Normally, I wince at a sight of a $30 paperback, no matter how well-written or attractively packaged, but such was not the case for The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia. If you are part of the target audience for this book (and it is a very specialized audience indeed), thirty bucks is not too much to pay for it—it's a steal.

Written by veteran Wonder Woman artist and writer Phil Jimenez and comics historian John Wells, The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia is an expansion of a 1976 book by Michael Fleischer called The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Volume Two: Wonder Woman. This updated version features 400-plus pages of densely-packed font, countless black-and-white images from the character's nearly 70-year-long history, and two sixteen-page full-color artwork inserts. There are more than 1,100 entries, ranging from tiny blurbs on characters like Dotsie Trevor (who, FYI, is Steve Trevor's little niece and once kidnapped by the evil gorilla Giganta) to multi-page descriptions of characters like Queen Hippolyta.

Lukewarm comic book readers will enjoy skimming the text, and pop culture geeks will love flipping through the pictures, but The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia is designed for serious Wonder Woman fans. Other people might shake their heads over that hefty price tag, but this incredibly thorough reference book is sure to fill the hearts of hardcore superhero devotees with joy.

Review based on publisher-provided copy.

Labels: Book Reviews, Comics