The Essential Supernatural [Revised and Updated Edition]: On the Road with Sam and Dean Winchester

I received this item on the promised delivery date. It is a very nice coffee table book with lots of extras (book covers, post cards, BTS pics) that covers seasons 1 through 7. While I am a fan of the Winchester brothers, I must admit that I cannot stand Castiel. He was introduced in season 4. Having him around changes the dynamic of the show, and not for the better. Where before there was badass Winchester action on hunts, road trips, brotherly hurt/comfort and scenes of the brothers researching their supernatural quarry before they actually hunt, with bird butt around there is none of that. He heals them, transports them to wherever they want to go, protects them in fights. Usually when this pigeon is around the brothers' IQs drop 50 points in order to make this new premise work. Depending on who you listen to, he's either a fan favorite or the ruination of the show. Naturally, I vote for the second option. Despite his presence I enjoyed this book and I don't regret buying it. Most of it is, thankfully, devoted to Sam and Dean. I mention cassbutt only because I know there are others out here who can't stand him and who might let that stop them from buying this book. To his minions? Don't bother flaming me about this. I'll laugh at you. And don't complain about what I said. This is my review and I can say anything I want to within Amazon's review guidelines. This volume is filled with information about the beloved Impala, the other props on the show, the supporting cast and the various types of fuglies the Winchesters hunt. I do wish there had been more on Jeffrey Dean Morgan and the late Kim Manners. Mr. Manners gets a one page tribute. That was nice, but the man deserves more than just one page. Mr. Morgan gets none. There are photos of him portraying John Winchester. I do hope that there will be a follow-up for seasons 8 through 10. I'd be especially interested in purchasing such a book with the Demon Dean story arc coming up. The one physical flaw of this book? The binding is rather weak, too weak to support that many pages, especially if this book is paged through too many times. When the binding finally gives way better have some long, strong rubber bands ready.

I don't want to re-hash what many others have written here, but this book is amazing. I'm a professional bookbinder (fineblankbooks.com) and I make entirely handmade books custom-made to my customers specifications, so it's kinda hard to impress me with a mass-produced book. This one completely impressed me; both as a beautiful book/object and as someone with a probably slightly over-the-top love for this show. I've watched this show since episode 1 and feel I pretty much know it inside and out and this book has so much great info. in it! It's NOT just a book full of beautiful photos of Jared & Jensen (though it has plenty of those too). My favorite parts are the sections that deal with the behind-the scenes stuff and I especially can't wait to read the section about what goes into the creation of the hotel room sets (I've always been a bit fascinated with how they came up with the distinctive look to the hotel rooms which is definitely unique to this show). You've already read (in the other reviews here) about all the stuff that comes with the book that you can pull out. That's all very cool (though when I received the book, the envelope of posters of the Chuck Shurley book covers had already pulled off the page in transit and taken some of the image with it...luckily, I can do book repair! But it's bad for a book - bad for the binding - to have something that thick shoved into it and I'll probably re-attach the envelope to the page, but leave the folded posters out of it when it's stored; just keep them near it instead of in it). From a bookbinder's perspective, this book is actually SEWN together (in folded sections called "signatures") which is a rarity anymore (often, even large coffee-table books that are mass-produced are glued together instead of sewn). This allows the book to lay open flat and is really the best way to make a book. There's nothing I hate more than paying a lot for a book only to get it and find out it was cheaply assembled. This one was not. (And it helped that Amazon's price on this book was $37 when I ordered it instead of the $50 sticker price; though it's worth $50, in my opinion!). There is a lot of attention to detail in the look and content of this book. I mentioned that it was bad for the binding to have stuff attached to the pages (it adds thickness to the book that puts stress on the spine over time), HOWEVER, with the exception of the thick packet of Chuck Shurley posters, the other things that are attached to the pages are spread around; attached in different places on different pages (they aren't all attached to the center of the pages, for example) and if you're going to attach things to the pages, this is the RIGHT way to do it! It means that no one area of the book ends up with excess thickness...this is the kind of attention to details I'm talking about...someone who designed it knew what they were doing! The only negative comment as far as the binding of this book goes is that it seems that the publisher left out the step of adding backing cloth which reinforces the area where the cover "hinges" open. Publishers often skip this step to save money, but it means that the only thing holding the book into the cover are the endpapers glued to the inside of the front & back covers. It's slightly disappointing to see that they skipped this step with they put so much thought into everything else, but it's more important that the book is sewn together than that they skipped the backing cloth, in my opinion. I recommend, if you are a fan of Supernatural, that you should purchase this book immediately while it's still widely available. It's so much more than a book full of glossy photos. Awesome (as Dean would say)!

