Batman: Tales of the Demon

Rating:
Summary: Ra's al ghul in the seventies
Review: A fairly good look at Ra's al Ghul in the seventies. Contains:
"Into the Den of the Death-Dealers!"-An fairly good story(8)
"Daughter of the Demon"-excellent(9.5)
"Swamp Sinister"-very good(8.5)
"Vengeance for a Dead Man!"wonderful still(8.5)
"Bruce Wayne-Rest in Peace"-not so good(6.5)
"The Lazarus Pit"-better(8)
"The Demon Lives Again!"(8.5)
"I Now Pronounce You Batman and Wife"(8)
"The Vengeance Vow"(8)
"Where strike the assassins"(7)
"Requiem for a Martyr"(8.5)
Highly recommended if you want a great look at Ra's al Ghul,or Batman for that matter,in the seventies.

Rating:
Summary: Not so Great Tales of the Demon
Review: Batman Tales of the Demon had a lot of promise. Judging by other Ras Al Ghul stories I've read, I thought that it would be a classic. Since it was written by the great Dennis O'Neil, and featured the most intresting Bat-villian ever how could it go wrong? I'll tell you...it was a buzz kill. Although the stories in this volume were written in the 70's, the material lacks considerly compared to the other stories being written at this time by O'neil, which can be found in 'The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told vol.1' ALso the characterization of Batman is still somewhat of a holdover from 60's camp, as we see the Dark Knight knocked out by...Molly the Ski-champ, who thinks Batman is assualting Talia(Ra's daughter).
This collection is intresting for the archival quality alone, and is not recomended as a definitive look at Ras AL Ghul. Try 'Batman: Son of the Demon' or the animated episode by O'neil 'The Demon's Quest'. This should be taken in the context as a historical look at batman in the 70's, and not as a serious offering to his present day mythos.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I am a huge Batman fan, and more specifically, a huge fan of Batman's immortal nemesis, Ra's Al Ghul. After trying to hunt down this volume of collected tales for over a year, when I finally picked it up, I felt very disappointed. While the collected stories provide an interesting look into Batman's second-greatest foe (next to the Joker), their presentation leaves much to be desired.

More specifically, I never felt like I read any one, complete story. I have to think it was the way comic books were written at the time, and not that pages were edited out, but some stories begin with little to no exposition, or end way too quickly. At one point, Talia, beautiful daughter of Ra's, kisses Batman. Without dialogue or expository balloons, the story abruptly ends, and the next page sees a mysterious box being brought into Wayne manor. Another story has Batman automatically chasing Ra's from snow-covered mountains to the desert, with little explanation of his travels in between. In short, there's very little sense of closure and continuity, and it becomes irritating. On top of that, the pages of each story vary in length. This is also irritating because today's comic books have a set number of pages, and in the end I felt like I didn't read my money's worth of stories.

That said, there are some highlights for Ra's and Batman fans. Ra's was designed at a time when the campy approach was being phased out and the darker, brooding Batman was being brought in. What we have here is a mix, a Batman who sometimes scares his enemies in one frame and gives quirky, "Stan Lee" asides in the next. Definitely an interesting combination. The artwork is also pretty good, with more vibrant colors than some collected volumes I have of later comics. Lastly, for fans who have watched all the Ra's Al Ghul episodes of the animated series, they get to see where the original stories for "Veritgo" and "The Demon's Quest" come from. Ra's Al Ghul's duel with Batman in the desert, the kidnapping of Robin, Batman and Talia's final kiss - it's all here. Unfortunately, the animated series really did a much better job reinterpreting the material, and even though the panels are fun to see, they come off as a disappointment.

Tales of the Demon isn't a very good collected volume. There are better, cheaper volumes avaliable, and even fans of Ra's Al Ghul will probably want to skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: As good as the old Bat'ter gets
Review: I first read this 'when I was a kid and recently rediscovered it. It's just classic, classic stuff for the feinschmecker.

