Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Evan Dorkin (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2005

Slave Labor is totally stoked to announce the first of two volumes collecting the Eisner-award nominated series originally published by Marvel Comics in the early 90's, chronicling the fully awesome further exploits of those two trippy time-traveling troubadours, Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan. This volume contains the Bogus Journey movie adaptation and issues 1-4, featuring zombies, aliens, assassins, some dude named Satan, and most non-non-heinous of all -- record industry executives! It's not just excellent, it's totally excellent!

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: SLG Publishing (February 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0943151988
• ISBN-13: 978-0943151984
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #988,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it!, May 19, 2010

By 

Brisco (Daly City, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I was surprised to find these in a Border's one day and that someone loved these comics enough to re-release them in volumes. I was equally surprised to find that they were in grey scale, which is such a shame. It's almost an insult to wonderful artists who colored the original books. Granted it might be what Dorkin originally wanted, but it's like Spielberg ruining ET with CGI instead of a puppet. When people revisit something, they want it the way they remember it. Granted these are just Bill & Ted comics and not some classic.

What's extra ridiculous about this is that you can almost always find the original comics, near mint on E-Bay for only $35 for the whole set. Amazon sells these books for a bout $14 a piece plus shipping (if your whole order doesn't qualify for free super-saver) That can add up to about $30-$35 dollars. That's the same I paid for the entire collection, most of the books even appear unread. When you look at it that way, these two books are really not worth it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Comics, Reprint Could've Been Better, March 1, 2005

By 

MoviesIn89 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Since according to the other reviewer, Mr. Sean A. Lane, I was being too much of an unfair, "judgmental jerk" with my previous review (which was a one star review) of this comic reprint, I decided to ditch that review and will now do another one. One that's less impulsive, more reasonable and will hopefully not make Mr. A. Lane think so ill of me this time.

First, I'll review the comics themselves. They were (and still are) nothing short of amazing and as a young Bill & Ted fan, were a very memorable highlight of my youth. The writer and artist, Evan Dorkin, did an incredible job with the Bill & Ted monthly comic, as well as with the adaptation of the Bogus Journey film, which even features scenes that were cut from the movie. It's almost like watching a director's cut of Bogus Journey, only in comic book form. Marvel (who originally put these comics out in the early '90's) could've simply had anyone come in and do a mediocre adaptation of the movie and Saturday morning cartoon series, but instead they had Dorkin come in (who amazingly enough had never even seen the Bill & Ted movies prior to doing the comics) and he did something that was not only original and creative using the Bill & Ted license, it was almost as funny and entertaining as the movies they were based on. As Bill & Ted would say, Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book was, well, "Excellent!" A must-read for any fan of Bill & Ted! The comics themselves get five stars from me! Most definitely!

As for the reprint, in Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures, Vol. 1 you get the entire Bogus Journey adaptation and the first four issues of the monthly comic. While this collection is beautifully drawn and a fantastic read it's also (as I stated in my other review) all in black and white (or "grayscale" or whatever) and just like the scans I saw online way back when, it really leaves something to be desired. Especially when giving the b&w reprints a side by side comparison with their colorful 90's counterparts. It's not that I have anything against b&w but taking something beloved from my childhood that was originally in color and stripping all the color away, just doesn't sit well with me. To me, it's almost like if they had released the Bill & Ted movies on DVD in b&w. Even if it were the directors' choices to do so, I wouldn't dig it. Does that make me a jerk? I don't think so.

According to Sean A. Lane's review, it was "an artist's preferance and the way Dorkin meant it to be" that these reprints were to be done in b&w. That may very well be true, I really wouldn't know. I'm honestly not a big comic book fan. I'm a movie fan. More specifically, a huge Bill & Ted fan. I really don't know much about Dorkin or his preferences when it comes to his art. I sort of thought it was just a financial decision on Slave Labor's part to do the reprints that way. I'm sure not doing them in color was alot cheaper on them, but do I really have to love the fact they're b&w? Nope, hence my previous one star review.

However, since I do indeed love Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book so much and Evan Dorkin did such an amazing job with it, I may have been a little too harsh in taking off four stars just on the count of the reissues being in b&w. I'll admit that now. So, I'll just take off one star for the loss of color this time. I was considering taking off two stars but I wouldn't want Mr. Sean A. Lane or any of the other members of The Dorkin Army to think I'm being too unfair or jerky. Plus, it might not look as good to me in b&w, but the stories are still hilarious as ever. While I won't let this affect my rating, I should also point out that these reprints are quite smaller than a regular size comic book, which was most likely another financial decision.

Now, as I mentioned, I'm no big-time comic book aficionado. I don't even own that many comic books (let alone many reprints of comics) and for all I know, it may be commonplace for most reprints to be done smaller and in b&w. I just can't help but feel that this particular comic book series is special enough to deserve a better reprint, in full comic book size and (most importantly) in full-color. Nothing against Evan Dorkin's artistic preference or anything, but anything worth doing is worth doing right.

I really wasn't trying to deter anyone from purchasing this reprint or "just bringing the Amazon rating down" with my previous review and I'm not trying to do that now. I was simply voicing my opinion about it and rating it accordingly. Even though they weren't re-released the way I had hoped, it's still pretty cool that Slave Labor and Evan Dorkin made these great comics available to the masses again, so I guess four stars is reasonable. As I stated in the last line of my old review, "Buy this book if you want to", and by all means, if you think it's worth it to you, buy it! For all the others who want these books in all their colorful glory, try eBay or your favorite vintage comic book dealer and snag the '90's originals. They're really not that hard to find... but most important, be excellent to each other and PARTY ON, DUDES!

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judgemental Jerk, July 28, 2005

By 

Sean A. Lane "Master Washington" (Borneo, Borneo) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Adventures, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Don't listen to that guy about the reprint. He's just bringing the Amazon rating down. Sure, this new book is now in grayscale, but that doesn't at all mean it's bad. It was an artist's preferance and the way Dorkin meant it to be.
It's not fair to judge the reprint because you "saw scans online" and now decided WITHOUT READING IT that this collection was not worth it.