A word of warning to those interested in buying THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST HORROR COMICS: You’re not going to find a single E.C. title in its more than 50 stories. That’s right: Not anything from TALES FROM THE CRYPT, THE HAUNT OF FEAR, THE VAULT OF HORROR … and that’s exactly why I’m recommending it.

E.C.’s trailblazing horror comics can be found over and over again in reissues of their own. But where else are you going to find gems from such forgotten — if ever noticed at all — four-color publications as BLACK CAT MYSTERY, HORRIFIC, CHAMBER OF CHILLS and STRANGE MYSTERY CASES? Likely nowhere, save for this brick of a book edited by Peter Normanton.

A publisher of a horror comics fanzine, Normanton speaks of these stories with such love and fervor that you’re sold before you even lay your eyes on panel one. He divides the anthology into four definitive time periods, with the first — devoted to the 1940s and 1950s — being the biggest, as it should be. This is where the litany of cheap E.C. imitators appear. Their creative teams lacked in comparison, but outrageous situations are in plentiful supply: reanimated zombies, torture chambers, Hitler’s head.

Sex and violence quotients amp up in the second section, culled from the 1960s and 1970s. Here, beloved Charlton Comics from my youth (GHOSTLY HAUNTS, anyone?) enjoy a resurgence alongside some independent efforts directly inspired by the E.C. originals. From a hit-to-miss ratio, this is the most successful chunk of the collection.

Things definitely get weirder in the 1980s-1990s section, where “The Faithful Few” dared play in an all-but-dead genre. Interesting pieces are here, from R-rated underground escapades from Kitchen Sink Press’ DEATH RATTLE to then-upstart comics companies like Pacific Comics and Dark Horse.

The same cannot be said for the final part, spotlighting some 21st-century works. With the exception of a Cal McDonald piece by Steve Niles from Dark Horse’s DRAWING ON YOUR NIGHTMARES one-shot, this section presents embarrassment after embarrassment. Just look at (or don’t, to be honest) the dreadful fumetti or half-assed ink jobs best left to pages of a Trapper Keeper; geez, every fanboy with a set of Photoshop filters thinks he’s an artist these days.

It’s the only part of the book where what Normanton couldn’t reproduce detracts from the quality. As current comics readers know, there’s a wealth of good to great horror titles being released every month, from the big boys to the little guys. Still, this MAMMOTH volume is a tremendous value, as is its predecessor, THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF WAR COMICS. Other genres will follow soon, with THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST CRIME COMICS and THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF ZOMBIE COMICS next out of the gate. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS SERIES:
• THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF WAR COMICS edited by David Kendall