Batman: Greatest Stories Ever Told

Batman: Greatest Stories Ever Told, by various authors; graphic novel; 192 pages

For all that I profess my love of Batman to any and all who will listen, I admit that I haven't read much predating the 1980s story arcs. Reading this was an attempt to correct that, and it had mixed results. On the one hand, it was fascinating to see not just how the character has changed over the years, but the format of comics as well. I hadn't known, for instance, the 1930s comics crammed several tiny stories into a single issue, or that Batman's origin story was so minor in the original series. On the other hand, I have to be up front and say that some of these stories, however "classic" they may be, were really, really hard to get through. Some of the original Bob Kane stories are included here and, while this may permanently revoke my nerd cred, I have to say I wasn't impressed. Was it really necessary to remind us that Selina Kyle is Catwoman every other panel?? To be fair, there were some good entries here, too, but most of them are later additions to the series. I can't say I enjoyed any of the golden- or silver-age material. On the up side, I do have a better understanding of my comics history, and I can appreciate just how much the genre (and the readers?) have changed over the last few decades.

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