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Paradox Press series of Big Books
The Big Book of Death
Death remains one of society's last taboos, a subject few are willing to acknowledge, let alone discuss. THE BIG BOOK OF DEATH looks the Grim Reaper in the face and laughs, with tales of outmoded methods of execution, capital punishment, visits to famous cemeteries, body disposal, weird deaths and stupid murders and more.
223 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
4 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
About the author
Bronwyn Carlton
36 books9 followersBronwyn Carlton is an American comic book author, editor and radio DJ. She has written many DC Comics titles including Catwoman, The Books of Faerie as well as the Paradox Press imprint title, The Big Book of Death.
She has worked as an editor for both DC and Marvel. At DC she worked on both the Paradox Press and Piranha Press imprints; at Marvel she worked on the Marvel Knights line.
She has worked as an editor for both DC and Marvel. At DC she worked on both the Paradox Press and Piranha Press imprints; at Marvel she worked on the Marvel Knights line.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 6, 2025
This book is a surprisingly delightful exploration of a topic most people avoid. While the subject matter might seem morbid, the book tackles it with a unique blend of dark humor, fascinating facts, and surprisingly beautiful artwork.
This isn't your typical dry textbook about death. Instead, it's a captivating journey through various aspects of mortality, from historical methods of execution to bizarre death stories and cultural mourning rituals. The diverse range of topics keeps the reader engaged, and the book never feels preachy or judgmental.
What truly elevates "The Big Book of Death" is its artistic presentation. The book is filled with illustrations from various artists, each with their own distinct style. This creates a visually stunning and dynamic reading experience, making even the most gruesome topics strangely beautiful.
While it might not be for the faint of heart, this book offers a unique and thought-provoking perspective on a universal experience. It's a book that will make you laugh, think, and maybe even appreciate life a little more.
This isn't your typical dry textbook about death. Instead, it's a captivating journey through various aspects of mortality, from historical methods of execution to bizarre death stories and cultural mourning rituals. The diverse range of topics keeps the reader engaged, and the book never feels preachy or judgmental.
What truly elevates "The Big Book of Death" is its artistic presentation. The book is filled with illustrations from various artists, each with their own distinct style. This creates a visually stunning and dynamic reading experience, making even the most gruesome topics strangely beautiful.
While it might not be for the faint of heart, this book offers a unique and thought-provoking perspective on a universal experience. It's a book that will make you laugh, think, and maybe even appreciate life a little more.
June 9, 2020
A dang engrossing book.
Would've given it five stars, but the utter lack of decent torture methods had me squirming in my seat, thinking of I should read further or not. Does talk about some, but only mainstream ones. Scaphism, Lingchi cuts, Brazen Bull, all are missing from it. Even the Spanish Donkey is.
But the rest more than made up for it.
Why do movies dealing with drug abuse show someone either flying, or falling to his/her death?
Are Cannibals even real?
It has answers to these questions and many more.
Even talks about vampires!!
Read away, you won't regret it. But still keep it out of your children's hands.
Would've given it five stars, but the utter lack of decent torture methods had me squirming in my seat, thinking of I should read further or not. Does talk about some, but only mainstream ones. Scaphism, Lingchi cuts, Brazen Bull, all are missing from it. Even the Spanish Donkey is.
But the rest more than made up for it.
Why do movies dealing with drug abuse show someone either flying, or falling to his/her death?
Are Cannibals even real?
It has answers to these questions and many more.
Even talks about vampires!!
Read away, you won't regret it. But still keep it out of your children's hands.
November 22, 2019
Another great collection of very interesting facts. Some of the jokes were a little inappropriate, but that was to be expected going in as the book was pretty clear that some humor would be injected into such a grim subject. If you can deal with the dark humor, there's some great material here.
May 25, 2017
I have read this book several times. Great insights into such a controversial subject.
Read
April 21, 2020Sort of a cartoon book about people dying, and cemetaries, and mass deaths, and old customs....I'm so morbid sometimes. But if they write and publish books like this, I must not be the only one!
May 15, 2017
As I make my way through DC imprint Paradox Press' Big Books Of . . ., The Big Book of Death (the third in the series) didn't quite hold up to rereading the way I expected. To a great extent, it was as offbeat and as enlightening as I remembered, but as I've matured, some of the obvious flippancy about what should have been taken a bit more seriously didn't sit so well with me.
