Tales of the Demon: what's the difference?

[skrilmps]

Hello,

I'd like to pick up a copy of Batman: Tales of the Demon. I've found three different versions. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the differences are between the versions, because Amazon doesn't seem to have that info.

There's this one (which one seller called "first printing"):
81HiF7pSwQL.jpg

There's this one (which one seller called "second printing"):
51N0dRtU3eL.jpg

And there's this one:
61R8PY2ST2L.jpg

Does anyone know of the differences?
Are these really first, second, and third printing?
Are the stories the same in each or are they different?
Are they all in color? Have the colors been modified from their original versions?

Based on the covers alone, the first two apparently contain an afterword by Dennis O'Neil. Whereas according to Amazon, the third one contains a "new afterword" by John Wells. So there's at least one difference, but it's the only one I can discern so far.

Thanks for any help!
Mark

[ngroove]

Older versions are probably most suggested, if buying reprint books of Neal Adams. Newer books tend to have Adams' own colorings, which is kind of hit / miss, more of a miss among the readers.

[victorxd1999]

The first one is published by Warner books instead of Dc. The second one is the first printing of the Dc print and the 3rd picture is the second (and later) printing of the Dc book. No difference in content.

[Phineas Potter]

The first printing has the original colors, so that's the one I'd go with. The new colors are awful.

[Drakul]

I have the second one and I don't recall any jarring colors in it. Very good trade in any case.

[JBatmanFan05]

I have that second cover and it's the original colors. I think it's only that third cover where you may get the awful recoloring that I detest.

[FiveGhosts]

I keep seeing people mention Neal Adams recoloring his Batman work when it comes out in trade. Is it really that bad?

[JBatmanFan05]

I keep seeing people mention Neal Adams recoloring his Batman work when it comes out in trade. Is it really that bad?

Yes and it's more than recoloring, it's redrawing (Batman's ears for example) and moving text around and etc. I wouldn't be so bothered by it if DC offered non-recolored alternative printings of the same collections, which of course they do not (except for Tales of the Demon and maybe a few other old out of print trades...and only because this tpb is old and came out before Adams thought to recolor it).

[Diggy]

The last one was recolored and sometimes redrawn by Neal Adams. The originals are better but I didn't really hate the new coloring as much as others on this site did. Doesn't ruin the book or anything just looked a bit off at times. If you have to pay significantly more for an original I wouldn't say it's worth it.

[Maxpower00044]

The last one was recolored and sometimes redrawn by Neal Adams. The originals are better but I didn't really hate the new coloring as much as others on this site did. Doesn't ruin the book or anything just looked a bit off at times. If you have to pay significantly more for an original I wouldn't say it's worth it.

This. I have the third one on the list and it's fine. The re-coloring isn't bad, at all. This is coming from someone who 9 outta 10 times will always pick the original versions.

[Mace Dolex]

I keep seeing people mention Neal Adams recoloring his Batman work when it comes out in trade. Is it really that bad?

If you've read the originals and then re-read the new versions then the differences can be jarring if you're not used to it, I don't really mind the changes but if you want to give them a try I suggest the 3-volume Neal Adams Batman Collected which are available in HC and SC.

Or if you want to wait I hear there's a big Omnibus collecting all 3 Neal Adams volumes later this year.

[skrilmps]

Thanks everyone for the input! I appreciate all the info. They're all out of print and slightly expensive but I ended up buying the third one because I found the best deal on that one. But I'm curious enough that I might try to pick up the second one too just to see the differences in coloring. Also thanks for the tip about the upcoming Neal Adams omnibus, I will look out for that.

Cheers!
skrilmps

[KingsLeadHat]

I went ahead and got the three trade versions of the Adam's Batman material, and while I think some of the criticisms are overblown, I'd have much prefered the original art unaltered and preferably on high quality non-glossy paper similar to the brilliantly produced Kirby Omnibus'.

As far as the Ra's Al Ghul stuff by O'Neil and Adams, DC reprinted all of the Al Ghul stories in a limited edition series in 1988 called The Saga of Ra's Al Ghul. Here's the comicbookdb link: http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=49683

[Mace Dolex]

I went ahead and got the three trade versions of the Adam's Batman material, and while I think some of the criticisms are overblown, I'd have much prefered the original art unaltered and preferably on high quality non-glossy paper similar to the brilliantly produced Kirby Omnibus'.

As far as the Ra's Al Ghul stuff by O'Neil and Adams, DC reprinted all of the Al Ghul stories in a limited edition series in 1988 called The Saga of Ra's Al Ghul. Here's the comicbookdb link: http://www.comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=49683

Those are also re-colored too but the colors in those are loud and garish.

[nepenthes]

Hello,

I'd like to pick up a copy of Batman: Tales of the Demon. I've found three different versions. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the differences are between the versions, because Amazon doesn't seem to have that info.

There's this one (which one seller called "first printing"):
81HiF7pSwQL.jpg

There's this one (which one seller called "second printing"):
51N0dRtU3eL.jpg

And there's this one:
61R8PY2ST2L.jpg

Does anyone know of the differences?
Are these really first, second, and third printing?
Are the stories the same in each or are they different?
Are they all in color? Have the colors been modified from their original versions?

Based on the covers alone, the first two apparently contain an afterword by Dennis O'Neil. Whereas according to Amazon, the third one contains a "new afterword" by John Wells. So there's at least one difference, but it's the only one I can discern so far.

Thanks for any help!
Mark

You need to know what year print you're buying



1. Batman #244 (1972)
2. The Saga of Ra's Al Ghul (1987)
3. Tales of the Demon (1991 - 2005) All covers in the OP fall are in this range - note that the third cover has the old DC bullet logo.
4. Tales of the Demon (2008 - now): If you see the third cover with Batman crying and the DC Laundry Detergent logo, that will be the new colours