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Batman's Mystery Casebook
Have you ever needed help solving a mystery? Batman has!
Batman is a great detective, but he rarely works alone. His sidekicks Robin and Batgirl, his butler Alfred, and the police of Gotham City all play a role in helping him keep his city safe. You can too!
Look for clues!
Analyze evidence!
Solve riddles!
Learn history!
Help the Batman as he goes on his adventures and see if you can spot the answers to these mysteries before he logs them into his casebook.
Batman is a great detective, but he rarely works alone. His sidekicks Robin and Batgirl, his butler Alfred, and the police of Gotham City all play a role in helping him keep his city safe. You can too!
Look for clues!
Analyze evidence!
Solve riddles!
Learn history!
Help the Batman as he goes on his adventures and see if you can spot the answers to these mysteries before he logs them into his casebook.
144 pages, Paperback
Published August 30, 2022
8 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Sholly Fisch
716 books41 followersHis credits run the gamut from Superman to Star Wars to Scooby-Doo, and from Clive Barker’s Hellraiser to Looney Tunes. His comics for kids have won a Comics Buyer’s Guide Fan Award, and been nominated for an Eisner Award and two Diamond gem awards, while several of his stories for older readers were included in the #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novels Action Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
October 20, 2022
This graphic novel features short stories with cases for kids to solve, like in the Encyclopedia Brown books. Some are better than others, and they start feeling very similar towards the end, but it's a fun concept that I haven't seen in a graphic novel before. The visual clues add an extra element of appeal.
Between each story, there's a section where Batman, Batgirl, and Robin introduce readers to different element of forensic science and detective investigation. This will appeal to kids who are interested in detection, but I would have liked this better if the topics had tied directly into the stories instead of being unrelated.
Between each story, there's a section where Batman, Batgirl, and Robin introduce readers to different element of forensic science and detective investigation. This will appeal to kids who are interested in detection, but I would have liked this better if the topics had tied directly into the stories instead of being unrelated.
November 5, 2024
It's a kid's book, yes, but very informative. If you want to make your own mystery comics, this can be very helpful. Oh by the way, pay close attention to details, that and know your history and stuff, this book will teach you some things. Alot simpler than Criminology and Criminalistics books.
September 27, 2022
An Encyclopedia Brown inspired collection of Batman comics. Do kids even read Encyclopedia Brown anymore? These stories are extremely similar to Encyclopedia's cases, with all that implies. The solution is always present in the text, but it can be an extremely small detail, and it can require outside knowledge. I've seen less fair versions, and I think the visual clues are generally handled well. Between the solvable cases are chapters that give brief introductions to forensic topics like tracks and forgeries. Fun, for the right kid.
April 7, 2023
If you ever wanted to solve crimes like Batman and his cohorts, then have I found the book for you! Batman's Mystery Casebook is a young adult graphic novel that I've been looking forward to for a while. The book is so many things wrapped into 144 pages of crime fighting starring your favorite members of the Batman family.
There are several cases in which readers are tasked to examine the clues. Can you solve the case before turning the next page and letting Batman do it? It's a lot like Donald J. Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown books. In fact, one of the cases is a total swipe of a famous case involving a Civil War era sword. Only this time, the mystery is set during World War I and it guest stars Hans Von Hammer: the Enemy Ace!
Batman's Mystery Casebook is also educational and a bit like an activity book! In between cases are segments that involve crime solving techniques used by Batman and your local police force's unit of crime scene investigators. Readers get to learn about finger prints, foot prints and tracking criminals. Fun is added to the education as young readers are encouraged to explore activities like practicing fingerprinting with household tools like tape, flour and a brush. Readers even get to test their skills as an eyewitness by helping the Gotham City Police Department with a crime scene involving the Penguin!
A lot of your favorite Batman villains are featured in the book. Along with Penguin, you get to help Batman apprehend The Riddler, Catwoman, Mister Freeze, Harley Quinn and the Joker. Since there are many more villains out there to be caught like Clayface and the Mad Hatter, I really hope a second casebook might be forthcoming. I just hope if this happens that the cases are a bit less loose with the clues.
The amazing Sholly Fisch wrote this book. I've been a fan of his since Scooby-Doo Team-Up. Overall, this casebook was a dream come true for me. I've always wanted a Batman video game that was less about fighting and more about mystery solving. This casebook is probably the closest I will ever get to that wish. But I feel that in at least 2 of the cases, the solutions were more based on making assumptions about the crimes and not actual facts. I will admit that I totally goofed on the Riddler mystery and that one was my fault. But the Mister Freeze and the break-in at Wayne Enterprises didn't seem to play fair with the readers. To be fair- Donald J. Sobol was guilty of doing the same thing with some of his mysteries.
