Freaks
Published in 1996 and written by
Gahan Wilson,
[10] the
Big Book of Freaks features an introduction from stage magician-turned-film star and "scholar of the unusual"
Ricky Jay, who has written a number of books on related subjects.
The book features stories on all manner of odd and interesting people, from
sideshow freaks to legendary creatures, (including
giants), the subjects of
Tod Browning's famous
film and exhibitors including
P. T. Barnum.
The
Big Books were published between 1994 and 2000. Just over half of them (ten out of seventeen) were written by a single author (including
Doug Moench and
John Wagner), with
Jonathan Vankin taking over the writing of the later volumes.
A wide range of artists worked on the stories. Notably it was the first American work for
Frank Quitely.
[1] Rick Geary reckons he is the only artist to contribute to all seventeen volumes.
[2] E.C. alums
Joe Orlando,
George Evans and
Marie Severin are present as are
Russ Heath and
Gray Morrow. The Big Books were the last stands of masters of horror
Tom Sutton and
Pat Boyette. Other artists who were regular contributors to the series as a whole include
Bob Fingerman,
Eric Shanower,
Lennie Mace,
Randy DuBurke,
James Romberger,
Salgood Sam,
Steve Leialoha,
Joe Sacco and
Roger Langridge.
Extract text taken from
Wikipedia
More info on the books & the freaks:
Amazon
Wikipedia
