The Big Book of

Infobox comic book title
title = The Big Book of


imagesize =
caption =
schedule =
ongoing = y
genre =
publisher = Paradox Press (DC Comics)
date = 1994 - 2000
issues = 17
main_char_team =
writers = Doug Moench
John Wagner
Paul Kirchner
Jonathan Vankin
artists = Rick Geary
Bob Fingerman
Eric Shanower
Lennie Mace
Randy DuBurke
Roger Langridge
Frank Quitely
pencillers =
inkers =
letterers =
colorists =
editors = Andy Helfer
Bronwyn Taggart
Jim Higgins
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators =
TPB =
ISBN =
subcat = Paradox Press
sort = PAGENAME

"The Big Book of" is an Eisner Award-winning series of graphic novel anthologies published by the DC Comics imprint Paradox Press.

Publication history

The "Big Books" were published between 1994 and 2000. Just over half of them (ten out of seventeen) were written by a single author (including Doug Moench and John Wagner), with Jonathan Vankin taking over the writing of the later volumes.

A wide range of artists worked on the stories. Notably it was the first American work for Frank Quitely. [Khoury, George. [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?id=15874&page=article MEET FRANK QUITELY] , "Pop!", Comic Book Resources, April 6, 2008] Rick Geary reckons he is the only artist to contribute to all seventeen volumes. [Hooper, Terry. [http://www.comicsbulletin.com/features/115479220239661.htm "Rick Geary — The Man Who Draws Gumby!"] ] , Comics Bulletin (Aug. 5, 2006). Accessed Oct. 5, 2008.] Other artists who were regular contributors to the series as a whole include Bob Fingerman, Eric Shanower, Lennie Mace, Randy DuBurke, and Roger Langridge.

Wild Women

Slated for a 2001 release, Paradox had planned to publish the 18th book in the series, "The Big Book of Wild Women". The book is narrated by "Susie the Floozie," and was to profile notable women throughout history who had made an impact on our culture while pushing the envelope of unconventional behavior. Among the women to be profiled were risqué nightclub singer-comic Rusty Warren, B-movie goddess Tura Satana, presidential candidate Victoria Woodhull, 19th century sex star Lola Montes, legendary seductress Cleopatra, scandalous writer Anaïs Nin, and kinky pin-up icon Betty Page. According to DC, however, the book is in a perpetual "pre-production" — even though much of the work on the book was completed by the contributing artists.cite web|title=Rev. Susie the Floozie|url=http://www.tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=246&Itemid=48|accessdate=2007-02-27|author=Fleener, Mary|publisher="The Comics Journal" #237]

Titles

Urban Legends

Published in 1994 with writers Robert Boyd, Jan Harold Brunvald, and Robert Loren Fleming; [gcdb series|id=23014|title="The Big Book of Urban Legends"] "the Big Book of Urban Legends" won the 1995 Eisner Award for Best Anthology. Collected by Brunvand, the two hundred tales in this volume are folklore for our times.

Weirdos

Published in 1995 and written by Carl Posey, [gcdb series|id=23016|title="The Big Book of Weirdos"] the "Big Book of Weirdos" illustrates the biographies of sixty-seven of the world's greatest eccentrics. Among those covered are Caligula, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Henrietta Howland Robinson, Harry Houdini, and the Marquis de Sade. The book features an introduction by Gahan Wilson.

Death

Published in 1995 and written by Bronwyn Carlton, [gcdb series|id=5229|title="The Big Book of Death"] the "Big Book of Death" begins by providing the inside story on execution methods — from drawing and quartering to the electric chair. From there it moves on to bizarre suicides, weird deaths, burial methods, and the great beyond. The reader learns the origin of the guillotine, visits cryogenically-preserved bodies, and even sees how cheese can be used as a murder weapon.

Conspiracies

Published in 1995 and written by Doug Moench, [gcdb series|id=22998|title="The Big Book of Conspiracies"] the "Big Book of Conspiracies" won the 1996 Eisner Award for Best Anthology. It focuses on plots and cover-ups from the Watergate scandal, Silkwood, and the Iran-Contra scandal, to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. This book explores all these schemes and more, using a stream of real and imagined "facts" to explain how shadowy forces — including the CIA, the Freemasons, the Holy See, the Trilateral Commission, and even extraterrestrials — may be conspiring to shape world events.

Freaks

Published in 1996 and written by Gahan Wilson, [gcdb series|id=22999|title="The Big Book of Conspiracies"] the "Big Book of Freaks" features an introduction from stage magician-turned-film star and "scholar of the unusual" Ricky Jay, who has written a number of books on related subjects.

The book features stories on all manner of odd and interesting people, from sideshow freaks to legendary creatures, (including giants), the subjects of Todd Browning's famous film and exhibitors including P. T. Barnum.

Little Criminals

Published in 1996, [gcdb series|id=23004|title="The Big Book of Little Criminals"] the "Big Book of Little Criminals" details some of the world's most incompetent felons, such as Shanghai Kelly, who kidnapped men and forced them to work on ships. Also stories of U.S. Senators caning their colleagues, colonial counterfeiters, the Hitler Diaries forgeries, and a crook who nearly succeeded in buying Portugal.

