“The Batman Files” can be purchased on Amazon here.

Fellow Batman fans, we hope you have a spare change of pants. We have seen encyclopedias, guidebooks, philosophy books, how-to books, history books, and various other materials that have documented all things awesome about the dark knight.

Now, brace yourselves for…The Batman Files. This hardcover dossier by Matthew Manning comes packed with histories of all the major Bat-characters, letters, newspaper articles, in-depth computer files, crime scene photos, blueprints, schematics, maps of Gotham City, and even Bruce Wayne’s childhood drawings.  Every minute detail of Batman’s life is carefully and thoroughly covered in this book, which makes it a must-have for Batman fans.  Check out the photos below.

“The Batman Files” is gilded with a black matte finish and a fabric cover, while secured with a metallic silver Batman emblem.  It is now available for preorder on Amazon for $61, down from the original $100 price. We’re not sure why there is a different cover on the Amazon posting, but we’re hoping it will have the more polished, solid black finish in the end instead.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m placing my copy on my coffee table, snug in the middle of my “Arkham City: Collector’s Edition” and ”Batman: Year One” blu-ray, sitting over my pile of #1 Batman comic issues. It is a good month to be a Batman fan, indeed :)

9.15.09 – Dan Brown’s long-awaited novel, “The Lost Symbol”, has finally been released today with a record number of 5 million copies in its first print. Curious how that was possibly accomplished? You might even be wondering how these hardbound books are produced in the first place. Enjoy the video.

Here is Good Morning America’s coverage of the release:

THE LOST SYMBOL

…not “The Solomon Key” as we had all long anticipated.  With almost 5 years of delays, a soaring amount of hype that followed shortly after The Da Vinci Code’s epidemic popularity, and the multitude of speculative books assuming “The Solomon Key” as the book’s title, it really does come as little surprise that author Dan Brown has simply retitled the work.  Despite the lack of details concerning the book’s storyline, we do know that Brown has spent an awful lot of time researching Washington D.C.’s Masonic temples and that the author is very much obsessed with the Freemasons.

The 3rd in a series of conspiracy thriller novels following Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol will be published by Doubleday in the U.S. and Canada on September 15th, 2009.  5 million copies are scheduled to be printed.  This was announced today by Sonny Mehta, Chairman and Editor in Chief of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.  Mehta commented with the following:

This is a great day for readers and booksellers.  The Lost Symbol is a brilliant and compelling thriller. Dan Brown’s prodigious talent for storytelling, infused with history, codes and intrigue, is on full display in this new book. This is one of the most anticipated publications in recent history, and it was well worth the wait.

Jason Kaufman, who is Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday as well as Brown’s longtime editor, said:

Nothing ever is as it first appears in a Dan Brown novel. This book’s narrative takes place in a twelve-hour period, and from the first page, Dan’s readers will feel the thrill of discovery as they follow Robert Langdon through a masterful and unexpected new landscape. The Lost Symbol is full of surprises.

Brown added:

This novel has been a strange and wonderful journey.  Weaving five years of research into the story’s twelve-hour timeframe was an exhilarating challenge. Robert Langdon’s life clearly moves a lot faster than mine.

Columbia Pictures is also moving forward with The Lost Symbol, which will be the third film in the series.  Ron Howard and Tom Hanks are expected to return.

Angels & Demons, the second installment, hits theaters May 15th.