They have been out forever, but I just got around to picking one up - The Big Book of the Unexplained - and I enjoyed it so much I picked up the other three the bookstore had, The Big Book of Conspiracies, The Big Book of Urban Legends, and The Big Book of Bad.
The Big Book of the Unexplained has stories about UFOs, Loch Ness monster, various historical mysteries, etc.
The Big Book of Conspiracies illustrates such things as the JFK assassination, connections between Nazis and the CIA, etc. It takes a decidedly leftist slant (most of the books that have any political connections in this series seem to), but it was highly entertaining nonetheless. It even had me looking over my shoulder by the end of it.
The Big Book of Urban Legends is probably my favorite so far, just because I'm such a fan of them. Most of the classics are illustrated.
The Big Book of Bad was interesting as well, detailing various "bad" people throughout history, bad social movements, bad science, etc.
The books are obviously meant to be taken with a grain of salt, and they play fast and loose with the so-called "facts." But they're really fun reads and have a surprising amount of information crammed inside. I really like seeing the different art styles juxtposed, and they often pack a lot of humor into the art that isn't hinted at in the text.
I'll probably end up getting the whole collection eventually. I've never been a real huge comic fan - I had plenty when I was younger but haven't picked one up in ages - but these have actually got me excited about reading them again.
