RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Bernie Wrightson Dead

Another Berni Wrightson tribute at the time of his death, that links all the books of Wrightson's collected work:

http://atomicjunkshop.com/memory-bernie-wrightson/

Plus a few things I didn't already know, such as Wrightson did design work on Green Goblin for Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movie.

As good as Wrightson's post-DC work is for Warren (from 1974-1979), there is surprisingly little of it when you actually track it down. As I said prior, virtually all of it is collected in the CREEPY PRESENTS BERNIE WRIGHTSON hardcover, and that's only about 140 pages. Which broken down, is 9 stories by Wrightson, that are outstanding Wrightson pencils and inks.

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  1) CREEPY 62, May 1974, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" 12 pages.
  
  2) CREEPY 63, July 1974, "Jenifer" 10 pages.
  
  3) EERIE 58, July 1974, "The Pepper Lake Monster" 10 pages.
  
  4) EERIE 60, Sept 1974, "Nightfall" 8 pages.
  
  5) EERIE 62, Jan 1975, H.P. Lovecraft's "Cool Air" 7 pages.
  
  6) EERIE 68, Sept 1975, "The Muck Monster" 7 pages.
  
  7) CREEPY 77, Feb 1976, "Clarice" 5 pages.
  
  8) CREEPY 87, March 1977, "A Martian Saga" 6 pages,
  and a pin-up page, "Four Classic Martians" 1 page,
  plus the cover (panels from "Four Classic Martians")
  
  9) CREEPY 95, Feb 1978, "The Laughing Man" 6 pages.

All of these stories are reprinted in BERNI WRIGHTSON: MASTER OF THE MACABRE 1-3 in 1983, in color by Steve Oliff instead of black-and-white, and for my money, in the nicest form.

If you want them in black and white as they originally appeared in the Warren Magazines, you can read them in the CREEPY PRESENTS BERNI WRIGHTSON hardcover (except for "The Muck Monster", which is presented in color as it originally was in 1975 by an unknown colorist, not Oliff colors).
That's 70 pages of stories.
Plus all 33 intro splash pages and covers Wrightson did. Many of them in an odd two-color form, but that is exactly how they appeared in the magazines. A fantastic Wrightson portfolio, many of them suitable for framing.



The remaining 3 are Wrightson inks over other artists, that barely resemble Wrightson's own style. But they are still interesting, both as stories, and as Wrightson collaborations with others.

• CREEPY 83, Oct 1976, "Country Pie" Infantino pencils/Wrightson inks, 6 pages
  
  CREEPY 86, Feb 1977, "Dick Swift and His Electric Power Ring", Infantino pencils/Wrightson inks, 9 pages
  
  EERIE 72, Feb 1976, "Reuben Youngblood" Chaykin pencils/Wrightson inks, 10 pages.

Wrightson's page contributed to the National Cartoonists' Portfolio, 1978.



A page I was thrilled to add to my collection a few years ago, after about 30 years of looking for it!

From the Wrightson APPARITIONS portfolio (1978) for S Q Productions.

There's also a signed, numbered edition with an extra plate, of Conan fighting a giant serpent. I have the regular edition.


Here's a link to an enlarged version of the Apparitions portfolio cover. The look of horror on the two mens' faces are beautifully rendered. Wrightson in peak form, to be sure.

Wrightson worked on his illustrations for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley FRANKENSTEIN illustrated book from late 1975 to 1983. During that time, he made money to keep the project going by releasing three FRANKENSTEIN portfolios, in 1977, 1978, and 1980. Before the book was finally completed in 1983.


Here are the pages in the FRANKENSTEIN II portfolio (1978).


And the pages in the FRANKENSTEIN III portfolio (1980).

FRANKENSTEIN II has five pages used in the published book, pages 113, 141 151, 154, and 171. Two remaining images, the beautiful cover, and gravedigging page, appear in FRANKENSTEIN: THE LOST PAGES.

FRANKENSTEIN III has all images not seen in the final book.

All the portfolio pages and covers are collected either in the actual book, or in THE LOST FRANKENSTEIN PAGES. Including the decorative covers for all three portfolios.


I had less luck finding the first FRANKENSTEIN portfolio (from 1977).
Its contents are all in the FRANKENSTEIN illustrated book
(the cover is the title page of the book, page 5. And the interior plates are pages 28, 40, 43, 61, 73 and 91).