The artwork by Christopher Uminga was awesome. Now I will admit that if you have a Batman story by Sholly Fisch, only Dario Brizuela should be doing the art. However, I can now say that Christopher Uminga is a perfect second if Brizuela isn't available. Uminga's work reminded me of that of the L'il Gotham series by Dustin Nguyen in which all of the characters are of diminutive size and just a touch on the adorable side. That is except for the Joker!
Christopher Uminga's Joker is one of the most terrifying versions of the character ever. Those dark, dead eyes. That frenzied mouth that looks part clown make-up and part hideous scars. The credits in the back of this book list Uminga's art style as one that 'blends together creepy and cute.' I couldn't agree with this assessment more!
I really enjoyed this book. Yes, a couple of cases tripped me up. For the most part, I felt that the mysteries were fair. But there are a couple that are really tricky and might just be a little too difficult. Heck, if a 45-year old Madman like myself can think things are arduous, can you imagine how tough these cases can be for the recommended readings ages of 8-12? Regardless, I really hope that this isn't the only book in the series. There's so many more crimes in Gotham that need to be solved and Sholly Fisch and Christopher Uminga are the creative team to get it done!
There are several cases in which readers are tasked to examine the clues. Can you solve the case before turning the next page and letting Batman do it? It's a lot like Donald J. Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown books. In fact, one of the cases is a total swipe of a famous case involving a Civil War era sword. Only this time, the mystery is set during World War I and it guest stars Hans Von Hammer: the Enemy Ace!
Batman's Mystery Casebook is also educational and a bit like an activity book! In between cases are segments that involve crime solving techniques used by Batman and your local police force's unit of crime scene investigators. Readers get to learn about finger prints, foot prints and tracking criminals. Fun is added to the education as young readers are encouraged to explore activities like practicing fingerprinting with household tools like tape, flour and a brush. Readers even get to test their skills as an eyewitness by helping the Gotham City Police Department with a crime scene involving the Penguin!
A lot of your favorite Batman villains are featured in the book. Along with Penguin, you get to help Batman apprehend The Riddler, Catwoman, Mister Freeze, Harley Quinn and the Joker. Since there are many more villains out there to be caught like Clayface and the Mad Hatter, I really hope a second casebook might be forthcoming. I just hope if this happens that the cases are a bit less loose with the clues.
The amazing Sholly Fisch wrote this book. I've been a fan of his since Scooby-Doo Team-Up. Overall, this casebook was a dream come true for me. I've always wanted a Batman video game that was less about fighting and more about mystery solving. This casebook is probably the closest I will ever get to that wish. But I feel that in at least 2 of the cases, the solutions were more based on making assumptions about the crimes and not actual facts. I will admit that I totally goofed on the Riddler mystery and that one was my fault. But the Mister Freeze and the break-in at Wayne Enterprises didn't seem to play fair with the readers. To be fair- Donald J. Sobol was guilty of doing the same thing with some of his mysteries.
The artwork by Christopher Uminga was awesome. Now I will admit that if you have a Batman story by Sholly Fisch, only Dario Brizuela should be doing the art. However, I can now say that Christopher Uminga is a perfect second if Brizuela isn't available. Uminga's work reminded me of that of the L'il Gotham series by Dustin Nguyen in which all of the characters are of diminutive size and just a touch on the adorable side. That is except for the Joker!
Christopher Uminga's Joker is one of the most terrifying versions of the character ever. Those dark, dead eyes. That frenzied mouth that looks part clown make-up and part hideous scars. The credits in the back of this book list Uminga's art style as one that 'blends together creepy and cute.' I couldn't agree with this assessment more!
I really enjoyed this book. Yes, a couple of cases tripped me up. For the most part, I felt that the mysteries were fair. But there are a couple that are really tricky and might just be a little too difficult. Heck, if a 45-year old Madman like myself can think things are arduous, can you imagine how tough these cases can be for the recommended readings ages of 8-12? Regardless, I really hope that this isn't the only book in the series. There's so many more crimes in Gotham that need to be solved and Sholly Fisch and Christopher Uminga are the creative team to get it done!
