July 14th, 2008 | → 6 Comments | ∇ Books, Graphic Novels & Comics |
The Mammoth Book Of Best Horror Comics (edited by Peter Normanton)
by M.I.K.
The cover of The Mammoth Book Of Best Horror Comics, claims that it contains “OVER 50 OF THE GREATEST HORROR COMICS AND GRAPHIC SHORT STORIES EVER PRODUCED”.
It doesn’t.
Something being the “best” or “greatest”, is of course, a matter of opinion, (and there is some good stuff in here), but that doesn’t alter the fact that whether you agree with that part of the claim on the cover or not, there are only 48 stories in the book. This is probably a genuine mistake on the part of the publisher, but it’s an odd one to make, especially since all the stories are quite clearly listed in the contents section. Stranger still, if you google the title of this book, you’ll find it on sale alongside a picture of what is obviously an earlier version of the cover which claims it contains “60” stories.
This isn’t the only mistake in the book. Two of the stories have their pages printed in the wrong order, which rather messes up the structure of the tales.
However, these are just minor niggles, as overall this is a very well put together and varied collection. The Book is divided into four sections, each devoted to a different era of horror comics and each preceded by a small chapter on the decade in question, all written by the editor, Peter Normanton. Normanton also provides a foreword and notes on each story. He’s no stranger to horror publications himself, having edited the horror fanzine From The Tomb for the last eight years.
The stories are reprinted in black and white and while a few pages of colour wouldn’t have gone amiss, the reproduction is good enough. There’s plenty here to satisfy anyone’s craving for horror.
Overall rating 7.5/10
If you like this volume, as I’m sure you will, The Mammoth Book Of Zombie Comics is out in October and The Mammoth Book Of Best Crime Comics is out in a few days time.
The Mammoth Book Of Best Horror Comics
ISBN : 978-1-84529-641-4
Publisher : Constable & Robinson Ltd
544 pages Price : £12.99
by M.I.K.
6 Comments
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I’ve contemplated buying this book so many times. Sounds decent enough to invest £12.99
I think “decent enough” pretty much sums it up. Not essential, but worth a read.
I think I may have been a bit generous with my initial rating though, so I’ve edited the post to knock a point off. It’s probably more of a 7 out of 10 than an 8 out of 10.
Let’s say “7 and a half”.
those ‘mammoth’ books are usually really good, this one fills a niche (are there many horror comic anthologies apart from Misty?) too bad it’s only 7.5/10…
I think 7.5 out of 10 is fair for what it is. I’m going with the idea that anything rated with a 6 upwards is above average.
As for other horror anthologies, I know of at least one new anthology comic, which is being published this October. I’ll probably post something about that over the next couple of days.
Sounds interesting…