4 out of 5

A dang graphic novel-sized preview book?  I mean, the thing’s 133 pages; maybe it’s culled from stuff in Previews and I shouldn’t be as impressed, but I don’t get Previews, so whatever.  And I should really just give this 5 stars for that: for being what it is.  It even features a meta “framing” page with (I assume) unique art and script of Bats and Robin talking about the fuck-ton of comics they have to read and how this here guide book – which is an outline of DC trades you should be reading – can be helpful to both new readers and seasoned ones.  It also features a clear sense of organization – classic books; “modern” classics; TV/film-tied series; back catalog – thus completing my general requirements for books of this type.  …But… there’s also quite a bit of repetition between the sections, which makes it feel like overkill, which also lends itself to some wonkiness in what they’re considering “essential.”  It feels more like they’re saying “just read everything we put out,” although admittedly we are talking about a huge history of books here, so even narrowing Bats’ history down to 20 collections is an accomplishment.  That being said, I do dig the transparency with tying reading recommendations to upcoming shows / movies; Marvel plays this game where they quietly introduce series that just so happen to feature their TV tie-ins, pretending like they always cared about these characters.

Anyhow, the repetition aside, I’m also knocking off a star for some unfortunate editing errors, which are always a bit more egregious when you’re trying to put on a smiley face to attract newbies.  Especially humorous was the press copy for the Death of Superman trade being accidentally copied from one of the Batman books, resulting in the quote “This is a story no true Batman fan should be able to resist” having an amusing context.

UPDATE …a day later: After combing through the backlist of trades, it made me want to take a poop on this whole thing.  Note that this is being billed, in part, as a “suggested reading order,” which is then split into character-focused sections.  Firstly the ignorance of only focusing on modern DC – for example, not including any Waid material in the Flash section – feels really whitewashy (unless, I suppose, those books really aren’t in print anymore…?), and secondly, and most obnoxiously, listing several versions of the same book.  So after you’ve read Volume 1 of something (only volume 1, which is another nit where they only list, like, Preacher vol. 1 – 6 for some reason), make sure you read the omnibus!  Or better yet, read Watchmen, then read the ultimate edition, then read the fucking Spanish version.  This is either gall or laziness.  The immense amount of, again, editing gaffs, where books are credited to the wrong creative teams, makes me think more the latter, but either way, fuck your mother.  I’ll stand by my original rating, because I’m an idiot reviewing a preview book, but if I had a soapbox nearby (ahem, a non-digital one), damned right I’d be up on top of that thing yelling for the burning of the DC Essential Graphic Novels 2016 freebie.