I think from the title you could gather two things. One, that I'm a fan of the series and horray another piece of merch. Or Two: This bookw as just that damn good. It was both. This book is for the DIE hard fans I can tell you now because of all the behind the scenes info and GEORGIOUS pictures. And included are insider references, and a guide of episodes/characters/actors and goes all the way up to season 7 (we at the time of this review are airing Season 8). It is an expensive and LARGE book. hard cover with a jacket. When removing the beautiful cover jacket, you can see a simple yet fitting old fashioned bound book facade of the actual cover in a brownish color. You will need to make room on a tall shelf to accomidate it, unless you intend to put it on the coffee table. The book is like all of the companion books in that it gives you details about the show as well as the true insider knowledge. It is just detailed and very well put together. A VERY VERY special bonus is that there are things in there for the reader to take out. Such as these little "postcard" type photos of the cast. However, they are SO glued in that even though they are intended to come out, DON'T. I've already ripped on of the pictures in the book and dented the card. It is better to just carefully lift them up to see what is underneath rather than try to take them out. Then there are the easily recognized insider jokes carried out in things like a religious air freshner in a tiny bag for us in the Impala chapter, a folder of book cover posters that CAN be taken out and hung up from Carver "Chuck" Elund, and at the VERY back, a poster of the road map of Sam and Dean. I know that I've taken away some of the surprises but I felt that I needed to because someone might make the same mistake I did in trying to remove some of these cards and thus damageing their book. Besides, where are you going to end up putting them? Over all, this was AMAZING. It really, really shows dedication to the fans (read the intro by Eric Kripke I swear it is great!) and what we like/want. I was impressed and it is one of my treasures. I may honestly buy a second book to take all the cool stuff out of it ^^

As soon as I heard this book was in the works, I was excited! A hardback coffee table sized Supernatural guide book?? YES. PLEASE. This thing is huge! The jacket is removable and the book itself has a very cool leather book-like hard cover. It has a ton of full color high quality photographs and illustrations, many of which have never been featured in the magazines or season guides. It goes into enormous detail on the aired seasons (1-7 and even a bit on 8!), and includes character biographies, creature guides and actor and crew interviews. One thing that could have been very cool if done a bit better were the various pull out inserts. Throughout the book, there are post card sized photos that look like they're meant to be pulled out and displayed, but are glued down so well that they end up ripping the page they're attached to if you try to remove them. They cover some blocks of text and other photos, but they're only glued down on one corner, so they're easily lifted up out of the way so you can read what's underneath. Just don't try to pry them up completely or you'll ruin the page. The book also features these really cool pouches that have all sorts of goodies in them, from the covers of the Supernatural books written by Chuck to a road map of the US marked with important Supernatural landmarks. There was even a page of stickers, which I'll admit I squealed a little bit over. All in all, this book is TOTALLY worth the price. It would make the perfect gift for any fan of the show or a great indulgent treat for yourself. I'm planning on buying copies of this for my friends now that I see how cool it is!

This is a stunning paratext, one that both explores and expands the world and mythology of Supernatural while at the same time providing a great deal of behind the scenes perspective. Those two trajectories may seem contradictory, but if you're a person in firm grasp of reality and are aware it's all a fiction, it works, mainly because it's the kind of show that leaves you wanting more--more of anything, any scrap--and this book delivers on two fronts. It's beautifully designed, overlarge and full of glossy photos and interviews with cast and crew, and it goes further by including a good deal of ephemera--some collectible type stuff, glossy cardstock pictures of the cast, a sheet of stickers featuring various symbols used in the show--but some is more strictly paratextual, such as postcards from the crummy motels the boys frequent, a guide to hunting demons, a sealed pouch of documents (that I haven't actually opened yet), even a pine-scented air freshener in its package, inserted into the section about the Impala. It's a feast for any Supernatural fan, worthy of a place of honor on any coffee table, except that if you put it there, other people might try to put their grubby mitts all over it...

