The 2nd print is very close, but no cigar. After the computer coloring hack job of the first print, Marvel redid some of the issues, as there were originally printed 30 years ago. Unfortunately, there are still some pages, here and there, that still have this bad coloring work. On top of it, I now see some colored pages from the 80's special edition reprints making it an inconsistent mess.
Hopefully by the time Marvel releases the 3rd print, ALL of the coloring for this collection will be brought back to its former glory.

Just as the Original X-Men's run was hampered by ridiculously low sales, Marvel tried to salvage the title by conscripting two greats -- Roy Thomas and Neal Adams -- to come up with some butt-kicking tales. And this they did! Adams can tell a story by himself, really, with his spectacular pencils. His sense of perspective, lighting and presence is truly phenomenal. Unfortunately, even he and Thomas couldn't prevent X-Men from lowering into the depths of reprints, despite their herculean effort.

In these collected tales you'll witness the Living Monolith, Havoc, the Sentinels, Sauron, Ka-Zar and the civilization-destroying Z'Nox. Overall, this is well worth the $$.

A Great Collection of Unccany X-Men issues! Neal Adams was a popular comic book artist during the early 1970s. Uncanny X-men#57-65 was his first professional work for Marvel comics. He inspired many of the later artist like John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Lee to draw the X-men. Many people do not remember him because he was popular during the Silver Age of X-men. During that time, Many popular characters like Wolerine, Storm, Rouge,Gambit, and Nightcrawler, did not even exits. The X-men's roster was the original team, Cyclops, Jeany Grey, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Havok and Polaris. Buy this book if you were a fan of the X-Men and Neal Adams during the early 1970's! Buy it! Neal Adams inspired many of today's artist like John Byrne and Jim Lee to become the popular comic book artists they are today!

It's a great book on the theory of comic book writing, but it never mentions how the editors always like to change the script once you submitt it. I should know. I once wrote a story for a major comic book publisher but they ended up publishing the story after I went through half a dozen rewrites.

When I saw this book, I thought it would be a great way to pick up some tips ... and it was, but not as many as I had hoped for. It's great for beginners, but for anyone who has been at this a while (like myself), it seems pretty dumbed down. Another bad thing is that I expected a book and I got what looks like a trade paperback comic. It's fun to read, but I just think there is more to be said. This book focuses more on format & structure than content. And even at that, O'Neil (an outstanding writer) spends half his time saying how there are more than one ways to do anything, and this way may not be the right way for you. HOWEVER, I was able to get a few useful tips and pointers from its 128 pages. Personally I feel that if you can get JUST ONE useful tip from it, then it's worth the .... And I did get several, so I'm happy with it. But don't look for writing tips on how to make compelling characters (there is a breif bit about it, but not much). This book is more about style and format. But at the end of the day, I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who wants to write comics. Format & structure are very important. As I said, if you can get just one tip from it, you've got your money's worth!

"The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" is author by Dennis O'Neil, who wrote some of the classic Green Lantern and Batman stories (usually drawn by Neal Adams). In this volume O'Neil covers the various methods of writing scripts, procedures for developing a story structure, creating well-rounded characters, and more. Although most of what is covered in here is basic to all forms of writing, O'Neil does keep the focus on how these key concepts apply to the writing of comic books. The book is divided into two parts, with an appendix:

Part One: (1) What are Comics? is answered in terms of a comprehensive vocabulary of comic book terms such as speech balloon, story arc, and inker; (2) A Full-Script Versus Plot-First compares the latter, which is the Marvel method developed by Stan Lee, with the former, the traditional approach for writing film and television scripts, with the strengths and weaknesses of each; (3) Story Structure provides a listing of the basic kinds of structure used in comics, including a detailed look at different examples of "The Hook"; (4) Creating Drama looks at the importance of keeping the action going and offers a key distinction between suspense and surprise; (5) Subplots presents the advantages and inherent dangers of subplotting; (6) Characterization spends as much time talking about dialogue and humor as well as about the hero and other characters; and (7) Script Preparation is about the physical act of writing and producing something that can be turned over to an artist (assuming, for the sake of argument, you are not going to do the whole comic book yourself in the spirit of Dave Sims, the early years).

Part Two starts by covering the rules for different types of comic book stories: (1) Miniseries give you a title with a predetermined number of issues, usually between three and six; (2) Graphic Novels are, for want of a better definition, long fictional narratives (sidestepping graphic novel miniseries like "The Dark Knight Returns"); (3) Maxiseries are essentially longer miniseries, like "The Watchmen" or "Crisis on Infinite Earths"; and (4) Ongoing Series, which are the staple of DC Comics and include titles like "Action Comics" and "Batman" that have been published continuously for over 60 years. Basically the same general rules are applied to all of these forms, with a different balance of consideration. The rest of this unit looks at (5) Story Arcs as ways of doing a miniseries in an ongoing series; (6) The Levitz Paradigm for tracking plots and characters over the course of multiple issues; (7) Megaseries, which is O'Neil's newly coined term for stories that cut across multiple titles for the same characters, such as Batman's "No Man's Land"; (8) Adaptations, which in this case applies not to turning great works of literature into comic books but rather adapting Batman movies back into the comic books that inspired them; (9) Continuity, or rather three types of continuity; and (10) Denouement, which is O'Neil's final pat on the back to his readers.

