Books : DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Less than impressive.
I was let down by this collection of stories from one of comics' most celebrated writers. While "The Killing Joke" was okay and important in the legend of the Batman, most of the other other stories just seem lackluster and dated. The art is typical of the times the stories were written, not flashy or stylistic, but adequate to tell the story if sometimes a little unclear. This may be of interest to those with fond memories of these stories or those with interest in writing that was ground-breaking for the time, but there's no need to read this if you're looking for modern innovative work.

Rating:

- There's got to be more than this.
I'll start out stating that the only reason I bought this was to own the Killing Joke. Well, that is pretty much the only reason to own this since you can't find that one-shot for individual sale anymore. If you are a fan of Alan Moore's work, then this should get your fix. Agreeing with a lot of other comic readers, this is not his best stuff though.

Rating:

- If your just getting started...
I'm just getting started with comics and this comic, along with Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Vol 1, was one of the ones recommended to me at The Daily Planet forum for beginners like me. This is a great way to get started if you are wanting to learn more about the DC Universe.

Rating:

- Good to Great stories - but not Alan Moore's best work
While this is a great collection of comics, it certainly isn't Alan Moore's best work. His best work was done outside of DC Comics. Further, his best work for DC Comics is represented by Watchmen and Swamp Thing, both of which provided him with quite a bit of creative freedom. This trade paperback collects all of the filler stories he wrote for DC in the later part of the 1980's. The stories are quite good given what they are (guest writing, filler stories, staple characters with strict editorial guidelines) - but they fail to compare to much of Moore's other work.

The highlights of this collection are definitely the Superman stories - notably "For The Man Who Has Everything" and "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow". I really like the later, as it is drawn by Curt Swan who gives it a very classic look, and inked by George Perez who gives it a modern finish. Both are great and rank among my favorite Superman stories (which is admittedly a short list).

There is another Superman story from DC Comics Presents featuring Swamp Thing, but it falls flat for me. Moore's Superman doesn't act as Superman should. Another entry in the 'average' ranking is a two issue Vigilante story which reads well enough, but in the end lacks anything particularly special.

There are a few Green Lantern stories; most of which are quite short. And yet, while being short, they are quite enjoyable and are some of the Green Lantern stories I remember the best.

The Green Arrow/Black Canary story is short but good. A short origin story for Phantom Stranger is included, which I might have liked if I could get myself to care about The Phantom Stranger in the least bit - but I can't. And there is a short Omega Men story which I rather liked.

Finally, this collection includes "The Killing Joke". I really liked this when it came out, but I've come to think that it is a bit overrated. While I'm sure it deserves some credit for giving some new life to The Joker, in the end it is just a good, solid Batman story. Other writers have done better, and didn't need to destroy a character to do so. (Although, without Batgirl's crippling, Ostrander would not have been able to create Oracle. So it did work out well in the end.)

Rating:

- There were these two guys in an insane assylum
This comic book is a good sampling of Alan Moore's work. The most notable highlight is The Killing Joke which is a classic for Batman fans.

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