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DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told (Detective Comics
Batman may be the World's Greatest Detective, but he's hardly the only sleuth in the DC Universe. This new title collects key adventures starring Lois Lane, the Question, the Sandman (Wesley Dodds), Detective Chimp, Slam Bradley, and of course, the Dark Knight Detective. These tales span DC's history, from 1937 to today, and even include a special appearance by the granddaddy of all Sherlock Holmes. Collects stories from Adventure Comics #51, Batman #441, Detective Comics #2, #329, and #572, Lois Lane #1-2, Secret Origins #40, and The Question #8.
233 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 2, 2021
About the author
Jerry Siegel
630 books88 followersJerome "Jerry" Siegel, who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S. Fine, was the American co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Shuster), the first of the great comic book superheroes and one of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.
He and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 9, 2021
Normally I would give a collection like this 4 Stars and that more for the nostalgia factor, but DC's GREATEST DETECTIVE STORIES EVER TOLD is getting 5 Stars because it includes what is probably the best Lois Lane story ever written, in my opinion.
Lois was always said to be a top investigative reporter, but Mindy Newell's two-issue micro-series that helped close the pre-Crisis era of Superman actually showed in depth just how Lois investigates a hard-hitting story. And the Gray Morrow art is just as beautiful today as it was then. The Lois Lane that comics has today, I believe, owes a lot to this story.
There's a lot of good stuff here, including an early Slam Bradley story, an appearance by Sherlock Holmes, and the origin of Detective Chimp.
Highly recommended!
Lois was always said to be a top investigative reporter, but Mindy Newell's two-issue micro-series that helped close the pre-Crisis era of Superman actually showed in depth just how Lois investigates a hard-hitting story. And the Gray Morrow art is just as beautiful today as it was then. The Lois Lane that comics has today, I believe, owes a lot to this story.
There's a lot of good stuff here, including an early Slam Bradley story, an appearance by Sherlock Holmes, and the origin of Detective Chimp.
Highly recommended!
July 22, 2021
A great collection of DC's detective stories, each with a different set of protagonists.
For me the highlight is Lois's story, which is really well-written, has to do with child disappearances/murders and is at times very hard to read. Her character develops excellently and you can see how Lois has become that great journalist in her more recent stories.
The story with the appearances of Sherlock Holmes is another great read full of mystery. There is also the origin story of Detective Chimp and a story with how Tim Drake became Robin.
For me the highlight is Lois's story, which is really well-written, has to do with child disappearances/murders and is at times very hard to read. Her character develops excellently and you can see how Lois has become that great journalist in her more recent stories.
The story with the appearances of Sherlock Holmes is another great read full of mystery. There is also the origin story of Detective Chimp and a story with how Tim Drake became Robin.
October 10, 2021
Falls well short of its title, considering the vast body of work DC has to draw from.
July 29, 2026
The title DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told lead me to expect a really high level of quality. A book of baffling and cleverly plotted mystery stories, or at least a bunch of really important outings for DC's various detective characters. But instead this feels like a strange mishmash of stuff, with the stories often being weak as mysteries and as character pieces.
There's a total of eight stories here, but they don't all take up equal space in this 200ish page collection. That's unfortunate because probably the longest story is the one I liked least. Amongst other things this book reprints a two part Lois Lane miniseries from 1986, and overall it's a weird experience. While it's from the time of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it seems to be using pre-Crisis canon. And the thing is because I haven't read much 80s pre-Crisis Superman, it's a strange and unfamiliar world. Sure, this Lois is a more complex and real person than the sexist stereotype of the Silver Age Lois Lane comics, but somehow she just never endeared herself to me. And the plot is incredibly dark, being a two issue PSA about missing and murdered children. It's in theory not a bad subject to explore, but feels like it clashes tonally with being set in Metropolis. The bleak realism with which the subject matter is treated is much more suited to Gotham.
But on the other hand, the best story in this collection is also oversized. It's a multipart story from the 50th anniversary issue of Detective Comics. It brings together Batman, Slam Bradley (a Golden Age detective who gets his own story reprinted in this volume so we know who he is), the Elongated Man (Plastic Man's less goofy younger cousin who also gets a solo story reprinted), and Sherlock Holmes. It seems Holmes and Moriarty were real figures, and what starts as a kidnapped woman leads our heroes to England and a plot by Moriarty's descendant to show how evil he can be. It's a really fun romp and I especially enjoyed the quite well executed Sherlock Holmes story of one of the chapters.