Hoaxes

Published in 1996, [gcdb series|id=23001|title="The Big Book of Hoaxes"] the Big Book of Hoaxes illustrates history's great hoaxes, pranks, and scams, including such notable put-ons as Mary Toft, the "Bunny Mommy," who convinced the court of England that she had given birth to at least sixteen rabbits. Other scams from the book include Charles Ponzi and his get-rich-quick schemes, the infamous "Princess Caraboo," the Hitler Diaries, and an outrageous plan to saw Manhattan in half.

Thugs

Published in 1996 and written by Joel Rose, [gcdb series|id=23013|title="The Big Book of Thugs"] the "Big Book of Thugs" documents criminals who get what they want not through any sort of cleverness, but through direct action and pure force, including the Thuggee of India, and the "Ohio Gang," which disgraced the Harding Administration.

Losers

Published in 1997 and written by Paul Kirchner, [gcdb series|id=23006|title="The Big Book of Losers"] the "Big Book of Losers" proves that the misfortunes of others (such as Elisha Gray, who invented a telephone prototype before Alexander Graham Bell) really can be funny.

The Unexplained

Published in 1997 and written by Doug Moench, [gcdb series|id=23011|title="The Big Book of the Unexplained"] the "Big Book of the Unexplained" features an introduction and narration by the ghostly image of Charles Fort (a deceased writer and researcher into anomalous phenomena). Stories of impossible animals, lost continents, and bizarre phenomena, such as the mummy's curse, living dinosaurs, the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, alien abductions, and rains of frogs.

Martyrs

Published in 1997 and written by John Wagner, [gcdb series|id=23008|title="The Big Book of Martyrs"] the "Big Book of Martyrs" examines the lives and deaths of Christian martyrs, including Saint Valentine, Joan of Arc, Saint Ursula, and Saint George. The last chapter deals with people who have been tortured for their faith in more recent history, demonstrating that religious fervor is not a thing of the past.

candal!

Published in 1998 and written by Jonathan Vankin, [gcdb series|id=23009|title="The Big Book of Scandal!"] the "Big Book of Scandal" features an introduction & afterword by Stephen DeStefano. The twelfth "Big Book" wallows in the lurid world of tabloid news. Fatty Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin, John DeLorean, Richard Nixon, Oliver North, and O.J. Simpson are all examined.

Bad

Published in 1998, [gcdb series|id=22997|title="The Big Book of Bad"] the "Big Book of Bad" is written by Anina Bennett, Jonathan Vankin, and Paul Kirchner.

The thirteenth "Big Book" examines evil, like Heinrich Himmler, the architect of the Nazis "Final Solution;" the depraved emperors of ancient Rome; and various serial killers. Then there are proponents of the banal, like poet Rod McKuen and real estate developer William Levitt. Finally, there are fictional villains like Professor Moriarty, Lady Macbeth, and Dracula.

The Weird Wild West

Published in 1998 [gcdb series|id=23012|title="The Big Book of the Weird Wild West"] and written by John Whalen, the "Big Book of the Weird Wild West" offers up over sixty stories of the unusual, the bizarre, and the downright creepy stuff that happened on the American frontier. Stories of Western characters like George Maledon, "The Prince of Hangmen;" homosexuality among macho cowboys; and the various ghosts that haunted the American West.

Vice

Published in 1998, [gcdb series|id=23015|title="The Big Book of Vice"] and written by Dave Stern and Steve Vance, the "Big Book of Vice" examines alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, and gambling. Subjects range from the history of tobacco, to sexual slavery, to pinball machines.

Grimm

Published in 1999 and written by Jonathan Vankin, [gcdb series|id=23000|title="The Big Book of Grimm"] the "Big Book of Grimm" examines fairy tales. Writer Vankin transcribes the original, unsanitized folk tales that the Brothers Grimm collected in the mid-1800s, detailing child abuse, incest, cannibalism, severed limbs and gouged-out eyes.

The '70s

Published in 2000 and written by Jonathan Vankin, [gcdb series|id=23017|title="The Big Book of the '70s"] the "Big Book of the '70s" documents ten years of "tackiness and tumult." From disco to polyester fashion, the final "Big Book" itemizes the fads, personalities, slang, and social insanity that infected the 1970s (as well as the Vietnam War and some classic films).

Notes

References

*comicbookdb|type=title|id=2007|title="The Big Book of"

External links

* [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,297128,00.html The Wonderful Wizards Of Odd] , "Entertainment Weekly", May 5, 1995
* [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/marvels_and_tales/v017/17.2salvador.pdf Reviews of The Big Book of Urban Legends] and [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/marvels_and_tales/v017/17.2friederich.html Grimm] , "Marvels & Tales", Volume 17, Number 2, 2003, pages 269-275
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_n6_v19/ai_17782632/ Review of The Big Book of Urban Legends] , "Skeptical Inquirer, nov-Dec, 1995
* [http://www.rationalmagic.com/Comics/Freaks.html Reviews of the Big Book of Freaks] , [http://www.rationalmagic.com/Comics/The%20Big%20Book%20of%20Urban%20Legends.htm Urban Legends] , [http://www.rationalmagic.com/Comics/Martyrs.html Martyrs] and [http://www.rationalmagic.com/Comics/LittleCriminals.html Little Criminals]