DK Publishing puts out some great books. Not only are they really great quality, printed perfectly and thought out with great attention to detail, but many books that come from the publishing house are very aligned with geek interests in mind. To that end, here are a few volumes that came across my desk recently.
Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded
With an ever-expanding universe and cast of characters, it’s understandable you’d need a refresher once in a while. From Aayla Secura to Zuckuss, the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia has you covered with more than 200 profiles of heroes, villains, droids, and bounty hunters. Each profile has a data file about the character that includes information like species, height, homeworld, and which movies they’ve appeared in. There’s a handful of tidbits about each character, including callouts that describe unique things about weapons and other accoutrements. Available April 5th.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary
There are plenty of new ships, weapons, and characters in The Force Awakens and this book has the lowdown on many of them. Written by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo, each page is packed with little factoids and things you’d never see anywhere else. For instance, the spread on TIE fighter pilots has a look at the Torplex flight controls of the fighter craft and, thanks to specially commissioned models from ILM’s model makers, a cutaway of the First Order’s Special Forces helmets, giving you a view into what pilots see when targeting the Resistance. There’s Kylo Ren’s saber, the Z6 Riot Control baton, Rey’s speeder, and a lot more. Available now.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Incredible Cross Sections
As opposed to the other books on this list, the Cross Sections book is limited in its scope to just a dozen vehicles. But, wow, the details that go into each one! In addition to a brief on each vehicle and a data file that examines the ship’s manufacturer, model, weapons, size, and more, there are beautiful, detailed illustrations of each ship with dozens of callouts that identify things like voids on the Stormtrooper Transport that contain inert gases to dampen blaster impacts, the weapons and propulsion systems of Poe’s X-Wing, and the reconfigured drew quarters of the Millennium Falcon. There’s even a spread showing the scale of various ships in The Force Awakens. Available now.
Batman Character Encyclopedia
The Caped Crusader has been around for more than three-quarters of a century, meaning there have been quite a few allies and villains appearing in the pages detailing Gotham City. The Batman Character Encyclopedia takes a look at more than 200 of them, each with their own page. Each profile has the character’s name and some artwork depicting them, along with vital stats that include powers and abilities. Each character gets an icon defining them as ally, neutral, hero, or rogue. There’s also a description, along with some other tidbits, and each gets a character quote (“My friends call me J’onn”), pulled from the comics. All the familiar faces are there, from Robin to Joker, but also some less familiar faces like … Bat-Cow. Available now.
