DC Comics: Anatomy of a Metahuman

The conceit here is that the book is a compilation of notes written by Bruce Wayne about some of the key superpowered people of his world, with attempts to explain how their powers work, and how best to counter them. It's a large book filled with pictures, notes and marginalia, intended, perhaps, to decorate more than inform, but, if so, that's an aim it succeeds at.

That's not to say that there isn't some genuine science in here, with the text generally being more accurate than the artwork on that front - the latter tends to be somewhat impressionistic. On the whole, though, while there is some fun speculation, it never gets too bogged down in the detail, and necessarily has to be vague about a number of things - both because superpowers obviously aren't possible in the real world, and to avoid appearing to tie the hands of future comic writers too much. (Sure, comic writers are going to ignore anything in here that doesn't fit with their planned story, but it's better not to make that too obvious).

But it's an entertaining read, and it looks really nice. A good-looking coffee table book for the DC fan.