Even in 2012, when The Best of Samm Schwartz Vol. 2 was published, $24.99 for 135 pages of stories that can be purchased in reading copies for a buck or two was a bit pricey (now that it's out of print it's going for even more). Still, it's great to read a collection of work by a superior cartoonist at the top of his game. A master of body language and comic pacing, and helped here by very funny scripts by Frank Doyle, Schwartz brought the tricksterish character of Jughead to new heights of clever foolishness. My one small complaint is that the stories chosen for the collection end in 1971 and Schwartz did, in my estimation, his best work throughout the '70s. Perhaps that material was being saved for future volumes, never published. Read, nevertheless, "Rhyme Without Reason" for a perfect example of the succinct and unique looniness the series could achieve.
