DC Comics; $14.99

Back in the 1970s and ‘80s, with some wonderful exceptions, most Marvel and DC’s Treasury-format publication were filled with reprint material. That was okay because like the Fireside Books line (Origins of Marvel Comics, and so on), those Bronze Age reprints of Silver Age and early material helped a growing readership discover the history and some of the greatest stories of the legacy characters.

There were, as I mentioned, some exceptions. The best of them, Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, is the one that commands the most attention, but 1978’s Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes (All New Collectors’ Edition Vol. 7 #C-55) by Paul Levitz, Mike Grell, and Vince Colletta was also a standout.

Looking back – and exempting the Marvel and DC collaborations – it’s hard to ignore 1977’s All New Collectors’ Edition #C-54: Superman vs. Wonder Woman, the latest to get the facsimile edition treatment from DC. With a script by Gerry Conway, pencils by José Luis García-López, and inks by Dan Adkins, this issue is brimming – perhaps overflowing – with Bronze Age goodness.

The story was clever (but not too clever) and accessible. It remains so. Even to an early teen Marvel zombie like me, García-López’s art was appealing. It defined how the DC heroes and villains should look (and of course it’s done so for more than a generation now).

It’s great to see this reprinted in such a nice format. The cover is a nicer stock than the original, but the interior pages are a good representation of the newsprint used back in the day. I look forward to the next facsimile edition in this line.

– J.C. Vaughn