers (who now control DC Comics), this book covers eighty years of DC Comics characters.

The thematic chapter headings: Super heroes, Super-villains, Teams, Science and Magic, From Here to Eternity and the Multiverse, offer a “way-in” to children who may not have met these characters before.