Customer Reviews

The Mammoth Book of Best War Comics

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

 

 

You really should not call a collection of war stories "best" if you have nothing from Marvel, DC or, especially, EC. That aside, the stories reprinted here range from excellent to "what-were-they-thinking?", although the latter are few and far between. The book includes stories by Will Eisner and Alex Toth, two comics greats, as well as Keiji Nakazawa's classic "I Saw It". They range in tone from virulently anti-war to pretty gung-ho, with most shades in between represented. The big surprise for me was the color section reprinting stories from Dell comics. The art by Sam Glanzman is predictably first rate, but I was surprised how good the stories were. Not every story in this book will appeal to every reader but there is so much here, you'll get your money's worth and then some, even if, like me, you are not particularly a fan of war comics.

As it is all a matter of Opinion, some of us will not agree with the Title of this Book as the End All / Do All Collection of The Greatest War Comics in the History of the Universe.

By not including ANYTHING from the DC or Marvel, War Machines, this Book has excluded: Sgt. Rock, Nick Fury, Enemy Ace and The Haunted Tank. Where are the EC Titles of the 1950's ? Not a mention of Joe Kubert, who without doubt is the Greatest Artist of Wartime Comics? Even if Greg Irons is included here, this is not even fair to him as he has Greater War Time Stories than the one that the Editors decided to use!

But, to be fair about it, One of the Best War Tales of Modern Times IS included in this Collection. "I Saw It", is a Modern Masterpiece, that belongs in any Best War Comics Collection. Will Eisner has a Superb Autobiographical Story here, the Fantastic; "Last Day In Vietnam". The First Episode of: "Charley's War" {A Personal Favorite of mine} is in this Book, and it does belong here.

Again, with the Omission of the DC and Marvel Comics, this is a Mis-Leading Title. There are some Fine War Comics included herein, and at 512 Pages, this is a Good Value for your Dollar.
This is a Good Collection that could have been so much better!
THREE STARS !!!

Growing up in a small Wisconsin town, I was a big fan of war comics (Sgt. Rock, Haunted Tank, Enemy Ace, Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos, Blazing Combat, etc.). When I saw THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST WAR COMICS advertised, I assumed I'd be seeing many old friends. Wrong. David Kendall's collection is billed as "Over 25 of the Greatest War Comics Ever." I beg to differ. In reality, it's a very mixed bag of 26 war comics and graphic novels, some of which are comic gems, some near-misses and some down-right duds.

In his introduction, Kendall explains the book's makeup, selections being "stories that wouldn't usually be found together, that you may have never come across before or which were difficult to get ahold of...stand-alone stories, strictly no series - with one exception." It's his book so he can set the boundaries. Judging from the result however, I think the title is hyperbole not to mention misleading.

Among the book's stand-outs are 'I Saw It,' 'Charley's War,' 'Lone Hawk,' 'Souvenirs,' 'You Only Lose Once,' 'Pearl Harbor,' 'Last Day in Vietnam' and 'Bowl of Rice.'

Bottom line: Recommended with reservations.

the book is definitely big, but that doesn't always mean better. I did not care for some of the stories in this book. I would only buy this if it was less than ten bucks. You would still get value at that price, I have only read about 60% of the stories in this book because I thought the rest was junk. And of that 60% I really liked maybe half of them. There are much better collections out there, like Blazing Combat, and the collections put out by the War Picture Gallery.

This is a HUGE book, over 500 pages! This has mostly B/w comics but has a medium size section of color books from blazing combat, Aero comics and so on. And while it does not contain Sgt. Rock or Sgt. Nick Fury, it does have some good selections. It has a lot of anti war but some neutral/pro stuff too (Will Eisner's last day in Nam).

Contains Keniji Nakazawa's Hiroshima story "I saw it", Raymond Brigg's falklands war story, the 1st ever of Pat mill's "charley's War" , Will Eisner's "last Day in Nam" , And stories from Blazing combat, Battle Picture weekly, air war stories, and combat picture library.

"The landings in sicily" is a good story about lucky Luciano and his part in the war (c1969).

Keniji Nakazawa's Hiroshima story "I saw it" was very anti war but still a good read.

And "the road to glory is a cool story about a British corporeal that had an impossible mission but due to his bravery he succeeded.

All in all it is a mixed bag of some great comics, some good, ok, not so good and a few terrible ones! The QUALITY IS AMAZING though!

I assumed, based on the title and front cover, that this was going to be selections from the WWII comic books of the '60's like "St. Rock" and others. Basically this is a collection of cartoon essays all focusing on the horrors of war from WWI through the Gulf War including the Falklands conflict. (I wasn't out to glorify war, mind you, just indulge in a little boyhood nostalgia.) A better title would be "Best ANTI-War Comics."

Though I certainly approve of this type of series generally, (Far, far better than not at all) I'm a little perplexed with the black and white format only. Couldn't color versions be offered for those of us who would be willing to pay more? I enjoyed the Frankenstein Monster, Dick Briefer was a genius, but I sorely missed the color. I feel I would be disappointed as well in the Mammoth Book of Best War Comics for the same reason, though apparently it does offer some color. Keep up the good work!