Books : Batman Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions)

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Batmans first
If you like Batman the movie and my review on Batman the movie and you haven't read the first comic book of Batman this is the book for you. It has the first 24 Batman comics. In the first one you will find out how great an action hero Batman really is. In the second one you will find out how good of a detective Batman really is. In the third one you will meet Batman's first arch villain and so on and so on. Then to top it all off in the middle of the book Robin the boy wonder is introduced as Batman's aid and best friend. This book comes in mighty handy for example your parents tell you to stop watching TV and playing games and go and read, well this will come in handy. If your in a long road trip or going on vacation on a long plane ride this book will come in handy. In school you can put this baby in front of your boring textbook and read it instead. Or your electricity is out, you could read this until your city power plant says "I GIVE YOU LIGHT"! so enjoy!

Rating:

- The Creation of an Icon
This is a fascinating volume in that it shows the first couple of years of Batman stories from Detective Comics. It begins with his first appearance as well as containing his origin story in a later issue and the first appearance of Robin the Boy Wonder. Bob Kane's Batman as portrayed in Batman Archives Volume 1 is a very dark creation at first. The violence is quite intense as Batman's foes end up being pierced through, necks broken or falling to their deaths, if not actually shot with the gun Batman sometimes carried at his side. This level of violence was already decreasing when the garishly garded Robin made his appearance and is gone by the end of this Volume. The villains include Dr. Death, Hugo Strange, the Joker and Clayface, along with a vampire and the usual suspects of assorted crime bosses. There is a nice gothic feel to many of the stories and drawings, with the exception of a fantasy story involving giants and tiny people which looks forward to the idiotic mess of stories that will haunt the Batman comics in the 1950's. At any rate, this is a great volume to begin a look at the origin and development of an icon, as well as being entertaining itself.

Rating:

- Great for batman-completists
What we have here is Batman Archives volume 1. A book that collects "Detective Comic"s #27-50 which include the first appereances of Batman (#27), Robin (#38) and Clayface (#40) and features a very early Joker story as well (#45). This is a Batman who is labelled 'pre-crisis' now (see "Crisis on Infinite Earths") and is said to not be exactly the same Batman that's in comics in the present, a Batman who isn't affraid to use any sort of violence (including murder !) to get the job done. What we see is Batman dealing almost exclusively with common criminals in very harsh ways and acting as the avenging detective. Extravagant villains like he later faced (Pinguin, Riddler etc.) aren't really an issue here yet, despite of that single Joker story. There's some remarkably solid storytelling going on here though, especially for the day and age these stories were first published (unlike a lot of other comic-titles in that period of time which mostly were very corny). The art isn't very great and a little confusing at times (there isn't a lot of difference in facial expressions, the two expressions you see almost all the time are "intrigued" and "shocked"), but it's sufficient. In conclussion I can say that it's a very nice collection for Batman completists AND for people who like to see how it al began and how the character evolved over the (more than 60 !) years. But it isn't really neccesary reading for people who are looking for great Batman stories. In that case you're better of getting something like "Batman: Gothic", "Batman: Prey", "The Long Halloween", "Joker: Devil's Advocate" or the obvious "Return of the Dark Knight" by Frank Miller.

People who DO love this trip in nostalgia will also have a good time with "The Dark Knight Archives", "The Greatest Joker Stories ever Told", "The Greatest Batman Stories ever Told" and the more recent "Batman: Strange Apparitions".

Rating:

- Legend: The Batman and How He Came To Be!
I don't know why the previous reviewer bought the wrong book, I suppose he got confused or Amazon displayed the wrong review on the wrong page. By looking at the back of the book (at least Volume One) you can clearly see which issues are reprinted. Anyways, on with the review.

You won't find the best storytelling in this book, nor art to rival Brian Bolland or Kelley Jones. But you will fulfill that aching need you have to see how it all began. You'll see the original Batman casually killing criminals left and right. You'll see Robin with the sling that would later be taken up by Tim Drake, even if his costume was abandoned. You'll see the bright red Batmobile. You'll see Batman spouting awful quips and grinning as he beats crooks silly. You'll see images recognizable to any fan from any decade in Batman's origin story. Best of all, you'll finally find out why Batman has that red hood and the red idol in the Batcave. (Though I suspect the idol is a replica, and the original was returned to the proper authorities.)

If you want to read a bit about the creation of this book, pick up a copy of LOTDK #1. It can be had pretty cheaply. Or, I suppose there's more detailed histories given elsewhere, but I really don't know where.

Rating:

- The way it all began...
Here it is, Bat-fans: the very first stories ever published of Bat-Man (as his name was originally spelled), back from Detective Comics #27-52. These stories gave birth to the character who, along with Superman, is the most enduring and easily identifiable hero in the comic book genre, and possibly in American pop culture. In this collection (beautifully restored and in a solid binding) you get to see the first appearances of Batman, Robin, Clayface, and an early appearance of the Joker. The quality of comic writing today is, on the whole, much different today than it was 60 years ago. But this collection in Batman Archives represents some of the all-time best and most influential comic stories ever told from the Golden Age of comics. Frank Miller (in "Year One" and "The Dark Knight Returns") did not "redefine" Batman as a dark, gritty antihero; he returned Batman to his roots, and you can see the original Dark Knight in these early stories by Kane and Finger. Excellent storytelling. If you want to see how Batman began, you can't do better than this.

One clarification: unless DC Comics corrected this in later printings, "Batman Archives" refers to the reprints of Detective 27-52. The subsequent "Dark Knight Archives" refers to Batman 1-4 (i.e., if you buy "Batman Archives," you're really buying "Detective Comics" reprints.)

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