I have II and III, I never managed to find the first one. But the first two are mostly pages in the final book, whereas III has the bonus of being unused and less seen pages.

Wow.

http://book-graphics.blogspot.com/2013/04/frankenstein-illustrator-berni-wrightson.html

Here's a site where someone nicely presented virtually all the FRANKENSTEIN and the LOST FRANKENSTEIN PAGES in a size where you can really appreciate them.

For those who want to purchase the book and haven't, the 1983 Marvel softcover is complete and correct. The 1983 hardcover is not.
In the 1983 hardcover from Dodd-Mead, there are two double-page spreads at the very beginning and end, the first with Frankenstein alone in a forest, the second with Frankenstein at the North Pole standing on the ice watching the ship sail away on the horizon.
I bought the hardcover when it was released, and only later learned that the softecover was more complete. The hardcover only has one page of each of the two double-page endpapers. The Marvel paperback version has the double-page spreads complete and correct.

Probably that was fixed in the later Dark Horse hardcover, but I haven't seen it, or at least not that I remember.

Another Wrightson print I had trouble finding, "Ode to a Scottish Prayer"



With the caption underneath: "From ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night, may the Good Lord deliver us."

Half of this image was used as the cover for two different magazines in the late 1970's and 1980's, DEJA VU, and CARTOONISTS AND ILLUSTRATORS PORTFOLIO 2, as well as some foreign language publications of Wrightson reprints.

The image was released as the poster I have by Glimmer Graphics in 1990.

What is probably Wrightson's first portfolio/print illustration outside of comics. Wrightson's page, along with other contributing artists, for the "Abyss portfolio" out in 1970. That helped finance the ABYSS 1 fanzine (Nov 1970) that Wrightson also contributed a story to.

I have an oversize print of this, from 10 or 20 years after the fact.


Here's a checklist of Wrightson's harder to find fanzine work, much harder to find, or even know exists, than his mainstream work. Many are just a cover, pin-up page or convention sketch.
http://www.glimmergraphicsprints.com/BWFanzines.html

"Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor" another I have on my walls. I ordered it from Wrightson himself at a booksigning for FRANKENSTEIN in 1995.
Just when I thought he'd forgotten it, it arrived in the mail a few weeks later!

(click on image to see larger)

Some of the covers for HOUSE OF SECRETS by Wrightson, from roughly 1971-1975. Even after Wrightson stopped doing stories for DC in June 1974, he still did beautiful covers and splash pages, mostly for DC's mystery titles from 1975 till the 1980's.

From 1974-1983, Wrightson was simultaneously doing stories for Warren's CREEPY and EERIE, and doing posters and limited prints during his "The Studio" period.

"Freaks", a 1976 Wrightson limited-edition print published by Christopher Enterprises
(who also published the A LOOK BACK book by Wrightson in 1980).

In this case re-used as the cover for a CREEPY foreign reprint magazine.

Another one I love from Wrightson's intro pages for CREEPY, an oval portrait of Uncle Creepy. From CREEPY 62, May 1974.

In an interview of Wrightson, he said it was illustrated with magic markers. I'd love to enlarge this and put it on the wall as an oval portrait, that it is in the style of. A definite conversation piece if I did that.

I posted "Jenifer" above in black-and-white before, as it originally appeared in CREEPY 63, July 1974.

Here's "Jenifer" IN COLOR by Steve Oliff, as reprinted in BERNI WRIGHTSON: MASTER OF THE MACABRE 2, 1983.

If the colors weren't so damn good, I'd prefer it in black and white.

From left to right: Wrightson, Jones, Kaluta, Windsor-Smith, together in their shared period in "The Studio" (1975-1979).

They look like a rock band!

Another photo From Neil Gaiman's facebook page:

Left to right:
Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Bill Sienkeiwicz, Berni Wrightson, and "Dave"[Gibbons?]

An unusual story from Wrightson we've discussed before (at least me and G-man).

From BATMAN 265, April 1975, "Batman's Greatest Failure" story by Michael Fleischer, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Berni Wrightson. Of the jobs where Wrightson inked other artists, this one looks the most like Wrightson to me. As compared to many others where you might never guess it was inked by Wrightson.

