Customer Reviews

1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die: The Ultimate Guide to Comic Books, Graphic Novels and Manga

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I could not disagree more with the comments of the previous reviewers.

This book is a fascinating international survey of the comics medium and is very accessible for the experienced or general reader truely interested in possibilities of the medium.

Yes, certain titles have been included in the 1001 Comics list that are currently out of print or have yet to be translated into English, but with so many publishers now reprinting lost classics and translating foreign language comics, this is not a huge problem. Indeed the author, Paul Gravett, has posted a database of the 1001 Comics list on his website - www [dot] PaulGravett [dot] com - with the aim of keeping it updated with details of translations and new editions as they become available.

So cast aside your fan-boy obsession with superheroes and issue numbers, and approach this book with an open mind. I guarantee you'll discover some classic reading material you never knew existed. Despite having 960 pages, my only criticism would be that the book is too short!

The previous reviewer is right on target; this is initially an interesting book to flip through, but good luck trying to actually make use of it. Once you read the articles you will find it generalizes (The Fantastic Four - okay well, that's a lot of issues...) without breaking down artists or story liens that are of consequence. Furthermore, lots of early (1800s) comics are profiled but where to get them? Are they in anthologies? How can they be tracked down? So three stars for visual presentation but lacking in content and editing.

This is a well printed, 960 page book. The title is fantasy and completely misleading. When they discuss comics, the often discuss an individual one, but also they discuss, full runs of titles like the X-Men. But they don't break down which individual issues are done by the artists they like, including Kirby, Heck and Adams. When they discuss the character Sauron, they don't mention what issue. So this is really 10,000 comics you must read before you die. Which doesn't help me much in determining which comics stood out in long runs.

It doesn't cover just comic books as we know them. It covers comic strips too. That is, the Complete Peanuts and other reprints of newspaper strips are mentioned here as well. So is Manga, Graphic Novels etc. Also, books by Feiffer and similar artists are mentioned. There are several contributors who address their specialties.

They do something which is good, but then left me frustrated. They often mention a series within a comic, like Adam Strange. So it wasn't just the comic. However, in so many cases, if there is NO picture of the cover, there is NO listing of what issues the character appeared. And example of that is Red Nails, they do not mention what issue of Savage Tales that Conan story was in. Good look seeing that on a shrunken cover. And sometimes there is no picture of a cover.

For Nick Fury (SHIELD) they don't mention what issue Steranko started or ended. They do reference issue #159. But again, they don't tell where Strange Tales end.

At the bottom, the often have a section of "Also by" For example, for the Aforementioned SHIELD they say, "Also by Steranko" then list, "At The Stroke Of Midnight," "Captain America, " X-Men" and a few others. But they don't tell you what comics the stories appeared in or the artist did. Good Luck. And Steranko was not mentioned in the X-Men section at all.

Two other books are available and I enjoyed them more:
The Slings and Arrows Comic Guide, which lists so much of everything comics.
Or Tony Isabella's 1,000 Comics you must read.

This is perhaps the most important book yet published on the subject of comics as a global artform: the only reasonable criticism of the thing is that, sadly, not every entry is accompanied by an illustration while others, on the other hand, get more than their fair share of space. That said, if they ever remedy that problem with a revised edition, I'll be first in line to purchase it. The idea that the author should be expected to limit himself to works that are easily obtainable is clearly ridiculous. Those readers disappointed that they can't get their hands on everything referenced in the book should regard the list more as a guide to what SHOULD be in print, and take solace in the fact that their inclusion may ultimately lead to translation and publication.

Don't be put off by silly criticism. If you're serious about comics, you have to own this book.

I just bought this book and it's great! There is a lot of comics from many different countries, and a lot of information about the comics. Just as i thought it would be.

Some of the main problems with this book have already been mentioned, most notably that some entries seem to be for entire series and rarely give any additional information about what to look for (I mean, X-men has had some great stories, but EVERY issue wasn't a "must-read-before-you-die" kind of event). There are some later entries for specific story arcs within these larger series (like "Demon in a Bottle" for Iron Man), but this doesn't really help clear up the earlier confusion.

One of the strengths of the collection (which also becomes a weakness, as I will explain in a moment) is the wide range of source materials the author includes: not only the typical "genre" comic books, but also comic strips, graphic novels, manga, and erotica and including materials produced all over the world. This becomes a problem because the entire book is presented chronologically, which means that everything that is produced within a 10 to 20 year block is all grouped together haphazardly. If you are interested in a more specific type of comic literature, like manga or western-themed for example, your only real option is just to page through the book and mark those articles of interest. Long running series that last for several decades are listed under when the series debuted, with occasional arcs listed under the time of their print run. There are no supplemental indexes to help you better organize the entries you are most interested in. This leads to an organizational system that is logical (in that you can see how the graphic form develops through all of the selected examples) but not altogether useful unless you really do plan to go through, entry by entry, and read every issue/series/arc presented.

For the casual comics reader as well as the student of graphic literature, this book does provide some great new directions to take your reading interests (if you are patient enough to page through and find them!) and the quality of the printing is really beautiful. If the author could find a better organizational structure for a possible updated edition, this could be a really first rate collection.

It's been said, but I will add my voice to the choir and also give the book a much lower rating.

The title of 1001 Comics you must read before you die would suggest that the reader will be guided along a journey where the best material of the past 100+ years will be brought to light. A journey where one can concentrate their limited resource of time to only concentrate on the best material and gain an appreciation of the medium and the best it has to offer. Not here.

The failings are:

1) It isn't a guide at all. It mentions entire series or characters that have thousands of issues without giving any guidance on which issues are best.
2) It provided no suggestions or information on where to acquire these books. Telling someone they should read Batman #1 before they die is a million dollar suggestion - unless you are told that it has been reprinted dozens of times. This is especially frustrating with the Platinum Age books and Foreign material. Thanks a lot.

This book does absolutely nothing to help existing comic readers or bring non-comic readers into the best comics have to offer.

Looks good.
Bad resource.