2018.018 Black Lightning Vol 2

In his introduction to this volume, Tony Isabella says that this series was only supposed to reprint Tony's work on Black Lightning, not everyone's work.  But he insisted that this be a chronological reprinting, skipping nothing.  I agree with him.  While I think it's cool that DC was going to do just Tony's stuff, I think it's important to give us all the stuff.  

The first volume was Tony, plus a couple stories by others.  This volume is Tony free.  We get BL back up stories from World's Finest and Detective Comics as well as the two part Justice League of America story where BL turns down membership.

I loved this book.  Is it great?  No.  But it's really good, at least to me.  It's reprinting stories from an era of DC that means a lot to me.  Most of these stories I'm reading for the first time, or at least that's what my memory is telling me.  Minor details are very fluid in this book.  Writer to writer things change, like what kind of teacher Jefferson Pierce is.  But who cares.  It's a great time to be a Black Lightning fan right now.  Embrace him and enjoy.

Black Lightning Vol 2

Written by: Dennis O'Neil, Gerry Conway, J.M. Dematteis, Martin Pasko, Paul Kupperberg

Illustrated by: Dick Dillin, George Tuska, Rich Buckler, Marshall Rogers, Mike Nasser, Romeo Tanghal, Joe Staton, Pat Broderick, Dick Giordano, Gerald Forton, Frank Chiaramonte, Bob Smith, Vince Colletta, Frank McLaughlin

DC Comics

143 Tales Of The Batman: Gerry Conway Vol 1

When I think of Gerry Conway, I don't necessarily think of Batman, but as it turns out, he's written his fair share of Batman stories.  Everything in this book I've read before.  Most everything I've read I read when it was brand new.  There are a couple exceptions, but very few.  This book has a nice mix of stories from Batman, Detective Comics, Batman Family, Brave & The Bold, World's Finest and Man-Bat. 

A couple of the stories in here I have very strong, fond memories of, though I had no idea they were Gerry Conway stories.  The first being the story from Batman Family #17.  And it's not even the story itself that I have really fond memories of, but the entire issue.  I remember all the stories kind of blending into one another.  The story reprinted in this volume has one of my favorite BatFam sequences ever. Huntress breaks into the Wayne Foundation building and is quickly "discovered" by Batman and Robin.  It's the first meeting between Batman and Huntress and I love it.  Batman brings Huntress to meet Kathy Kane, who in turn takes Huntress to meet Batgirl.  That story isn't in this volume, though.

Another story I have very fond memories of is from World's Finest #250.  I don't think the story is nearly as good as I remember it, but I'm a sucker for anniversary stories with lots of guest stars.  This tale isn't just the Superman/Batman story you'd normally get in World's Finest.  It also stars Green Arrow and Black Canary and the WWII Earth 2 Wonder Woman, all who also had features in World's Finest.  I do love these kinds of stories, whether they are successful or not. 

This book also has a fair amount of Brave & The Bold stories.  I love those tales.  LOVE THEM!!!  Especially the ones that are the more impossible ones, like Batman teaming up with Scalphunter.

I wouldn't say there's anything in this book that's outstanding, but it's a great read cover to cover nonetheless.

If DC is going to reprint more Gerry Conway stuff, I hope their next project is the Fury of Firestorm series.  That, to me, is classic Gerry Conway.

Tales Of The Batman: Gerry Conway Vol 1

Writer: Gerry Conway

Artist: Steve Ditko, Ernie Chan, Michael Golden, George Tuska, John Calnan, Jim Aparo, Don Newton, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Carmine Infantino, Rich Buckler, Al Milgrom, Frank McLaughlin, Vince Colletta, Dave Hunt, Dan Adkins, Steve Mitchell

DC Comics

073 Last Days Of the Justice Society Of America

I love collections like this.  There wasn't enough of the main story to fill a trade paperback, so it's more of a themed collection than one story.  Which is fine by me.  I've read all of these stories in the past and I was excited to read them again.

My memories of the main story weren't very good.  I remember not feeling satisfied with the story when it was first published.  It was published as a Special after Crisis On Infinite Earths finished.  DC wanted to take the JSA off the page and Roy Thomas was tasked with that job.  He was the perfect choice since he wrote most every JSA (and related) story during the 80s.  Rereading this story didn't bring me any new insights.  It just made me sad all over again.  I always felt that this story just didn't do the JSA justice.  All these amazing characters were sentenced to a hellish limbo to live out their days (at least until someone decided it was okay to bring them back.)  It just wasn't my favorite story then, it still isn't my favorite story now.

To round out this collection, we get a ton of origin stories from Secret Origins.  These were fun to read.  Roy Thomas' love of these characters and their histories showed in each one.

Overall, it's a good book if you're looking for some done in one JSA stories.

Last Days Of The Justice Society Of America

Writer: Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas

Artist: David Ross, Mike Gustovich, Michael Bair, Steve Montano, Tom Grindberg, George Tuska, Jerry Acerno, Luke McDonnell, Tony DeZuniga, Mike Clark, Dave Hunt, Michael T. Gilbert, George Freeman, Bob Downs

DC Comics