A fill-in issue during the O'Neil, Novick/Giordano run, but a good one.

What looks to be a really nice BERNIE WRIGHTSON: ARTIFACT EDITION, that despite already having most of this material, I might have to add to my collection.

This link displays a ton of interior pages, and a video from the publisher, IDW.

Oh, hey, you're welcome.

https://atocom.blogspot.com/2017/03/berni-wrightson-exhibition-1977.html?m=1




The cover for the exhibit program book, that I'm glad to have in my collection, if for the cover alone. At the time, I didn't have THE STUDIO book, or any of Wrightson's Warren magazine work, so beyond the beauty of the program book itself, it turned me on to some good stuff.

I happened to run across the name of Michelle Brand (also wife and colorist Michelle Wrightson, who I mentioned earlier in the topic) and was surprised to see she died also, in 2015.
http://www.scottedelman.com/2015/05/31/michelle-wrightson-1941-2015/

In the link, she is shown with her first husband Roger Brand, and like herself was also an underground artist.

She divorced Roger Brand in ("circa") 1974. And married Berni Wrightson sometime later in 1976, and they too later divorced at some undisclosed date.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Wrightson

Here's a photo of Berni and Michelle Wrightson together in 1983. Accompanying an interview and reminiscences of a guy who knew Wrightson almost from the beginning of his comics career.

http://comicsdc.blogspot.com/2017/09/joel-pollack-remembers-bernie-wrightson.html

Some way-cool Wrightson covers, in full color as published, on a page offering a side by side comparison with their equally gorgeous original black and white versions.
I'm hard pressed to say which I prefer.

http://wednesdaysheroes.com/top-10-bernie-wrightson-covers/








Even after Wrightson stopped doing stories for DC in June 1974 he still gave us a multitude of breathtaking and suitable-for-framing covers in the years after.




And here's a Barry Windsor-Smith page, with Smith doing his best version of Wrightson.

Cover from HOUSE OF MYSTERY 211, Feb 1973.

I also updated the links to all the stories indexed here previously not available to read online. Now they all have links to read, and expired ones updated.
Every last damn one of 'em!

The last one I added was "Dick Swift and His Electric Power Ring", 9 pages, that originally appeared in CREEPY 86, Feb 1977. One that I really enjoyed. A quiet sentimental story, with Infantino/Wrightson art.

Wrightson's last interior splash page in HOUSE OF MYSTERY 225, June-July 1974, a 100-page issue for which this intro page doubled as a contents page.
The complete issue online here:
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/House-of-Mystery-1951/Issue-225?id=70761#3



Here's the same Wightson splash page in black-and-white original art form, without any captions. Poster-worthy!
https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic.../a/7169-93221.s

Here's a link to the "Purple Pictography" series, written and pencilled by Vaughn Bode, and inked by Wrightson.

http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.com/2014/07/vaughn-bode-jamboree.html

These were a feature in SWANK magazine. I've never seen the actual magazines, only seen them reprinted in Wrightson's book A LOOK BACK, published in 1980.
The purple pictography stories were also collected in the mid 1990's in a PURPLE PICTOGRAPHY one-shot comic book by Eros comics (an imprint of Fantagraphics).

http://411posters.com/tag/bernie-wrightson/


A link to a number of Wrightson pages that were apparently re-issued for sale in 2013.

Of particular interest, Wrightson's "The Stand" portfolio from the early 1980's, adapting Stephen King's novel. I recall that they were eventually reprinted in a later hardcover extended version of the novel, restoring some initially deleted sections (and the book is quite long to begin with!)
THE STAND was Wrightson's favorite Stephen King novel, and one he said in an interview with Gary Groth he'd re-read many times. The illustrations I'm sure were a labor of love on Wrightson's part.


Wrightson really earned his reputation as a master horror artist with this "Dark as a Dungeon" interpretation of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film.



It was originally the cover of some small-print horror film fanzine, that I've seen listed on Ebay occasionally. A disturbing image, but somehow aesthetically beautiful and expertly rendered down to the last pen-stroke.
Both Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the novel and movie Psycho, and Silence of the Lambs, were inspired by the real-life serial killer Ed Gein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein

Hard to believe these were not just a grisly fantasy, but based on horrific events that actually happened.