I loved this book from the moment I opened the package. The quality of the paper was top notch, the pictures plentiful and insights with the writers, creators, actors and how it all took root and blossomed became evident from Page 1 on. But was I ever shocked when I turned a page and found a five by seven card with pictures of Jensen and Jared on them. Periodically going through the book I found a map that located all the key areas in the United States that Supernatural Dean and Jared visited for various reasons and more pictures followed. Then there were decals. It was like a little kid opening a birthday gift I could hardly wait to see what came next. This was something I was not expecting it was as I said a very pleasant surprise. I highly recommend this book on many levels especially if you are a die-hard supernatural fan. It is well worth what you pay for it and I guarantee you will not be dissatisfied. Long Live Supernatural and thank you Eric Kripke for your vision and bringing it to life and sharing it with us.

This book is way more than I expected it to be! Full of excellent little factoids and tons of bonus bits-n-bobs you can remove from the book and examine more closely and/or hang up somewhere to admire! The book is arranged by season and particularly notable moments from the show. The photos are all incredibly high quality, and include screencaps from the show itself, as well as behind-the-scenes shots of the stars and amazing film crew. Some of my favorite little "extra" goodies include a small folder containing mini-prints of "Carver Edlund's" Supernatural book covers (super cheesy and laughable), and a tiny booklet containing little factoids on different circles, demons, and Latin phrases. Loads of fun, and way worth it for any true Supernatural fan!!

My daughter had to wait extremely impatiently for me to get home today to get this book. Mom's account, mom gets it first. This book is sooo full of everything a Supernatural fan could want. I already knew the little postcards didn't come out so I wasn't disappointed by that and even though I knew about the extras it was amazing to get to see them in person. My daughter has already sat down to start reading and is about half way through. She keeps exclaiming about every 3 pages excitedly about something new she discovered. We're going to a Supernatural convention this month and I plan to lug this book with me to get as many autographs as I can. It is a very heavy book so I may regret that decision at some point but it'll be an awesome conversation piece with the autographs as well. Everyone made comment about how beautiful this book is without the cover.....I wasn't expecting much but the cover is, as my girls would say "amazballs" A very nice addition to any collection

Elegí este artículo porque soy fan de la serie y vi en internet imágenes del contenido del libro y me gustó demasiado. Sólo cambiaría una cosa: en el interior del libro hay varias postales pegadas en diversas páginas, pero al levantarlas para ver la página se doblan y quedan marcadas. Quizá hubiera estado mejor poner un sobre al final del libro que contuviese todas esas postales y se conservaría mejor sin estropear tampoco las páginas donde están pegadas. Un saludo y muchas gracias

O livro é simplesmente maravilhoso. Bem grande, e cheio de conteúdos, fotos, posters e até adesivos, estou apaixonada demais. A entrega não tenho do que reclamar, comprei no domingo e chegou na terça kkkk fiquei impressionada com a rapidez da amazon. Esse livro é um sonho pra qualquer fã de Supernatural

This is the update version of this wonderful coffee table style book on the long running show Supernatural. Supernatural is one of my favourite shows of all time. I purchased the original version of this book and loved it. The update one is just as amazing! I love all the little things in it such as maps, postcards, notes and other tokens from the boys travels and journey. For any true Supernatural fan, you will love this book. I only wished I had bought 2 copies, one for reading and one for collecting!

Le livre est assez impressionnant, épais et d'excellente qualité. Les photos imprimées sont magnifiques ; on trouve de petites cartes postales à détacher tout le long de l'ouvrage, des petits bonus dans des enveloppes, et un lexique très détaillé sur toute l'aventure des Winchester et les êtres surnaturels qu'ils ont rencontré. De la saison 1 à 7, une "bible de chevet" pour tous les fans souhaitant approfondir leur connaissance de la série !

This arrived today and i'm not sure what I was expecting but this was more than I could have asked for. It is sizeable with excellent quality colour photos, something the season companions are lacking. There are season guides, episode list, cast input, behind the scenes a plenty, graphics from episodes and lots of little extras that just make this book superb. It really is stunning and worth every penny. Only thing is it does talk about the entire 1-7 seasons generally and only being half way through season 6 I skipped over any spoiler bits as best I could.