Starting around 1994 or so DC published a series of maybe a dozen and half "Big Books" under the Paradox Press imprint. These books really are big. They measure around 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches with a 200+ pagecount. Every volum I've seen is sharp black and white on good quality paper, with excellent art and great writing. Basically, these books are non-fiction anthology titles covering a variety of weird or underground topics. The four pictured above sit on a bookshelf in my gameroom. I count them among Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe as some of the most fun and informative books I've ever read.
I really can't speak for the other titles in the line, such as The Big Book of the Weird West or The Big Book of Losers. Except to say that I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to pick them up cheap. I think DC stopped publishing this line around 2000 or so. As far as I can tell the last Big Book to be released was The Big Book of the '70s.
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Yeah, those Big Books are neat; I've got a copy of The Big Book of Martyrs that I love. The art styles vary and the information is interesting. I absolutely love Gonick's books, too - history told with a great sense of humor (a little heavy on the puns, though) and a surprisingly good resource for historical gaming.
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