posted April 01, 2003 04:31 PM               

But I've been leery of picking up the Dark Knight Archives for some reason.

Are the stories longer than the ones from Detective Comics?

Better?

Any featured villains besides the Cat(woman)?

How would you rate

1. Batman Archives

vs

2. Dark Knight Archives

vs

3. Batman in World's Finest Archives

vs

posted April 01, 2003 10:34 PM               

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Having read them all, I'd say the Golden Age creators really saved their A-list material, the top-of-their-game stuff, for the original anthologies like Detective and Action. It seems like some of the material in Batman and Superman could be described as page-filler. But that's just my opinion. They're usually all good stories, but the "great" stuff seemed to be reserved for the characters' original anthology titles.

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I feel just the opposite, at least where Batman is concerned (I don't read any Superman stuff so can't speak to that.) Although the Detective stories in Batman archives are great, a lot of major "big events" happened in the Batman stories in Dark Knight archives. In Batman #1 alone you have the first appearance of the Joker (and it still rates as one of the best Joker stories ever), his return appearance, and the first appearance of Catwoman!

It seems to me like most of the Detective stories (and it's been a long time since I've read them, so I may be misremembering slightly) were devoted to gangsters and crooks, where as a hgher percentage of Batman stories had the rogues galery in them. Although Detective was where Baman first appeared, Batman was the flagship book for the character.

Everyone should get the first Dark Knight archives at least, for the awesome Joker stories!

posted April 03, 2003 05:03 PM               

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Originally posted by profh0011:
I know it's been said before, but I really wish the Batman & Superman Archives had started out the way the WONDER WOMAN Archives did-- ALL the stories from the different magazines, collected in chronological sequence. The way things worked out, with Batman & Superman, you need a chronological checklist to know what order the stories should be read in, especially when you consider returning villains' continuities and character development.

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Yes, but as far I'm concerned, it's great to have the two seperate series moving at different speeds. It's nice to have Batman in the late 40's while still getting early Batman stories in DK. I wish they had done that with GA Flash and GL. That way we could have raced ahead to the best stuff while extending the solo title stuff.

posted April 04, 2003 02:07 AM               

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Originally posted by CMCINTYRE3600:
Yes, but as far I'm concerned, it's great to have the two seperate series moving at different speeds. It's nice to have Batman in the late 40's while still getting early Batman stories in DK. I wish they had done that with GA Flash and GL. That way we could have raced ahead to the best stuff while extending the solo title stuff.

Maybe it's just me.
Chris

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posted April 05, 2003 08:51 AM               

This convinces me to buy Dark Knight Archives one next instead of Dynamic Duo.

How about the World's Finest one?

I have a lot of those issues on microfiche but not all. As I recall they really put their best foot forward for the World's Finest stuff. I remember the art was grand.

posted April 09, 2003 10:04 AM               

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Originally posted by doesitmatter:
That's it. I'm getting Dark Knight 1 next and Dynamic Duo a little later on. I already have Batman 1-3 and the stories started to feel a little monotone. It's good to know Dark Knight's not just another Batman volume.

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