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dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway Volume 2 collects Batman #337-346, #348, Detective Comics #505-513, World's Finest Comics #270.
This book is nearly 500 pages and still feels jam packed. Gerry Conway has enough subplots going to fuel an entire season of a Batman TV show. Man-Bat is missing, Poison Ivy is trying to take over the Wayne Foundation, and the mayor candidates are gunning for Batman and Commissioner Gordon. On top of all that, Vicki Vale is trying to discover Batman's identity and villains like Mirage, Two-Face, Dagger, Blockbuster, and others are up to their old tricks.
Rich Buckler, JLGL, Don Newton, Irv Novik, Trevor Von Eeden, and Gene Colan supply the pencils on this with a hoary host of inkers like Klaus Janson. Heavy hitters like Jim Aparo and Joe Kubert even do guest covers.
There isn't a lot more to say. These are some of the best pre-Crisis Batman stories of the 1980s.
This book is nearly 500 pages and still feels jam packed. Gerry Conway has enough subplots going to fuel an entire season of a Batman TV show. Man-Bat is missing, Poison Ivy is trying to take over the Wayne Foundation, and the mayor candidates are gunning for Batman and Commissioner Gordon. On top of all that, Vicki Vale is trying to discover Batman's identity and villains like Mirage, Two-Face, Dagger, Blockbuster, and others are up to their old tricks.
Rich Buckler, JLGL, Don Newton, Irv Novik, Trevor Von Eeden, and Gene Colan supply the pencils on this with a hoary host of inkers like Klaus Janson. Heavy hitters like Jim Aparo and Joe Kubert even do guest covers.
There isn't a lot more to say. These are some of the best pre-Crisis Batman stories of the 1980s.
dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway, Volume 3 collects Detective Comics 515-526 and Batman 349-359, written by Gerry Conway.
My favored version of Batman ends with Crisis on Infinite Earths so for me, this is Batman in his heyday. I have a handful of the issues collected between this book's covers but most of it was new to me. The cover price is $49.99 but I watched it until I was able to snap it up for a cool 20 bucks.
First off, the artists. This collection has a good mix, from all-times like Gene Colan, Don Newton, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Curt Swan to newcomers at the time like Dan Jurgens. I was five when I read one of the Gene Colan issues and thus missed the significance of Gene Colan doing a vampire Batman story. The art is all pretty moody. Colan is my favorite artist of the bunch by a long chalk but JLGL and Dandy Don Newton also produced some great stuff.
As for the writing, this is Gerry Conway at his peak. He's always got a B and C plot on the back burner and manages to do slow burns on a lot of the stories while still having the issues be fairly self-contained. While The Joker gets an issue and Catwoman makes a couple appearances, Conway focused on deep cuts and new characters. Daedshot, Hugo Strange, and The Monk all get several issue arcs and Conway introduces Killer Croc in a multi-parter. I'll just gloss over Colonel Blimp and The Squid, if I may.
Gerry Conway's Batman is far from the unbeatable character he's become in the ensuing decades. Croc hands his ass to him on three occasions and both Dick and Bruce become vampiri for a time. Conway also explores the corruption in Gotham City. Gordon gets booted off the force and forms a detective agency with Jason Bard while biding his time. The Human Target guest stars in a few issues as someone is convinced Bruce Wayne is Batman and puts a contract out on him.
I really can't say enough good things about this collection. The vampire story and the Hugo Strange issue were easily my favorites, partly because of childhood nostalgia and partly because they hold up so well today.
Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway Volume 3 is pre-Crisis Batman at his best. 4.5 out of 5 Batarangs.
My favored version of Batman ends with Crisis on Infinite Earths so for me, this is Batman in his heyday. I have a handful of the issues collected between this book's covers but most of it was new to me. The cover price is $49.99 but I watched it until I was able to snap it up for a cool 20 bucks.
First off, the artists. This collection has a good mix, from all-times like Gene Colan, Don Newton, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and Curt Swan to newcomers at the time like Dan Jurgens. I was five when I read one of the Gene Colan issues and thus missed the significance of Gene Colan doing a vampire Batman story. The art is all pretty moody. Colan is my favorite artist of the bunch by a long chalk but JLGL and Dandy Don Newton also produced some great stuff.
As for the writing, this is Gerry Conway at his peak. He's always got a B and C plot on the back burner and manages to do slow burns on a lot of the stories while still having the issues be fairly self-contained. While The Joker gets an issue and Catwoman makes a couple appearances, Conway focused on deep cuts and new characters. Daedshot, Hugo Strange, and The Monk all get several issue arcs and Conway introduces Killer Croc in a multi-parter. I'll just gloss over Colonel Blimp and The Squid, if I may.