Like the other Big Books Of . . ., The Big Book of Death is a graphic-novel anthology on one particular subject, usually written by one author, in this case comics veteran Bronwyn Carlton; in this outing, the subject is death, in all its variations—execution, mass disaster and casualty, cemeteries, etc. In the case of some of the subject matter, the treatment is respectful, more so than one might expect of a comic book on the subject (but more of that later). The chapter on capital punishment and execution is (mostly) appropriately cynical, and distinctly takes a tone of opposition to the phenomenon (witness the note that even as several states utilize the gas chamber to execute criminals, so did Nazi Germany [p. 29]); the chapter on mass death is likewise downright solemn, and in one case almost predicts the outbreaks of SARS, swine flu, and Ebola as "future plagues" (pp. 76-77)*; and the chapter on noteworthy cemeteries and funereal art is downright poetic and almost beautiful, as perhaps befits the subject of so much art, as described in the bibliography to The Big Book of Death.
*The Big Book of Death first saw the light of day in 1995, seven years before the preliminary outbreak of SARS, more than a decade before that of swine flu, and even longer before the recent epidemic of Ebola.
But in other, not insignificant parts of the book, the treatment of the subject matter is wildly off the baseline of where it should be (at least in my opinion). The discussion of zombies (pp. 184-85), despite citing a notable scholarly work on the subject (Wade Davis' The Serpent and the Rainbow), is superficial at best, particularly with regard to the racism of the French colonial slaveholders in Haiti that ultimately gave rise to the concept; the discussion of the afterlife in Judaism (pp. 196 & 199) isn't entirely accurate; and the entire chapter on burial and like "disposals" of bodies (The Big Book of Death uses that term originally) has entirely the wrong tone, treating the subject almost like a joke, rather than a subject of serious concern to arguably the majority of the world's population. Worst of all is the entry on organ donation (pp. 165-68, drawn by the otherwise excellent Russell Braun). From the almost sinister depictions of surgeons and doctors, to the suggestion that profit drives organ donation almost totally (the line that "that's why they prefer brain-dead donors—you'd have to be brain-dead to give away such valuable property!" merely adds insult to injury along those lines), the discussion of organ donation borders on irresponsible. Even something as simple as blood—for a healthy person, almost eternally renewable—is perpetually in short supply, and for a popular work such as The Big Book of Death to go so far as to denigrate the very concept of organ donation, so vital to modern medicine, is disappointing and frustrating.
Such treatment is so frustrating because the Big Books Of . . . have such potential to be so good—and so educational. When The Big Book of Death falls down on the job in pursuit of Hipness™ and Coolness®, it not only detracts from this one graphic novel, but also from the credibility of all graphic novels to tell adult stories in an adult medium. No matter how many My Friend Dahmers come out as paragon examples of nonfiction comics storytelling, all it takes is one The Big Book of Death to undo a great deal of positive work done. And that's probably the worst part of the whole situation.
Like the other Big Books Of . . ., The Big Book of Death is a graphic-novel anthology on one particular subject, usually written by one author, in this case comics veteran Bronwyn Carlton; in this outing, the subject is death, in all its variations—execution, mass disaster and casualty, cemeteries, etc. In the case of some of the subject matter, the treatment is respectful, more so than one might expect of a comic book on the subject (but more of that later). The chapter on capital punishment and execution is (mostly) appropriately cynical, and distinctly takes a tone of opposition to the phenomenon (witness the note that even as several states utilize the gas chamber to execute criminals, so did Nazi Germany [p. 29]); the chapter on mass death is likewise downright solemn, and in one case almost predicts the outbreaks of SARS, swine flu, and Ebola as "future plagues" (pp. 76-77)*; and the chapter on noteworthy cemeteries and funereal art is downright poetic and almost beautiful, as perhaps befits the subject of so much art, as described in the bibliography to The Big Book of Death.
*The Big Book of Death first saw the light of day in 1995, seven years before the preliminary outbreak of SARS, more than a decade before that of swine flu, and even longer before the recent epidemic of Ebola.
