The comic book industry is well-populated with many good folks that I respect immensely. One of those folks is Bob Greenberger. If you’ve ever enjoyed a reprint collection from Marvel or DC–odds are good that Greenberger was involved in the project (but that’s just one aspect of his prolific career). In recent years, he’s branched out into a variety of even more freelance projects–and with the release of the new Batman film, I became interested in Greenberger’s most recent effort, The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Despite juggling a great deal of far more important demands on personal and professional fronts, he was kind enough to grant me an email interview this past weekend. I greatly appreciated his time and strongly recommend you visit his site after reading the interview.

Tim O’Shea: In researching the deep history of Batman, were there any particular characters (from the golden or silver or whatever age) that you think has been underutilized and DC would do well to bring into the present day?

Bob Greenberger: These days one writer or another brings back the underutilized or the obscure, especially in Grant Morrison’s current run on Batman. So, really, no, I can’t come up with someone truly deserving for a second look.

O’Shea: Were there any Batman writers or artists with which you gained a newfound appreciation for their work?

Greenberger: Frank Robbins and Don Cameron come to mind. Other than Bill Finger, Don wrote the majority of the stories during the Golden Age and gave us Vicki Vale and the Mad Hatter among others. While better known for his Superman work, his Batman stories were very entertaining.

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