Big Book of Horror

by Steve Niles, Ted McKeever (Illustrator), Scott Morse (Illustrator)

Collected together for the first time are the original Little Book of Horror stories. This collection features three classic tales of terror - Frankenstein, War of the Worlds and Dracula - retold by Steve Niles and accompanied with beautiful full-color art by Scott Morse, Ted McKeever and Richard Sala.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2006

About the author

STEVE NILES is one of the writers responsible for bringing horror comics back to prominence, and was recently named by Fangoria magazine as one of it's "13 rising talents who promise to keep us terrified for the next 25 years."

Niles is currently working for the four top American comic publishers - Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse. He got his start in the industry when he formed his own publishing company called Arcane Comix, where he published, edited and adapted several comics and anthologies for Eclipse Comics. His adaptations include works by Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison.

Steve resides in Los Angeles in his bachelor pad with one cat. While there's no crawlspace, there is a questionable closet in one corner and no one is quite sure what is hidden in there...but we have an idea.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a "Classics Illustrated" approach here, but instead I got more of a cross between Cliffs Notes and a children's book. Writer Steve Niles presents the stories in bare-bones minimalist form, usually only a paragraph or two per page, accompanied by a beautifully done two-page spread illustration. The most effective and evocative of the original work was "The War of the Worlds" which retained Wells's narrative style and was presented with amazingly chilling art by Ted McKeever. My wonder is, who is this book intended for? With the exception of the "Dracula" segment," it's probably far too intense and abstract for most younger kids, and the approach is too much like a kids' book for adults, who would probably prefer the original novels.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a graphic novel like I expected. It's 3 condensed classic prose stories with illustrations. Frankenstein, War of the Worlds and Dracula. The writing is like the Cliff Notes version for kids. The art in the Frankenstein story by Scott Morse looks like Picasso drew it. Ted McKeever's art for the War of the Worlds segment was awful as well. Richard Sala drew the Dracula segment which was the best of the three.

[SarahKat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute graphic novel, as much as classic horror can be cute I guess. Very bare-bones versions of these three books. Like someone explaining the plot of the book for you. Dracula was sort of fun because it seemed to be making fun of itself. This is something I will probably hand my son to read. He's 12 and wouldn't be interested in the classics but may want the gist.

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art was the best thing about this. The versions of the 3 stories (Frankenstein, War of the Worlds, Dracula) were way too short here. Good for children, not older people like me who have seen/read many versions of the presented stories.

[Nick Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection for young readers interested in monster stories, for their first taste of the real guts of the tales. The art is beautiful, and the telling of each story provide a great children’s book summary. It’s like little golden books versions of classic terrors.

[Jack · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basically a children's book version of three classic stories. Having read all of the originals in all their 19th-century epistolary meandering, I can say that I have no problem with abridging/adapting the stories. However, these go so far as to lose the point of the originals without adding much in the way of interpretation or artistic license. The prose is obviously written for children, and I'm not just being haughty. For example, this is a line with punctuation intact: "Then Dracula bared his pointy fangs and knelt down beside the sleeping Mina and bit her, bit her hard, right in the neck, and sucked her blood!" It's distracting, almost silly. The "Frankenstein" adaptation looses any element of gothic horror or existential dread due to the text and the "Dexter's Laboratory"-style art. "Dracula" is closer to the Universal Studios movie version than the book, though the changes to the end may actually improve the pacing of the story (seriously, the last 50-100 pages of the Bram Stoker version really drag on). "The War of the Worlds" is the most successful adaptation both in art and script, possibly because the source material is also the closest to modern narrative sensibilities. I got this as part of my Comics Bento box, which is nice because I can consider it a free gift. I may pass it along to an early reader who might enjoy it more than I did.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scott Morse, Ted McKeever and Richard Sala all turn in some of the most astounding, amazing artwork of their careers (or possibly anyone else's). Wish I could say the same about Steve Niles' scripts. Skip the words and just look at the pretty pictures.

[Brett]

Horror,Anthology