Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
I got a little quibble., 1 Feb 2008
Actually, it's the same quibble I had with the same publisher's The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga and might have had if they'd called another book The Mammoth Book of Very Best War Comics.
It's the word 'Best'. For the Manga volume it could have been substituted with 'Mostly Just About Competent'. For War Comics 'Best' is okay as it was a good selection, though it omitted a number of key or iconic stories.
Like the War Comics volume, Horror omits anything published by EC, DC, Marvel, and Warren. Because, the editor says, they have their own compilations. Translated this means: we couldn't afford the reprint rights. So this just isn't the Best by a long stretch of the imagination. Any serious Best horror would have to include Warren, EC, DC, though I can live without Marvel, and something (like a Swamp Thing story) by Alan Moore.
But that isn't to say that this is a completely worthless collection, far from it. There is some good and interesting stuff along with the mediocre. Most of the 40's and 50's reprints are pretty crude and simplistic, though there is the odd exception, and they suffer from the size reduction and the lack of colour. Matters improve in the 70's section with several reprints from Skywald's 'horror-mood' magazines, and it continues with Independent reprints including a Mr Monster story. The plots become more sophisticated as does the art and the variety of styles on show.
All in all, this is an entertaining volume and worth having. Just remember, without DC, EC, Alan Moore, and Warren, it isn't the 'Best' either.
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