Let’s see. You’re looking to get that comic book-loving friend, family member, or other important person the perfect compilation gift for this holiday season. There are so many softcovers and hardcovers and volume of disparate titles on the shelves – wherever will you start?
How about right here?
This year Biff Bam Pop!, like every holiday season, has covered you with all the cool comic books that will make you a notable Santa-sized hit! This is the first of three columns featuring various comic books over the coming days. Now, these books might be a little pricey, ranging anywhere from $50-$200 depending upon the seller and where you live, but they’re all brilliant works, every one of them.
To start the series of columns off, let’s take a close look at titles that feature art and a seminal noir-themed superhero story, the history of magic and its usage along with more than a little bit of horror:
David Mazzucchelli’s Batman Year One Artist’s Edition H/C
You could argue that there isn’t a more seminal Batman story than Batman: Year One.
Originally published in 1987 within the confines of the monthly Batman comic book series (issues 404-407 inclusive), Batman: Year One remains the high watermark of comic book storytelling. Written by Frank Miller, coming off the popularity that was, and remains, the exaggerated realism and hyper-violent future of Gotham City in the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns miniseries and illustrated by the grounded noir realism of the brilliant David Mazzucchelli, Batman: Year One was, and is, a must-read that has influenced all aspects of the Dark Knight Detective’s pop culture oeuvre since that original publication.
Published by IDW, David Mazzucchelli’s Batman Year One Artist’s Edition H/C is a beautiful visual ode to the work he produced on the series, a wonderful gift to anyone who loves art and sequential storytelling. The 14” x 21” oversized book reproduces Mazzucchelli’s art from his original drawings and incorporates his page layouts and rare sketches. It’s an amazing and indispensable tour behind the artist’s mind and hand that throws light on the comic book road from imaginative inception to eventual publication.
The Complete Harrow County H/C
Harrow County was one of my favourite monthly titles and remains so to this day – BBP! has sung its praises on several occasions, including this column featuring an editorial on one of the most stunningly beautiful and terrifying comic book covers you’ll likely ever experience.
The southern gothic horror series, the brainchild of writer Cullen Bunn and illustrator Tyler Crook, published by Dark Horse Comics from 2015-2018, ran for 32-monthly issues. It’s been collected several times and in several formats, but The Complete Harrow County H/C, just released a few weeks ago, is an oversized 1,080-page completist’s dream that would look as good in your hands as it would on the shelves!
Handsomely dressed up in a slip-case, the tome comes with gilded edges, a ribbon bookmark and a brand-new painted cover from series artist Crook. Dark Horse Comics has put so much time and, effort, and love into this collection. In addition to the complete series, The Complete Harrow County H/C also contains every extra that ever made it inside previous editions, including sketchbook illustrations, essays, and more, making it the perfect gift for a lover of supernatural horror!
John Constantine: Hellblazer By Jamie Delano Omnibus 1
As much as John Constantine, the so-called occult detective, seemed to leap fully formed from the mind of celebrated writer Alan Moore within the pages of the Swamp Thing monthly comic book series way back in 1985, it was British scribe Jamie Delano who truly made the enduring character everything he is today. And what is that?
A pop culture phenomenon, that’s what.
John Constantine might be the greatest comic book character to have been created this side of the later half of the twentieth century, and Delano dove deep when he wrote the roguish mystic for the better part of five years within the titular monthly series, John Constantine: Hellblazer. The series gave birth to a whole publishing imprint, Vertigo Comics, and a cultural movement. Finally, Delano’s work gets its first omnibus treatment in the John Constantine: Hellblazer By Jamie Delano Omnibus 1.
Here are the early tales showcasing Constantine’s storytelling breadth: political to personal and always horror-driven. Delano tapped into the post-Thatcher and Reagan world zeitgeist and breathed dreadful life into humanity’s actions, thoughts and desires. Constantine, the reader’s bastard companion, was always the unfiltered and hard-truthed conscious along the harrowing journey.
The 1,584-page John Constantine: Hellblazer By Jamie Delano Omnibus 1 covers the series’s first twenty-two issues and storyline issues from Swamp Thing. As a bonus, a new forward by Garth Ennis is included, as is a preface by Delano alongside his series proposal, scripts, and artists’ original sketches and drawings. Perhaps most delightfully included are Dave McKean’s original sketches for his groundbreaking painted comic book cover work.
Not only is John Constantine: Hellblazer By Jamie Delano Omnibus 1 required reading for any lover of the horror genre, but it’s also a historic gateway to the origins of contemporary publishing and the root of a malleable and deep character that can and has withstood the tests of time and generations, morphing himself into countless relevant and enjoyable conjurations.
The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic
Take a deep, I mean really deep, but wholly accessible dive into the history and practice of magic with the decades-long gestating Top Shelf Production and Knockabout Inc., The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic, co-written by self-described magician and comic book industry legend, Alan Moore and his colleague of sorcerous divination, the late Steve Moore (no relation except for their mutual conjuration of words).
No two people are better suited to take initiates like you and I down the long, winding, absolutely fascinating relational history between magic and mankind.
At 352 pages, the encyclopedia hardcover The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic is split into various sections: one-page illustrated biographies of mankind’s greatest real-life enchanters, travel guides, chapters and essays on types of magic and, of course, the practical uses of magic along with examples of magic to perform on a rainy day, among many other features. It’s both informative and whimsical and an entirely enthralling read.
Joined by illustrators Kevin O’Neil, John Coulthart, Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, Melinda Gebbie and Ben Wickey, the book meticulously takes readers through the history of the world from the dawn of mankind, through ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, the Victorian age and the modern world, all through the lens of magic.
Sure to become a legendary grimoire, The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic is an outstanding and thorough read for any adventurous magician, burgeoning or wizened veteran. A perfect gift for this magical time of year!
That brings us to the end of our Holiday Gift Guide 2024: Comic Book Compilations – Part One. Hopefully, you found something here that allows you to scratch off an item or two from your shopping list. If not, part two is imminent – keep your eyes on this space!