The Appendix has Mark Evanier's thoughts on "Writing Humor Comics," and a list of suggestions for the Comic Book Writer's Library. Overall, the book is much more descriptive than anything else, which ends up being both its strength and its weakness. Still, O'Neil does try to crystallize his thoughts into specific rules whenever possible. If anything, O'Neil is guilty of trying to cover too much and sacrificing, to some degree, depth for breadth. Throughout "The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics" the best examples are when O'Neil can go into detail (especially if it is regards to a comic we have actually read). The book is illustrated with examples from comics throughout DC's history, but the best examples are rough or finished pages paired up with the pages written up for the artist by the writer. This is where we get our best sense of how comic books are written and produced in the real world.

The companion volume to this work, "The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics," is written by Klaus Janson. There is actually a minimum of overlap between these two volumes, which offer a complimentary approach to the creation of comic books. These two DC volumes are worthy additions to the limited library that every aspiring comic book writer/artist should own, which would include Will Eisner's "Comics and Sequential Art" and "Graphic Storytelling," Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics," and even John Buscema's "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way."

The stories in this collection come between the camp 60's tv Batman and the Dark Knight of the 80s. Though it starts off strong, the stories presented here quickly sink into mediocrity. The art is good (especially Neil Adams)and the Man-Bat even makes an appearance, but with one exception, these stories are not up to par. Maybe ol' Bat was appearing in too many books at once and just got watered down (much like Spider-Man and the X-men did over at Marvel). Here are a summary of the 10 stories:
*There Is No Hope in Crime Alley - touching story that revisits his origin. Grade A
*Vow From the Grave - classic macabre 70s story with some nice twists. Grade B
*Night of the Reaper - goes for the ironic 'wronged character out for revenge goes bad' theme. Grade C
*Invader From Hell - Batgirl and Robin team-up against supernatural & Revolutionary War-era villains todefend the Spirit of America. About the only good thing is the way Batgirl is drawn. Grade D
*Marriage:Impossible - Man-Bat in a dull story where the worst thing he does is change his g/f into a Woman-Bat. Dissapointing. Grade D
*From Each Ending...A Beginning - origin of the Huntress. Grade C
*This One'll Kill You, Batman! - the Joker infects the Batman w/ lethal laughing gas and then tries to kill the doctors who can cure him. Grade C+
*Daughter of the Demon - Ra's Al Ghul enlists Batman to find his kidnapped daughter, however the ending concludes elsewhere. Grade D
*Death Flies the Haunted Sky - a 40's looking story slipped in. Grade D-
*Ticket To Tragedy - Batman makes a deal with a doctor to share his new heart transplant technique if he finds the killer of the doctor's friend. Grade C

Not as successful a volume as the 60s book. This book tries to feature stories that have not been reprinted as often. We get good artwork from the likes of Neal Adams, Marshall Rogers, and Mike Grell. The 70s were when Denny O'Neil started to really put his imprint on the book and the Batman became a darker character (but not quite as grim or violent as the Dark Knight). At this point in time for the Batman, his popularity was at a bit of a low point. This was after the TV show and before the Dark Knight Returns and the movies. The stories attempt to be more contemporary as the camp and fun of the sixties were gone. The best story is the classic "There Is No Hope In Crime Alley" which retells Batman's origin and introduces Leslie Thompkins. Also in this volume is the origin of the Earth-2 Huntress, a more successful character than the current Huntress being written these days. These stories are not the best of the time but this book is a good representative of the Batman comics being put out in the 70s.

The biggest problem with all such "greatest stories" collection is that everyone has an opinion on what other stories should have been included and what stories should instead be taken out. IMHO I think this is a pretty decent collection of Batman stories in the 70s. The collection includes "There is No Hope in Crime Alley", a story which explore Batman's psyche and motivations; 4 (yes 4!) Neal Adams classics: "A Vow from the Grave", "Night of the Reaper", "Marriage: Impossible" (one of the earlier Man-Bat stories), "Daughter of the Demon" (featuring The Demon Ra's Al Ghul); an Alex Toth classic "Death Flies the Haunted Sky".

