Weird Business - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1885418027 ISBN 13: 9781885418029

Publisher: M O J O Pr, 1995

Synopsis

If you're tired of the same ole business. If you want something unique. If you think comic book swimsuit issues are the dumbest thing since Jesse Helms, then here it is, a hot bundle of short stories, a la graphic novel style.

Not only does Weird Business contain tales by Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the late, great Robert Bloch, it contains mostly original material that will, to put it mildly, blow the doors off your Chevy. From pure fantasy to dark horror, to humorous whimsy, to noir, to action/adventure and science fiction, this baby is as hot as the devil's cigar.

With 23 stories, 56 creators, and 420 pages Weird Business is the largest original comic ever produced in the English language.

Weird Business was nominated for the 1996 Eisner Award for best anthology and hailed by the Rocky Mountain News as "Possibly the greatest comic ever."

About this title

Review

Dedicated to, and very much in the humor-loving spirit of, the late Robert Bloch, this original anthology of mostly black-and-white horror comics is a beautiful book to have and to hold, and is great fun to read. Don't expect literary subtlety from this one--these are comics, after all--and your horror thirst will be slaked by stories in which blood flows, corpses move, monsters romp, skull-faced demons walk the night, and only rarely does the good guy win. The stories are almost all by established horror prose writers, ranging from contemporary pros like Norman Partridge and F. Paul Wilson, to adaptations of classics like Edgar A. Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and Ambrose Bierce's "Oil of Dog." The artwork is by 20-some different artists, and exhibits a range of graphic styles, including some on the cutting edge of today's comics.

Review

"A must read!" --Overstreet's Fan

"I wouldn't call Weird Business a comic book, though it is, strictly speaking, a book filled with comics. It is rather, a hefty 414-page (sic) hardcover, just out from Mojo Press, which gathers a broad spectrum of weird and horrible tales from a truly impressive range of writers. The price is up there at $29.95, but when you consider that in traditional comic book format you would probably break this collection down to about 16 comics for which you would expect to pay about $3.00 apiece... well, it would add up to even more. If horror, dark fantasy, and weird business is your pleasure, then Weird Business is for you.....truly impressive but what's even more remarkable, is how smooth the synthesis of art and text is on so many of these pieces. Only a couple of these 23 tales are by a single person, but many of these are so craftily blended I wouldn't have guessed they were by several people." -- Marianne Jablon from her column "Costumes Optional" in N.I.C.E. News Monthly (the monthly publication from Mile High Comics)

"I've been using Richard Klaw and Joe R. Lansdale's lavish graphic novel anthology Weird Business as a device of seduction (literary, natch) for convincing dedicated readers who say, 'But I don't read comics!' to give the graphic form a try. It works....Weird Business would make a wonderful gift book. But read it first before you pass it on." -- Edward Bryant, Locus

"Considering that routine hardcovers these days run about $20 with no frills, this book is a bargain. The back cover carries the name of 56 contributors, and the contents contain many memorable horrors. ...the editors have provided an elegant mix of types of horror, as well as literary and artistic styles." --Maggie Thompson, Comic Buyer's Guide

"A hardcover graphic collection to lust after." --Don D'Ammassa, Science Fiction Chronicle

"Weird Business, possibly the greatest comic ever..." -Rocky Mountain News -- (Rocky Mountain News)

About this edition

• Publisher: M O J O Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1885418027
• ISBN 13: 9781885418029
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 420
• Editor: Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Klaw