I also found the issue from the 80s run of The Question to be pretty fun, and I'd be interested in tracking down that run at some point. Similarly, there's a story for the Golden Age Sandman that's surprisingly fun, given his whole gimmick is a gun that sprays knockout gas. He's another character I'd be interested in reading more of.
The book rounds itself out with a couple of origin stories. First, there's one version of the origin of Detective Chimp, depicting him as a chimp experimented on by tiny space aliens. I've heard vaguely of Detective Chimp and I know he's big in the DC Rebirth Justice League Dark, but I found this example of him underwhelming. I think I would've preferred one of his pre-Crisis adventures. And then there's part of a Batman issue depicting the early days of Tim Drake, the third Robin. Specifically it shows how he figured out that Batman is Bruce Wayne, and it might be the best example of actual detection in the whole book. It doesn't immediately make me want to read more with Tim, but I'll admit I'll be curious to meet him properly if the DC's Finest Batman volumes make it to him.
So overall this was an alright little collection, but it's definitely misnamed. Still, it's given me more DC heroes I want to read up on some day, so I guess that's overall a positive experience.
There's a total of eight stories here, but they don't all take up equal space in this 200ish page collection. That's unfortunate because probably the longest story is the one I liked least. Amongst other things this book reprints a two part Lois Lane miniseries from 1986, and overall it's a weird experience. While it's from the time of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it seems to be using pre-Crisis canon. And the thing is because I haven't read much 80s pre-Crisis Superman, it's a strange and unfamiliar world. Sure, this Lois is a more complex and real person than the sexist stereotype of the Silver Age Lois Lane comics, but somehow she just never endeared herself to me. And the plot is incredibly dark, being a two issue PSA about missing and murdered children. It's in theory not a bad subject to explore, but feels like it clashes tonally with being set in Metropolis. The bleak realism with which the subject matter is treated is much more suited to Gotham.
But on the other hand, the best story in this collection is also oversized. It's a multipart story from the 50th anniversary issue of Detective Comics. It brings together Batman, Slam Bradley (a Golden Age detective who gets his own story reprinted in this volume so we know who he is), the Elongated Man (Plastic Man's less goofy younger cousin who also gets a solo story reprinted), and Sherlock Holmes. It seems Holmes and Moriarty were real figures, and what starts as a kidnapped woman leads our heroes to England and a plot by Moriarty's descendant to show how evil he can be. It's a really fun romp and I especially enjoyed the quite well executed Sherlock Holmes story of one of the chapters.
I also found the issue from the 80s run of The Question to be pretty fun, and I'd be interested in tracking down that run at some point. Similarly, there's a story for the Golden Age Sandman that's surprisingly fun, given his whole gimmick is a gun that sprays knockout gas. He's another character I'd be interested in reading more of.
The book rounds itself out with a couple of origin stories. First, there's one version of the origin of Detective Chimp, depicting him as a chimp experimented on by tiny space aliens. I've heard vaguely of Detective Chimp and I know he's big in the DC Rebirth Justice League Dark, but I found this example of him underwhelming. I think I would've preferred one of his pre-Crisis adventures. And then there's part of a Batman issue depicting the early days of Tim Drake, the third Robin. Specifically it shows how he figured out that Batman is Bruce Wayne, and it might be the best example of actual detection in the whole book. It doesn't immediately make me want to read more with Tim, but I'll admit I'll be curious to meet him properly if the DC's Finest Batman volumes make it to him.
So overall this was an alright little collection, but it's definitely misnamed. Still, it's given me more DC heroes I want to read up on some day, so I guess that's overall a positive experience.
March 25, 2026
Some entertaining yarns from across DC's history. I got this for the Sherlock Holmes story and the Lois Lane two parter, neither of which disappointed. The golden age stories at the start ate also fantastic. I was less into the later ones but they still held my attention.
Generally, a highly enjoyable compilation, but if they had included the 1975 Sherlock Holmes comic by Denny O'Neil and E R Cruz, this would be a five star book.
Generally, a highly enjoyable compilation, but if they had included the 1975 Sherlock Holmes comic by Denny O'Neil and E R Cruz, this would be a five star book.
February 9, 2022
More like a medeocre mix tape than the greatest anything. The Lois Lane story has great art but the story has a bad vibe. While the early Slam Bradley and Sandman stories seem like fun representations I just have to believe that there are better or far better Elongated Man and Question stories that could have been included here.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews