The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told

The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told by Mike Gold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told is a collection of comics from the golden age of the art form, pre 1956.

First off, I primarily bought this for the Plastic Man tale featuring Plas battling a shape shifter from space, Amorpho, written and drawn by Jack Cole. It lived up to my expectations.

The rest of the stories were a mixed bag. The Dick Sprang Batman tale and the Alex Toth Green Lantern were noteable high spots in the early goings. There's a Blackhawk tale illustrated by Reed Crandall and a Vigilante story by Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin that's also good. Al Plastino serves up a good Golden Age Superman and there's a JSA tale with art by Joe Kubert and Alex Toth, among others.

The selection puzzled me at times. There's a Johnny Quick tale but it doesn't feature Mort Meskin art. In addition, there's no Captain Marvel and no Doctor Fate but Black Condor by Lou Fine and some throw away gag cartoons made the cut. This feels more like a Golden Age sampler to me rather than a Best of.

While I don't think "Greatest" is a good adjective to describe this, The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told is a good look at the golden age of DC comics. Three out of five stars.

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