Rating:
Summary: Batman's most complex foe
Review: I thought that this was a great story, we see Ra's Al Ghul desperately trying to recruit the Dark Knight to be his successor, and he considers Batman the only one worthy enough in all the world. A very tempting offer, as it included his very attractive daughter to be his bride, so it's clear that Batman must remember to keep his focus and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his mission.

Also in the TPB, we see Batman square off against The Bronze Tiger, who proves to be Batman's match in martial arts combat. This just solidifies that Batman is a top 5 martial artist, because The Bronze Tiger was trained by Richard Dragon, who is supposedly was the greatest martial artist in the DCU. Dragon also trained Lady Shiva, who quite easily can beat Nightwing in open combat (Nightwing isn't exactly a slouch, either!).

Rating:
Summary: The Original Ras Al Ghul Stories
Review: It's funny reading the negative reviews by people who must be in their 20s (or younger) because they obviously don't understand the historic importance of some of the stories in this collection--or in what form the stories were originally released. Instead, they want to focus on the continuity between chapters without knowing why the lack of chapter transitions is part of why they are great stories.

I remember when the 1971-72 stories first came out (back when I was 11 and 12 years old). Some of them were in BATMAN while others came out in DETECTIVE COMICS. They were not released in consecutive issues the way "story arcs" in comics are now. Instead, there might be three to five months between each Ras Al Ghul issue.

The overall effect was that the Ras Al Ghul plot was an ongoing case that Batman was working on for two years while attending to his other "monthly" duties in-between. Everything eventually came to a head when Batman travelled to the Alps and the Sahara desert for the "final" three-issue showdown with Ras Al Ghul.

The stories from 1971 and 1972 are classic and historic Batman tales that any discriminating fan must not be without, and the true origin of Matches Malone is in these stories. The Neal Adams artwork alone is worth the cost of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Re: A big Let-down
Review: The Tales of the Demon should never have been collected in the first place, the stories barely fit together and leaves a lot of questions. Very little about Ras Al Ghul is actually revealed in a collection entitled "Tales of the Demon". Batman is shown as a joke telling superhero with little or nore of the dark qualities that we had become used to since the last two decades. But I guess the story telling style is simply unappealing to modern readers because it is so old and rather incoherent. I really wouldn't recommend this for any Batman Fans.

Rating:
Summary: A compilation of all the original Ra's al Ghul stories.
Review: This book is a beautiful, complete reprint of the original 1970's stories that shaped Ra's al Ghul and Batman's relationship.
It includes issues #232, 235, 240, 242, 243 and 244 of Batman Comics, Detective Comics #411, 485, 489 and 490, and DC Special Series Volume 2 #15.
Since they are collected in a single volume in the same format that they were originally printed and released (from non-sequential issues), when reading from cover to cover there are many gaps in the story line, some seemingly unresolved endings and a few abrupt beginnings. Remember, Ra's al Ghul's case was one Batman kept open between his usual obligations to Gotham.
Also noticeable is the fact that, in these stories, neither Batman nor Ra's al Ghul live up to their present day personalities. But, it's fair to keep in mind that Adams and O'Neil's was the first attempt to return the Dark Knight to his dark, gothic origins and break the stride of his 1960's camp characterization. This they cleverly did by matching him against an antagonist that not only respected him and constantly tested his prowess and investigative abilities, but that also wanted to recruit him as his successor, making the Batman doubt his own morality.
This volume's value is mostly archival, collecting every appearance of Ra's al Ghul and containing the sources of other events in the life of the Caped Crusader like his marriage to Talia, Ra's's daughter, the death of the first Batgirl, and the origins of Matches Malone.
As a bonus, it also includes a delightful introduction by Sam Hamm, explaining the villain's creation, and an afterword by Dennis O'Neil, looking back at his involvement with Batman over the years.
Printed in great colors and illustrated in the traditional 1970's style, this is definitely an interesting look at the history of Batman and the first appearances of one of his most memorable nemesis.
Also recommended: Son of the Demon by Jerry Bingham and Mike W. Barr.