Batman Illustrated, Vol. 1

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE NEAL ADAMS
Review: I Love Neal Adams, Really I do...
I probably wouldn't be an artist if it weren't for this man's awesome art!
That said I couldn't give this book 5 stars for a couple of reasons.
First off the price, OUCH. Come on DC,
Quit gouging us! I Bought "Mythology, The Art Of Alex Ross" For Under $25 Bucks From Amazon, And Let Me Tell You, It Shows You how you can sell something of extreme excellence & not gouge someone. (The Book Is SO amazing!).
Second off, I wasn't happy with some of the redone art.
This art is carved into the History that is comics, & it would be like going back to a museum and seeing a beloved piece of art revamped. There is some re-inking that appears to be rushed. (If I'm Wrong Than forgive me, I'm a fan not a Historian). The Format of the book is really nice.
But I still think that it could have been delivered at a slightly lesser price.
And now a review of Amazon.com, GOOD WAY TO DROP THE BALL ON THIS ONE!
YOU LISTED THIS BOOK AS A PRE-ORDER, & NOW IT'S "THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE"! WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP. This book is very hard to find. Luckily I was able to find it at a comic book store. But I think that Amazon should have enough clout to have been able to snag a few of these books. Not sure what happened but I'm sure I'm not the only one to get crapped on by Amazon's inaction on this one.
. To sum it up, Great Book, Little pricey, & get it together Amazon.

Rating:
Summary: A little pricey, but a decent collection of Batman stories
Review: It's the character that made Neal Adams a hot artist among the comic book fans & community. With Carmine Infantino and Irv Novick, Adams is one of the first artists to bring the Batman back as the dark knight avenger of crime.
It's interesting to see Adams early attempts at drawing him in World's Finest comics during the TV Batmania craze. Those first two issues show him as an adventurous carefree individual; not the brooding type you see later on. While the character poses look awkward and page composition a little inconsistent, Adams illustrative style is an eye opener; there was nothing quite like it at the time.
Things start to change when reading the Brave and the Bold issues; ie Batman comes out into the night more often; he mostly works alone now. Adams is getting better; The changes are small, but you get to see improvements in the stories. The characters look better, pacing and layouts are smoother.
Half of this book has been recolored and retouched by Continuity Studios. The new coloring looks amazing, but I've seen the originals to some of these stories and they were done quite well despite the technical limitations at DC during that time. They should've left it the way it was printed when it first came out. Same goes for the retouching; it's just not necessary, like making Batman's ears longer for example. Thankfully it's not very distracting and it's not bad, but I just wish it was left alone.
The reproduction of the artwork is ok. Adams (and DC?) did good job of giving quality prints in the first half; the reproduction of the work there is top notch. I can't say the same for the other half; A lot of the details are missing in the artwork & the lines looking a little heavy in some parts.
While it may not be as good as the Deadman collection, the Batman collection should make some Neal Adams fans happy.