| Title | : | The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0930289579 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780930289577 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 |
| Publication | : | First published December 1, 1989 |
The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told Reviews
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The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told is a collection of comics from the golden age of the art form, pre 1956.
First off, I primarily bought this for the Plastic Man tale featuring Plas battling a shape shifter from space, Amorpho, written and drawn by Jack Cole. It lived up to my expectations.
The rest of the stories were a mixed bag. The Dick Sprang Batman tale and the Alex Toth Green Lantern were noteable high spots in the early goings. There's a Blackhawk tale illustrated by Reed Crandall and a Vigilante story by Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin that's also good. Al Plastino serves up a good Golden Age Superman and there's a JSA tale with art by Joe Kubert and Alex Toth, among others.
The selection puzzled me at times. There's a Johnny Quick tale but it doesn't feature Mort Meskin art. In addition, there's no Captain Marvel and no Doctor Fate but Black Condor by Lou Fine and some throw away gag cartoons made the cut. This feels more like a Golden Age sampler to me rather than a Best of.
While I don't think "Greatest" is a good adjective to describe this, The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told is a good look at the golden age of DC comics. Three out of five stars. -
By any reasonable measure, most stories from the "Golden Age" of comics are bad, still the promise of a "greatest of" is appealing. Honestly, if this book had nothing but Plastic Man and Scribbly stories, the book could make a case that it presents the best. Alas, it does not. The Plastic Man and Scribbly stories included, one of each, are just wonderful. Light, funny, fun, beautifully realized graphic stores. The elegant line of Jimmy Thompson on Robotman also deserves notice, though the above average story does not reach that hight.
The rest are a mixed lot. Nothing seems remarkable about the Boy Commandos, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Flash, or too many other stories. Each could well have been exchanged for other stories featuring these characters.
A very few stories rise above, such as the Superman story which reveals his other-world origin to the character for the first time. The Wonder Woman story is as badly told as most Wonder Woman stories, but has a refreshing subject. The Batman story has an unusual framing device and something to say, which helps sustain interest in what is in other ways a typical Batman story of the era, and the Justice Society of America story is silly, but has a great hook that is sustained to the end.
A few stories are pedestrian, but feature art by some of the better Golden Age artists, such as Jack Burnley on Starman, Lou Fine on Black Condor, and Dan Barry on Johnny Quick. I want to add Reed Crandall's Blackhawk story to this list, but Crandall was not at his best drawing comics. He was a much better illustrator in the latter part of his career. The story is also preposterous, yet predictable, which must seem odd, but there it is.
This book can effectively serve as an introduction for neophytes to DC's "Golden Age," but there is not a lot of truly great reading in these pages. Above average for about half the book is the best it can manage. -
A wonderful selection of the finest DC comics stories from the golden age. While some characters may not be remembered as much, all the stories were picked very finely for the finest ones and it’s a wonderful way to discover more comics that came be found in other collections later.
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This was a very ambitious project. DC sought to identify the best stories from the Golden Age of Comics told by their original companies (Detective Comics and All American Comics) as well as Quality Comics which was bought out by DC. Unfortunately, at the time of publication, they had some writes issues with republishing stories from Fawcett, so Captain Marvel makes no appearance.
The task was not enviable but overall they acquitted themselves well. Most of the usual suspects are here: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Plastic Man, and the Golden Age Green Lantern and Flash along with some lesser known characters such as Kid Eternity, the Sandman, and the Spectre. The Spirit doesn't appear, but there may have been other rights issue in 1990 that the editors didn't address with their introductory material. Also Superboy and Green Arrow are limited to 1-page PSA ads.
Among the highlights for me:
The origin of Wildcat (from Sensation Comics #1): I'd seen this character on a couple Justice League and Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoons, but his origin story is something else. They generally didn't do origin stories but this one had some real pathos.
The Rise and Fall of the Norman Empire (from All Flash Comics #14): I wasn't really impressed with the first Flash comics in the Golden Age Flash Archives, but this collection is something else. It has the Flash battles a mathematical criminal genius who plays cards for the life of the DA. Both Joan Williams and Jay Garrick are pretty well developed as characters in a very fun story.
Slam Bradley (from Detective Comics #1);Batman appeared in Detective Comics #27. This helps to answered what appeared before that. Bradley is tough as nails and moves like a steamroller. The story was written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Joe Shuster as could be told by the art. The story may be un-pc but its actually pretty good.
The Black Condor: The President's Been Kidnapped (from Cracked Comics #19): One of the Quality entries, this one is an action packed 9 page thriller that has FDR kidnapped and a puppet whose getting the US to back away from the allies in his place. This really works. There's some great tension and really just an incredible story.
Johnny Quick: The Day that Was Five Days Long (from Adventure Comics #144): Johnny gives a bitter man who was sent to jail for five years for a crime he didn't commit his powers, so that he can try all the things he'd wanted to try during the five stolen years. Actually some thought provoking and profound how it plays out.
Among my least favorite are: a stupid humor strip called Scribbly the Midget Cartoonist (All American Comics #6), a boring Starman story (Adventure Comics #67), a hard to follow and unengaging story featuring the Vigilante down under (Action Comics #128). The Wonder Woman story wasn't among the greatest and was also hard to get into.
The book included a 37-page Justice Society story at the end that was solid for having a team of supervillains in it (the Injustice Society), but also seemed to be struggling with adjusting to 37 page stories rather than 64 pages earlier in the decade as some parts were glossed over with the worst part being Wonder Woman and Johnny Thunder captured off screen.
While I disagree with some of the choices, I have to be really impressed with the scholarship shown, there's some introductory and explanatory material with guys who know comics like Roy Thomas, Mark Waid, and Mike Gold taking a hand.
With limited items available for reprints, and space limitations, no one could get this perfect. Still, this is a great book for fans of the golden age of comics and a series effort, particularly for its time. -
If you grew up in the seventies reading comics like I did, you'll remember all those great 100-page "Super Spectaculars" that DC Comics put out in the first half of the decade. For 50-cents, a kid could get a quick-and-easy history lesson in the golden age of comic books. I know I got several.
This anthology has the same feel as those great reprint titles, if buttressed by much higher reproduction values. While they aren't really "the greatest golden age stories ever told", this tome is filled with old-fashioned fun comic stories, something missing from the medium today. Lots of action, some humor, a bit of characterization and artwork by some of the best EVER in the business: Simon and Kirby, Dick Sprang, Al Plastino, Jack Cole, Lou Fine, Jack Burnley, Mort Meskin, to name a few.
This is a book that should be in any comic fan's library, and should be require reading for any comic professional, so they can see how it used to be done. And done right! -
Excellent selection of Golden Age stories....also enjoyed the historical notes much....