From the Wild, wonderful (and horribly wrong) penciller/inker combinations topic :



Just thought I'd list it here, to complete the checklist of Wrightson art credits. Even on the less successful combinations, Wrightson's collaaborations with others are always worth seeing.

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And the Adams /Wrightson portion of that collaborative checklist:

He?s probably the best inker Adams ever had other than Giordano

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It took me many years, but I have all those Wrightson covers, with the exception of the two SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE covers.

Wrightson never goes out of style, but he's always even more in style around Halloween time.

The only other name I'd immediately toss out there is Tom Palmer.
Particularly on X-MEN 56-65, AVENGERS 93-96, and AMAZING ADVENTURES 5.

http://www.rkmbs.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1232323#Post1232323

Terry Austin (who partially inked the SUPERMAN VS. MUHAMMAD ALI treasury, along with Giordano) let on that it was stressful to ink Neal Adams, because Adams was hyper critical of anyone who inked his work, that "every last line means something to Neal". But Wrightson was so talented right from the jump, I doubt Adams had any complaints.

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A 1973 cover Wrightson did for the then bi-weekly BUYER'S GUIDE TO COMIC FANDOM issue 47, Oct 1973.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?tid=528431&pgi=1



Wrightson did a number of gorgeous covers for this and many other fanzines and other fan publications, long after he became an established pro artist. A number of memorable covers appear on BUYER'S GUIDE, by both amateur and pro artists, many of whom went on to pro fame after doing covers for fan magazines.

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Hilarious!

I just ran across this parody by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson in BART SIMPSON'S TREEHOUSE OF HORROR 11, Oct 2005. Where they do a reprisal of their famous story as "Squish Thing", with Homer and Marge Simpson in the starring roles.
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Treehouse-of-Horror/Issue-11?id=49884#17

Earlier in the topic I showed what I thought was a Wrightson commission piece of the HOUSE OF SECRETS 92 cover, with Homer and Marge Simpson inserted, but it may have been an alternate cover for this issue, or a proposed but unused cover. Which would be a shame if it went unused, because it was a fantastic cover.


Here's the original version, that first pushed Wein and Wrightson to fame, in HOUSE OF SECRETS 92, July 1971:
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/House-of-Secrets-1956/Issue-92?id=66168

The above link expired, so here's an updated link to the same story:
https://comiconlinefree.net/creepy-1964/issue-86/16

and also at
https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Creepy-1964/Issue-86?id=82445#16

I used to prefer ReadComicOnline, but the last few months they have a ridiculous amount of pop-up ads, so more recently I've gone more to CominOnlineFree. If you look at ComicOnlineFree in the now-obsolete Windows browser, you can read any comic on thier site without ads, all the pop-up ads are set up for Google Chrome, and for Microsoft Edge.

The linked first page image expired, although 2 pages still display in the linked Bleeding Cool article.

Fortunately I found the same image on the HeritageAuctions site, that shows not just the first page, but all 7 pages.
https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-...-original-art-group-major/a/7104-91023.s

Updated:

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"Freaks" art print by Wrightson, one of about a dozen Wrightson did for Christopher Enterprises, released by Chris Zavisa, the same guy who wrote the BERNI WRIGHTSON: A LOOK BACK book giving an overview of Wrightson's life, art and career, published in 1980, that includes all Wrightson's art prints in the book.

A LOOK BACK was also re-published by Underwood Miller in 1991, in both hardcover and trade paperback editions.

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Another page from the previously mentioned APPARITIONS portfolio (SQ Productions, 1978).
I've always been awed at how Wrightson not only drew the macabre so well, but also drew gorgeous, gorgeous women. Wrightson also drew with a lot of playful humor, and drew great funny animals as well. The humor often complements and gives a playful lighter side to intense images of horror and gore.
For example, the above "Bitch" print.
And in his above "Gentlemen of Adventure" print.

About 25 years ago, I brought a college friend over and was showing him the home gallery, including this APPARITIONS portfolio image. He was fairly indifferent to most of the comics art on the walls I showed him. But he was absolutely awed by this one image, and couldn't stop looking at it.

I particularly love the cover sleeve illustration, as much if not more than any of the 4 interior color paintings:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7515/15997369115_09f78453f0_o.jpg