Superman/Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Edmond Hamilton (Author), Jeph Loeb (Author), Curt Swan (Author), Ed McGuinness (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up—This is one of the publisher's many recent anthologies that attempts to bridge the time line from the cheerful Golden Age versions of their characters to their contemporary incarnations. The difficulty with this, as the introduction straightforwardly acknowledges, is that DC's superhero characters have all been reset and recontextualized for a contemporary audience. So while this book begins with the first official meeting of Batman and Superman, another story of their first encounter, this one post-reboot, appears halfway through the volume. This is a jarring shift in both established history and tone, as the previous half of the volume consists of tales of chummy collaboration between the two heroes. The post-reboot stories begin as solemn and pensive, but the volume closes with a welcome madcap adventure, a deliberately antic retelling of the story that opens the volume. The book is hard to classify in terms of its intended audience. On the one hand, it contains valuable historical comics that would otherwise be unavailable to today's readers, but on the other, the substance and tone of the earlier stories are so radically different from modern comics that they emphasize their datedness. However, the final story in the volume works so much better when one can also see its historical context. There's an interesting jumble of talent here, but perhaps the scope covered prevents these stories from feeling as great as the publisher claims they are.—Benjamin Russell, Belmont High School, NH
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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: DC Comics (March 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401212271
• ISBN-13: 978-1401212278
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 0.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,319,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Two Super Characters, Two Story Lines, October 20, 2008

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Bicycle Day - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Superman/Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

In a number of ways, the collaboration of the two legendary super heroes is an excellent depiction on the change of tone in such comic (book) story lines.

The volume essentially presents two initial meetings of the crime fighters; one which shows an unbridled trust and a second - updated - which depicts a wariness and tension between the pair. Perhaps generational, the reader may not necessarily enjoy both, but it does place the series in a very unique historical context.

It is ultimately a mixed bag that may be worth more to collectors than readers looking for a solid journey down memory lane.