Kids ask the darndest things .. . and here are the answers - all in one helpful book! Asking questions is a critical part of growing up. Kids have curious minds and they come up with some very interesting questions. But the truth is adults don't always know the answers. The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents) comes to the rescue. It addresses nearly 800 queries with enough depth and detail to both satisfy the curiosity of persistent young inquisitors . Written with a child's imagination in mind, this easy to understand book allows kids to help themselves.

"I wish that The Supervillain Book could be required reading so that all the bizarre knowledge that fans like me have on the subject would be shared by everyone." - Alex Ross, artist of Kingdom Come and Justice (DC Comics). What would a good guy be without the bad guy? Boring. Drawing from sources in comic books, film, live-action and animated television, newspaper strips, toys, and manga and anime, The Supervillain Book exhaustively explores the extraordinary lives and careers of hundreds of overachieving evildoers. This definitive A-to-Z guide to supervillains--nefarious masterminds, sinister societies, and destructive dominators that have battled super- and other fictional heroes--is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Superhero Book. A must-read for anyone ever enthralled with mythic wickedness, The Supervillain Book investigates each character's origin, modus operandi, costumes, weapons and gadgetry, secret hideouts, chief henchmen, and minions, while serving a super-sized trove of fascinating trivia. It also takes you behind the scenes, describing the creation and development of these marvelously malicious, menacing, and malevolent characters. Splashing the pages in full glorious color are exciting film stills and comic-book images of villains in action, plus entertaining sidebars galore. The dark side has never been so inviting. "Sinfully good." --The Daily Bugle. The Supervillain Book contains everything you ever wanted to know about the bad guys in comics, film, and television--all in one complete volume for the first time. The Supervillain Book is an indispensable guide to pop culture's most menacing masterminds, costumed criminals, sinister societies, and destructive dominators that have battled superheroes and fictional heroes of comics, TV, and film.

Counterculture, while commonly used to describe youth-oriented movements during the 1960s, refers to any attempt to challenge or change conventional values and practices or the dominant lifestyles of the day. This fascinating three-volume set explores these movements in America from colonial times to the present in colorful detail. "American Countercultures" is the first reference work to examine the impact of countercultural movements on American social history. It highlights the writings, recordings, and visual works produced by these movements to educate, inspire, and incite action in all eras of the nation's history. A-Z entries provide a wealth of information on personalities, places, events, concepts, beliefs, groups, and practices. The set includes numerous illustrations, a topic finder, primary source documents, a bibliography and a filmography, and an index.

Appealing to the casual comic book reader as well as the hardcore graphic novel fan, this ultimate AtoZ compendium describes everyone's favorite participants in the eternal battle between good and evil. With nearly 200 entries examining more than 1,000 icons and their place in popular culture, it is the first comprehensive profile of superheroes across all media, following their path from comic book stardom to radio, television, movies, and novels. The bestloved and most historically significant superheroes--mainstream and counterculture, famous and forgotten, best and worst--are presented with numerous fullcolor illustrations, including dozens of classic comic covers. Each significant era of the superhero is explored--from the Golden Age of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s through the Modern Age--providing a unique perspective of the role of the hero over the course of the 20th century and beyond. This latest edition has been revised to reflect updates on existing characters, coverage of new characters, and recent films and media trends in the last several years.

Yet few outside Washington actually understand how our government and political system should work, much less how it actually operates. This informative book traces the historic development of the government, the functions of each branch, and how they work together. Written in an entertaining, reader-friendly, question-and-answer format, The Handy American Government Answer Book deciphers the news behind the headlines through well-researched answers to nearly 800 common questions.