Gerry Conway's Batman is far from the unbeatable character he's become in the ensuing decades. Croc hands his ass to him on three occasions and both Dick and Bruce become vampiri for a time. Conway also explores the corruption in Gotham City. Gordon gets booted off the force and forms a detective agency with Jason Bard while biding his time. The Human Target guest stars in a few issues as someone is convinced Bruce Wayne is Batman and puts a contract out on him.
I really can't say enough good things about this collection. The vampire story and the Hugo Strange issue were easily my favorites, partly because of childhood nostalgia and partly because they hold up so well today.
Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway Volume 3 is pre-Crisis Batman at his best. 4.5 out of 5 Batarangs.
dantastic's review
3.0
Tales of the Batman: Gerry Conway Vol. 1 collects stories MAN-BAT #1, DETECTIVE COMICS #463, #464, #497-499, #502-504, BATMAN #295, #305, #306, #337, BATMAN FAMILY #17, WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #250, #269, BRAVE AND THE BOLD #158, #161, #171-174.
Gerry Conway is known to many as the man who killed Gwen Stacy in the pages of Spider-Man but he's also a damn good Batman writer. In this volume, he has Jim Aparo, Michael Golden, Steve Ditko, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Rich Buckler, and Don Newton, among others on art.
There is a wide variety of material here and it's not all up to the standards of Conway's later work. However, I loved the two clashes with the Black Spider as well as the "Who Killed Mlle. Marie" two-parter. The Brave and the Bold issue where he teams with Scalphunter is another favorite, despite the "time travel via hypnosis" plot device that seems to have been popular in the 1970s.
Conway's Batman is a down to earth detective, as at home tracking run of the mill drug dealers as he is battling the Joker. Not only is he not invincible or infallible, he takes a couple bullets in this one and is even laid out with a fireplace poker to the back of the head. This is also during the era where the Batcave and Wayne Manor have been abandoned in favor of the Wayne Foundation building and the secret headquarters beneath.
These aren't the best Gerry Conway Batman stories but they're still a fun read. 3 out of 5 stars.
Gerry Conway is known to many as the man who killed Gwen Stacy in the pages of Spider-Man but he's also a damn good Batman writer. In this volume, he has Jim Aparo, Michael Golden, Steve Ditko, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Rich Buckler, and Don Newton, among others on art.
There is a wide variety of material here and it's not all up to the standards of Conway's later work. However, I loved the two clashes with the Black Spider as well as the "Who Killed Mlle. Marie" two-parter. The Brave and the Bold issue where he teams with Scalphunter is another favorite, despite the "time travel via hypnosis" plot device that seems to have been popular in the 1970s.
Conway's Batman is a down to earth detective, as at home tracking run of the mill drug dealers as he is battling the Joker. Not only is he not invincible or infallible, he takes a couple bullets in this one and is even laid out with a fireplace poker to the back of the head. This is also during the era where the Batcave and Wayne Manor have been abandoned in favor of the Wayne Foundation building and the secret headquarters beneath.
These aren't the best Gerry Conway Batman stories but they're still a fun read. 3 out of 5 stars.
luana420's review
5.0
In this era of comic book characters being either insultingly centrist or off-puttingly neocon, there's something to Batman fighting for West Virginia coal miner unions and solving a murder mystery wherein communists aren't the villains but rather a justice-seeking party. Sneak 'em in where ya can, Gerry!
It's funny that GRITTY STREET FRENCH CONNECTION Batman still has Alfred make him some nice cocoa when he gets home. This is frankly the perfect combination of Batman elements for me.
The weakest stuff comes in the form of Brave and the Bold, where Batman is just jammed into whatever hero they wanna spotlight and it takes away from at the very least Batman, and maybe the other heroes. I'm not as familiar with Firestorm and Green Lantern, so I can't really speak on those. It almost feels like fictional character Batman is putting in contractually obligated appearances in other titles and just phones it in, but they still end up pleasant and brisk reads.
Batman's jolly friendship with Superman in World's Finest is amazing stuff, and something I really hope to see on screen someday.
It's funny that GRITTY STREET FRENCH CONNECTION Batman still has Alfred make him some nice cocoa when he gets home. This is frankly the perfect combination of Batman elements for me.
The weakest stuff comes in the form of Brave and the Bold, where Batman is just jammed into whatever hero they wanna spotlight and it takes away from at the very least Batman, and maybe the other heroes. I'm not as familiar with Firestorm and Green Lantern, so I can't really speak on those. It almost feels like fictional character Batman is putting in contractually obligated appearances in other titles and just phones it in, but they still end up pleasant and brisk reads.
Batman's jolly friendship with Superman in World's Finest is amazing stuff, and something I really hope to see on screen someday.
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