But in other, not insignificant parts of the book, the treatment of the subject matter is wildly off the baseline of where it should be (at least in my opinion). The discussion of zombies (pp. 184-85), despite citing a notable scholarly work on the subject (Wade Davis' The Serpent and the Rainbow), is superficial at best, particularly with regard to the racism of the French colonial slaveholders in Haiti that ultimately gave rise to the concept; the discussion of the afterlife in Judaism (pp. 196 & 199) isn't entirely accurate; and the entire chapter on burial and like "disposals" of bodies (The Big Book of Death uses that term originally) has entirely the wrong tone, treating the subject almost like a joke, rather than a subject of serious concern to arguably the majority of the world's population. Worst of all is the entry on organ donation (pp. 165-68, drawn by the otherwise excellent Russell Braun). From the almost sinister depictions of surgeons and doctors, to the suggestion that profit drives organ donation almost totally (the line that "that's why they prefer brain-dead donors—you'd have to be brain-dead to give away such valuable property!" merely adds insult to injury along those lines), the discussion of organ donation borders on irresponsible. Even something as simple as blood—for a healthy person, almost eternally renewable—is perpetually in short supply, and for a popular work such as The Big Book of Death to go so far as to denigrate the very concept of organ donation, so vital to modern medicine, is disappointing and frustrating.
Such treatment is so frustrating because the Big Books Of . . . have such potential to be so good—and so educational. When The Big Book of Death falls down on the job in pursuit of Hipness™ and Coolness®, it not only detracts from this one graphic novel, but also from the credibility of all graphic novels to tell adult stories in an adult medium. No matter how many My Friend Dahmers come out as paragon examples of nonfiction comics storytelling, all it takes is one The Big Book of Death to undo a great deal of positive work done. And that's probably the worst part of the whole situation.
June 16, 2012
I was pleasantly surprised by this. I didn't know it'd have all its information in comic form!
This book delves into the most popular subjects on death and dying: Methods of execution --past and present; tours of various famous cemeteries around the world; stupid deaths; suicide --> ways of committing suicide --> euthenasia; how various cultures view death, as well as what various religions' philosophies on life and death are; and of course, how to properly "dispose" of the body once it dies (graves, cremation, cryogenics, etc.)
Each story or topic has a subtly different new art style, which to me made it all the more fun to read. Seeing the girl who walks you through the cemeteries drawn different. Various art styles are applied: Pop art, superflat, comic book, realistic, Disney-influenced-cartoon, semi-realistic, etc. It was all so interesting.
I learned a lot from this book, and I highly recommend this for those who don't want some boring musty tome on the history of death in human society, but basically a quick yet satisfactory look at the major aspects of each side of death and dying that is also quite engaging.
This book delves into the most popular subjects on death and dying: Methods of execution --past and present; tours of various famous cemeteries around the world; stupid deaths; suicide --> ways of committing suicide --> euthenasia; how various cultures view death, as well as what various religions' philosophies on life and death are; and of course, how to properly "dispose" of the body once it dies (graves, cremation, cryogenics, etc.)
Each story or topic has a subtly different new art style, which to me made it all the more fun to read. Seeing the girl who walks you through the cemeteries drawn different. Various art styles are applied: Pop art, superflat, comic book, realistic, Disney-influenced-cartoon, semi-realistic, etc. It was all so interesting.
I learned a lot from this book, and I highly recommend this for those who don't want some boring musty tome on the history of death in human society, but basically a quick yet satisfactory look at the major aspects of each side of death and dying that is also quite engaging.
October 12, 2008
This is a pretty good book on death. As with all the other Factoid books I've read, I like it. Some of the stuff in it is kind of gross, but I guess that's to be expected in a a book about death. My favorite parts were the stories of weird deaths. Not for the squeamish!
October 16, 2011
The death is only beginning ...in this case no. The book is consisting from short chapters focused on dispatching yourself or somebody else in fashionable way from the earth -murders, suicides, strange accidents and capital punishments are mixed together in tasteful but weird comic book.
November 17, 2007
My favorite in this series of Factoid Books
Read
November 2, 2009every kinds of death are in here, and how to embalm dead are in here,graphics are good, 200+ best comic artists made this... superb!
Read
July 29, 2011"Big Book of..." is great illustrated series on a wide variety of topics with lots of top-notch artists and authors.
July 19, 2016
Best book of the Factoid Series.
August 8, 2012
After seeing this book at some friends’ cabin, I was delighted to find a copy at Powell’s Book. Strange tales told in graphic novel format.
August 11, 2012
Although quite gruesome, a very well thought book covering execution, burial, suicide, weird death, and different views on the afterlife.
October 17, 2012
my favourite so far. so many tasty nuggets...
If you are morbid inclination I heartily recommend this book. The art is great, the chapters are fun. All Killer No Filler.
If you are morbid inclination I heartily recommend this book. The art is great, the chapters are fun. All Killer No Filler.
April 16, 2008
Kind of interesting. "Stiff" by Mary Roach was a much more interesting look on this subject.
July 4, 2012
17.95
January 13, 2013
Love all of the different art styles contained in this series of books, as always.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews