Comics / Comic Reviews / DC Comics

Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 1

By Leroy Douresseau
December 7, 2003 - 09:25

In the last few years, DC Comics has reprinted some of Neal Adams' most famous work for the company in pricey, special edition books. The latest addition to the unofficial Neal Adams collection is BATMAN ILLUSTRATED BY NEAL ADAMS, the first of a planned three-volume set to collect Adams' Batman related covers and comics from the late 60's to the early 70's. The $49.95 price tag is either a testament to Adams' immense popularity that fans would pay this much for what is an overpriced book or evidence of DC's gall.

But yes, I am happy that this book exists. Over three decades later, the art collected in this tome (covering Dec. 1967 to Oct. 1969) is as good as the best of current mainstream comic art and better than most of it. The stories herein, most written by Silver Age DC mainstay Bob Haney, are quite entertaining, in particular "Punish not My Evil Son," "The Angel, the Rock, and the Cowl," and "The Senator's Been Shot."

The main attraction here is, of course, Adams, who was a revolutionary almost as soon as he appeared in superhero comics. While Jack Kirby was defining the language of superhero comic art, Adams was formulating the predominate dialect.

THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST magazine calls Adams art "dynamic realism." It's more like dynamic naturalism. Adams is a cartoonist who is quite adept at cartooning the human figure because he really knows how to draw one. Instead of looking merely real, Adams' characters simply look natural; their movement and appearance seem to make sense no matter the fantastic contortions through which Adams put them. It's cartooning that leans towards verisimilitude rather than abstraction.

Adams spawned countless imitators, and even Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL art mimicked Adams. A cursory glance through this book will tell you why Frank borrowed - Adams was good. His art was kinetic and lively, literally carrying the reader's eyes across and around the page and from one page to the next. His art made these stores and would be the only reason they're remembered. This tome's beautiful restoration and coloring (which included Adams redrawing some of the art specifically for this volume, much to the chagrin of many fans) will only serve to further the legend of this art.

Yes, DC charged too much for this book, but it still sold out of it's 5,000 copy first printing, and I can imagine almost everyone is happy and hardly remembers how much they paid for it. Why? This is one of those times that a reprint project is worthy enough to make you drop them dollars.

Rating: B- /10

Last Updated: November 29, 2025 - 16:51