Regarding short comings of this collection, I would have liked to see the story arc presented in Batman #291-294 where Bat-villains are on trial for the 'murder' of the Batman. One can also argue that it might make more sense to read the Neal Adams stories in their entire runs. Although all of the Adams' Ra's Al Ghul stories have already been compiled in the TPB Tales of the Demon, his other mini-runs would make good TPB collections too (e.g. his Man-Bat run in Detective #400,402,407; his Brave and the Bold run). However, in spite of these criticism, I think the average Bat-fan is still better-off owning a copy of "Batman in the Seventies" than not. The original comics cost a bomb and are in fact quite hard to find. Given that DC (unlike Marvel) appears to have some aversion to reprinting their 1970s material, we should be thankful that they've come up with such a compilation in the first place. Instead of buying mediocre 1990s Batman TPBs, all Bat-Fans should buy this book and experience for themselves what pre-crisis Batman is all about!

If you want to see Batman fight Judge Dredd, you'll find this book disappointing (unless you think a three- or four-panel scuffle constitutes as "fight"). You'll also find this book disappointing if you're hoping to see Batman and Judge Dredd team up, because they don't. Instead, Batman teams up with Anderson to go after Judge Death, who has teamed up, rather randomly I think, with the Scarecrow (surely the Scarecrow and Judge Fear would have been a more logical combination?) It's not an activally bad comic, but it's certainly not a great one.

It's crime fighting time when Judge Dredd and Batman take on each other!It's even better than Batman Forever!Highly recommended!

I got this book for Christmas one year, and I was a tiny-bit disappointed (explains the rating) don't get me wrong, I loved the Book, But there were a lot of flaws, (Especially in the final chapter) If it was a little bit more like the movies, I'd give it a five. It tells it in comic form, great book, but it gets less Accurate as it goes on, and believe me, I'm a real critic when it comes to books and movies.

This book collects the comics that are based on the four Batman movies. If you ask me, I actually consider as 'movies' only the first two, since the Schumacher films were atrocities. Anyway. The quality of the comics presented here varies, and I will judge him one by one. First, we have the adaption of BATMAN. The artwork is pretty good, and the colours are sometimes wrong (the Batman sometimes looks like he is wearing the classic blue-grey costume). However, is generally good. Then it's BATMAN RETURNS. Here, the artwork is considerably better than that of BATMAN, but the colours are not well selected, and have not too good hues. However, in story, it is the most faithful of the adaptions. Then it's BATMAN FOREVER. Although the movie is the worst, the comic is the best of the four. It has perfect art and brilliant colours that give you perfectly the sense that you read a movie. Then it's BATMAN & ROBIN, which is in quality a close second to Batman Forever. The art is good and the colours well selected. It is funny the fact that while the first two Batman movies are a lot better than the recent two, the comics of the Schumacher films are better in quality. If you like either the dark Tim Burton or the campy Joel Schumacher, this book is a colector's item. And also, if you are simply a collector of movie items, this book is worth checking too.

This hardbound graphic novel by Pepe Moreno is sophisticated and intriguing. Developed in 1990, this book takes the legend of Batman and gives his spirit life in the grandson of Commissoner Gordon, Sgt Gordon. Gotham may be high-tech, but it is still swalloed in crime.

Sgt Gordon is after serious criminals and part of the enemy is not human; but a computer virus established by the Joker himself to cause such havoic in the city. The art work is computer generated and the paper it is produced on is high gloss.

The plot is well developed and even though so many things are going on, it is easy to follow. This comic has some neat little extras after the story that contribut to a well made book just right for any comic fan. A must have.

The movie was very well done and so is the comic book. Some of the dialog is diffrent than in the movie. I think it was based on a early virsion of the script. All and All a fun read and a fun movie.

batman:the cult is unlike the batman stories most are used to.Extaordinary story-telling that is not for the squeamish!!A good buy if you can get ahold of one.

Michael Netzer's art is very good, particularly in his depictions of Green Arrow and Poison Ivy. The story, by Dennis O'Neil, is solid and stands comfortably outside any of the usual Batman, Green Arrow and Justice League monthly titles. Highly recommended.

I looked up this book to judge Oneil's take on the Dark Knight & to read a rare team-up involving two of my favourite heroes, Batman & the Green Arrow. Both crusaders share the fact that they have no super powers but rely on wits & detective work to solve their mysteries...

The story respects that. The plot is coherent & the atmosphere is deadly serious & the characters are well drawn. You feel that Green Arrow has more to say to his dark friend but your desire for the stars to interact is left unfullfilled.

That was a good read, all in all, and could serve a primer for those two fine characters to meet up again & defy evil. Whether you get the full comraderie thing out of it is not certain...but the ending is dark & well deserved.

Here's for seeing them together again...

It's a very good book, featuring the "firt" and more adult origin of Catwoman (before being spoiled in the zero hour fiasco), linking it to the batman origins also, giving us a chance to see the dark night when he was just a begginer, the book has a dark tone, but it tells a very good story about pain, suffering and vengance, I only dislike the fact that there isn't much about the origin of the custome (first one, with a tail) maybe because of the comic restrictions for the time it was published.