2018.027 Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1

Batgirl: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1
Written by: Frank Robbins, Elliot S Maggin, Bob Rozakis, Gardner Fox, Mike Friedrich, Denny O'Neil
Illustrated by: Don Heck, Mike Grell, Carmine Infantino, Frank Springer, Gil Kane, Bob Brown, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Pablo Marcos, Curt Swan, Jose Delbo, Irv Novick, Dick Giordano, Vince Colletta, Sid Greene, Murphy Anderson, Frank Giacoia
DC Comics

180 The DC Universe By John Byrne

This is a fun, if uneven, collection of John Byrne stories that were not part of the regular series he did for DC.  It's a nice overview of some of the stuff he did and highly enjoyable.  If you're a Byrne fan, that is.

The DC Universe By John Byrne

Writer: John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, Mike W Barr, Paul Kupperberg, Roger Stern, Paul Dini, Josh Siegal, Cary Bates, Keith Champagne

Artist: John Byrne, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Kurt Schaffenberger, Keith Wilson, Andy Kubert, Rick Burchett, Lary Stucker, Keith Champagne

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

013 DC Elseworlds: Batman Vol 1

I'm a sucker for a good compilation book.  Something like this.  The first volume of Batman Elseworlds stories.  The book clocks in at about 500+ pages.  There's a lot of cool stuff in here as well as some mediocre stuff.  I love the concept of the Elseworlds stories.  Basically, take your characters, put them in any time, any locale, any situation and build a story around them.  Some succeed, some fail.

The book starts off with Alan Brennert's Holy Terror.  I just recently read this story for the first time in years in the Alan Brennert Batman collection that came out last year.  He only wrote a handful of Batman tales, but they were all great.  This was no exception.  I think I enjoyed it more this time than when I read it a few months ago.

There's a Batman in the old west drawn beautifully by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez.

Robin 3000 was a two issue mini-series that I have no recollection of but enjoyed the hell out of.  It felt so much like a 1950s pulp.  I kind of wish there was more than just the two issues.

Batman/Dark Joker: The Wild.  Nice tale, but probably my least favorite of them all.

Batman/Houdini was a lot of fun.

My favorite story, however, was probably the Frankenstein tale told with Batman characters.  It was great.  It wasn't just sticking the characters we know into a different setting.  The characters were molded to fit the roles they needed to fill.  It worked so well.

I've got a second volume sitting in my backlog pile to get to yet.  I can't wait.

DC Elseworlds: Batman Vol 1
Writer: Alan Brennert, Elliot S. Maggin, Alan Weiss, Byron Preiss, Steven Ringgenberg, Doug Moench, Howard Chaykin, John Francis Moore, Jack C. Harris, Mike, W. Barr
Artist: Norm Breyfogle, Alan Weiss, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, P. Craig Russell, Kelley Jones, John Beatty, Mark Chiarello, Bo Hampton, Terry Bingham, Howard Chaykin
DC Comics