audjmo91's review against another edition
5.0
This is a 4.75, honestly, that I'm rounding up.
The quarter of the point is taken off for a lack of Harley Quinn acknowledgement in discussing the lasting influence of Batman: The Animated Series in the breakdown of how thoroughly it understood Batman and his universe. BTAS "got" Batman so well that it was even able to create an entirely new character and have her become near-immediately canon. I know the focus of this book is on Batman and nerd culture with much less attention paid to his rogues gallery, but I think a shout-out to HQ is part of the praise BTAS deserves.
That being said, the rest of this book was excellent - well researched, funny, and insightful - not only for its analysis and history of Batman, but of the evolving culture that came with it in a world where Batman is seen as "one of us."
I grew up obsessively watching the Tim Burton (and later the Joel Schumacher [sorrynotsorry?]) VHS movies with my younger brother, in conjunction with BTAS while it aired and in reruns, and those were all my Batman. When my parents showed me Batman that, some days, just couldn't get rid of a bomb, that was him too. I love that Weldon acknowledges the same; that all versions of Batman, the ones that are menacing and the ones that make me smile, are all valid.
This got really long, but the TL;DR version is I love Weldon's acceptance of the spectrum of Batman canon, I loved learning more about the character's history, and I wish Harley Quinn got a mention.
The quarter of the point is taken off for a lack of Harley Quinn acknowledgement in discussing the lasting influence of Batman: The Animated Series in the breakdown of how thoroughly it understood Batman and his universe. BTAS "got" Batman so well that it was even able to create an entirely new character and have her become near-immediately canon. I know the focus of this book is on Batman and nerd culture with much less attention paid to his rogues gallery, but I think a shout-out to HQ is part of the praise BTAS deserves.
That being said, the rest of this book was excellent - well researched, funny, and insightful - not only for its analysis and history of Batman, but of the evolving culture that came with it in a world where Batman is seen as "one of us."
I grew up obsessively watching the Tim Burton (and later the Joel Schumacher [sorrynotsorry?]) VHS movies with my younger brother, in conjunction with BTAS while it aired and in reruns, and those were all my Batman. When my parents showed me Batman that, some days, just couldn't get rid of a bomb, that was him too. I love that Weldon acknowledges the same; that all versions of Batman, the ones that are menacing and the ones that make me smile, are all valid.
This got really long, but the TL;DR version is I love Weldon's acceptance of the spectrum of Batman canon, I loved learning more about the character's history, and I wish Harley Quinn got a mention.
jackiepreston's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
mattgoldberg's review against another edition
5.0
A terrific critical appraisal of Batman's relationship to the larger cultural context. Weldon is invested enough to care about the particulars of the character, but dispassionate enough to make fair, thoughtful critiques about his shortcomings and the shortcomings of his fans. It celebrates Batman not through adulation, but through honesty.
karawhipple's review against another edition
4.0
For someone who has never read a comic book in her life, this book was not lost on me. The historic timeline that Weldon draws gives amazing context to how and why Batman developed with time. His writing is just the right amount of hilarious to keep the fact spewing interesting.
paulataua's review against another edition
3.0
It was my fascination with the relationship between changes in society through time and changes in genre and my admiration of Glen Wheldon’s wit and perceptiveness that drew me into ‘the Caped Crusade”, and although I have never really been a comic book hero aficionado, I certainly wasn’t disappointed. It was interesting to be transported through the various regenerations of Batman from champion of the rich, to crime fighter, to time traveler, and to angst ridden superhero. Worth the time!
staticdisplay's review against another edition
4.0
a history of batman, fun to read, full of information.
allieeveryday's review against another edition
4.0
Prior to picking up this book, I would not have called myself a Batman fan, or a Batman enthusiast, or even a Batman kind-of-interested-in. I'd only ever seen (parts of?) the 1966 Adam West Batman movie, somehow missing out on literally every other iteration that's been created over the last 30 years.
Basically, I just like Glen Weldon's dry humor on Pop Culture Happy Hour, and so I picked up this book with zero expectations.
I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed learning the back story of the ZAP POW Bat-man, but this book also covered a lot of stuff that I am definitely interested in outside of just Batman: fandom and love for a thing and how it changes (or doesn't) over time and how time changes (or doesn't) the thing you loved in the first place. We've got history of comic books, we've got Comic Con and cosplay here, we've got behind-the-scenes on all the Batman movies and TV series (at least, the ones that came out pre-2016), including Lego Movie Batman. And we've got Internet fandom, and we've got fan-fiction, and inclusivity in fandom.
Plus, Weldon just knows how to turn a phrase and make me chuckle.
The bonus of reading this book is that Matt and I are now starting to work our way (totally out of order) through the movies, and I can toss out fun facts while we watch. I love fun facts.
Basically, I just like Glen Weldon's dry humor on Pop Culture Happy Hour, and so I picked up this book with zero expectations.
I was kind of surprised at how much I enjoyed learning the back story of the ZAP POW Bat-man, but this book also covered a lot of stuff that I am definitely interested in outside of just Batman: fandom and love for a thing and how it changes (or doesn't) over time and how time changes (or doesn't) the thing you loved in the first place. We've got history of comic books, we've got Comic Con and cosplay here, we've got behind-the-scenes on all the Batman movies and TV series (at least, the ones that came out pre-2016), including Lego Movie Batman. And we've got Internet fandom, and we've got fan-fiction, and inclusivity in fandom.
Plus, Weldon just knows how to turn a phrase and make me chuckle.
The bonus of reading this book is that Matt and I are now starting to work our way (totally out of order) through the movies, and I can toss out fun facts while we watch. I love fun facts.
grayola's review against another edition
4.0
Glen Weldon's persnickety wit is my favorite kind and made the more devout portions of this Batmanifesto (Oh, yes I did.) beyond—or dare I say, Batman Beyond™—engaging and scholastic. POW! ZAP! YES!