THE BEST Books

Written by Sin City’s Frank Miller and superbly illustrated by David Mazucchelli, Batman: Year One is a gritty look into Batman’s origins and a great companion to The Dark Knight.

Transit Maps of the World is perfect for map lovers; it contains every urban transit map on Earth and makes an excellent coffee table book. Our fave: a fictional world transit map.

We were surprised to learn that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed made it onto last week’s The New York Times’ bestseller list. No, not the game — the hardcover book!

While Warner Bros’ much-anticipated movie is stuck in legal limbo due to a lawsuit, tide yourself over with this special hardcover edition of Watchmen, available 11/11.

Doug Chiang is an accomplished artist who has worked on Star Wars, Terminator 2, and even The Mask. His latest book, Mechanika, is a must-read for sci-fi artists and fans.

COSMIC MOTORS is a fantastic, albeit fictional look at spaceships and their totally smokin’ pilots. It’s written by Daniel Simon, who in real life has worked for Bugatti and Lamborghini.

Sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein has posthumously published Variable Star with Spider Robinson. The book reads like classic 50s Heinlein, and is based on notes left by the late writer.

Fresh for this summer, the fifth volume of Kazu Kibuishi’s Flight series of books is now available. Inside are 368 enjoyable, full-color pages from 23 accomplished comic book artists.

Photographer Troy Paiva’s book, Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration, is a must read. Using a technique called light painting, he mixes flashlight with moonlight to produce otherworldly photos.