Graphic Comic Book Review THE Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics
Crime doesn’t pay and crime comics don’t sell, even the ones as good as this, which is criminal.
GRAPHIC COMIC BOOK REVIEW THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST CRIME COMICS 2008 Mammoth Press.
An excellent compilation, as with many Mammoth anthologies, of the finest crime comics ever written, with twenty-four stories from the 1940’s to the 1980’s, compiled from comics, and even from record album sleeve supplements.
There are many major writers and artists involved, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, (who has two stories in the book, the first and last) Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Ed McBain, etc. All kinds of crime are included, from 1930’s prohibition gangster-dom, to domestic murder, and often seen from the point of view of the crooks.
There is violence, comedy and a great deal of noirish atmosphere. This is more like a throwback to the golden age of Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre movies than a CSI world, and all the better for it.
I’ve reviewed many of the comics individually, but Paul Gravett’s editorial control also deserves praise.
Criminally, I found this book being sold off extremely cheaply, not in a charity shop, but by a major retailer, who had found it simply not selling. To many, comics mean Batman or the X-Men, or TV tie ins. Crime comics don’t sell well in the UK, and so a book of them is all to easily overlook. I was pleased to be able to rescue this pulp-literature from actually being pulped. Stories this good deserve to be told.
Arthur Chappell
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