December 20, 2024
This is a fun comic book for kids on detective work that has kids learning about forensics science, detective work and observation skills; all that through the adventures of Batman and Robin and Batgirl! I read this aloud to my kids and we all enjoyed it as a family.
This is a chapter book in the form of graphic novel. Each chapter is a stand-alone short story (it does not assume things in the previous chapter and it does not need to be read sequentially to make sense). One chapter is Batman and his team fighting crime and then you have to go back and look for visual clues of previous panels. I love that; and it wasn’t easy always! Then the next chapter is one that is about real life detective work of solving mystery related to crimes.
I first thought it might be cheesy since it was for kids but it turned out to be more of a delight than I anticipated. There was one story that reminded me of my childhood reading Encyclopedia Brown which involves someone that had a medal that says it is from World War One; I don’t remember the Encyclopedia Brown story but it was one that involved a fake Civil War Sword that says it is from the first battle of Bull Run. That would not make sense since no one in the first battle would know there will be a second battle of Bull Run; so too in the case of Batman mystery casebook here with the medal from the first World War.
We had a lot of fun with this one and it was different than some of the other comics we read; I do wish there were more of these published.
This is a chapter book in the form of graphic novel. Each chapter is a stand-alone short story (it does not assume things in the previous chapter and it does not need to be read sequentially to make sense). One chapter is Batman and his team fighting crime and then you have to go back and look for visual clues of previous panels. I love that; and it wasn’t easy always! Then the next chapter is one that is about real life detective work of solving mystery related to crimes.
I first thought it might be cheesy since it was for kids but it turned out to be more of a delight than I anticipated. There was one story that reminded me of my childhood reading Encyclopedia Brown which involves someone that had a medal that says it is from World War One; I don’t remember the Encyclopedia Brown story but it was one that involved a fake Civil War Sword that says it is from the first battle of Bull Run. That would not make sense since no one in the first battle would know there will be a second battle of Bull Run; so too in the case of Batman mystery casebook here with the medal from the first World War.
We had a lot of fun with this one and it was different than some of the other comics we read; I do wish there were more of these published.
September 4, 2022
An entertaining little book with fun illustrations, it helped me discover that I wouldn't make a good detective. I was only able to solve 1 of the cases (Catwoman and the gold statue). Looking at the answers and then going back to find the "clues," I think most of them weren't really good clues or discernable with the information that was presented (other than the Riddler one, which actually had enough info to solve, even though I failed to).
The little tidbits of real life investigative practices was interesting, but the real star of the book is the illustrations. I love the art style and never would have even considered the book if it weren't for that. Overall, I enjoyed it, even though I was a crime solving failure.
The little tidbits of real life investigative practices was interesting, but the real star of the book is the illustrations. I love the art style and never would have even considered the book if it weren't for that. Overall, I enjoyed it, even though I was a crime solving failure.
April 5, 2024
Old enough (or too old) to remember the "5 minute mysteries" series of whodunits?
That's pretty much what these are. DC went and leaned hard into Batman, forensics, and YA here. If you have a child that loves problem solving and you want to get them into comics, this may do the trick.
That's pretty much what these are. DC went and leaned hard into Batman, forensics, and YA here. If you have a child that loves problem solving and you want to get them into comics, this may do the trick.
September 17, 2022
These were fun. I never saw anything inappropriate for kids, the crimes were fun (even if a bit repetitive), and it was neat seeing how the clues all came together. I enjoyed it.
October 11, 2022
Good for younger audiences only, most of the Kids line has appeal to parents as well but this one is more instructional/educational. Decently executed though
December 15, 2022
The mysteries in this "you're-the-detective" book were much too difficult for their intended audience to solve. Squandered potential.
August 31, 2023
It was so cute and fun ^^ also batman and Robin are so silly
February 8, 2024
Awesome it's amazing!
April 5, 2024
Miss 9 enjoyed reading this and is looking forward to checking out 'My Buddy, Killer Croc'.
May 13, 2024
My kids have really enjoyed this book but I don't think all the cases are actually solvable with the clues given.
May 12, 2025
perfect for my 10 year old, but you gotta pay attention son! I didn't solve any of them,he got 2 or 3.
September 16, 2022
A cute book that contains vignettes of Batman solving the crimes of his most well-known villains. Inbetween those stories are informational vignettes in which Batman shares knowledge about the different tools and methods detectives use to solve cases. The stories are short and to the point, but the best part of this book is the art by Christopher Uminga. No doubt the kiddos will enjoy reading this anthology of Bat-stories.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews