Customer Reviews

The Batman Annuals, Vol. 1 (DC Comics Classics Library)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"DC Comics Classic Library: Batman - The Annuals Vol. 1"
(DC Comics, 2009)
---------------------------------------------------------------
At last... a reprint that does Batman justice! This is how I remember enjoying Batman as a kid, when I stumbled on some beat-up old copies of these great 80-page Annuals, big thick books that contained the cream of the crop of his classic adventures from the 1940s and '50s. This is Batman at his giddy, goofy, just-for-fun best, with streamlined, action-packed stories written in a much simpler time.

When the DC Archive series started a few years ago, I thought those high-class hardbacks would fulfill the same sense of wonder, but was disappointed to find that -- waaah, boo-hoo -- reading the early stuff from the 'Forties was actually pretty boring, especially when you read it in chronological order. When they skipped ahead to the mid-1960s (in the "Dynamic Duo" books) that helped a lot... But this volume is really the cream of the crop, fun, fantastic stuff that is really the best and most appropriate introduction to the Dark Knight. This is an especially good book to give very young readers, to give them a chance to discover Batman without getting bogged down in the dense psychology and dark violence of today's Bat-books. This old stuff is just plain fun. Yay. Great reprints. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

This is the Batman I grew up with! Before all the Dark Knight stuff. Good fun and great memories. I remember several of these stories from when I was a kid. This is Batman before he went into analysis. Villans were colorful and our heros always knew the right way to deal with them. Highly recommended. Can't wait for the next volume.

Not many comic books today are published with young readers in mind. These two Volume containing the collection of the early 80 Page "Batman Annujals" published years ago by DC Comics contain stories that were published back in the days when comic books were published with kids in mind.

DC Comics does publish "Batman" comic books for younger readers, however, the stories in thes two volumes are much better. "Batwoman" and her young sidekick the original Batgirl appear in som of the stories. Also appearing are Ace, the Bathound and the magical imp from the Fifthe Dimension "Bat-Mite."

These books would make a great gift for youngr readers.

Anyone who has been around for a while and takes notice of comic book characters and/or their movie/TV incarnations, is sure to know that Batman has undergone more transformations than any other character I can think of.
Those of you who have grown up with the grittier "Dark Knight" version of Batman may find these tales a bit silly and lets face it, they are.
The value of this book comes either from the enjoyable nostalgia of re-reading comics from your youth or from introducing this earlier version of the character to younger readers. I'm one of those middle-aged re-readers and I enjoyed it overall, but was just a little disappointed. I remember these stories being a lot cooler, but I guess they were... then.