Thursday, October 1, 2009

Grooviest Covers of All Time: Wrightson's House of Secrets

It's that time of year again, my ghoulish Groove-ophiles! Today, the Halloween Countdown for 2009 begins, and I can't think of many better ways to kick things off than by showcasing the moody masterpieces of the maniacally macabre Bernie Wrightson. Here's a horde of creepy covers from DC's House of Secrets.
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8 comments:

  1. John RozumOctober 1, 2009 at 12:30 AM

    Those covers are something, aren't they? Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to the next 30 posts.

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  2. Mike MikulovskyOctober 1, 2009 at 4:38 AM

    Hey there Groovey One!
    I think Halloween is so big with our generation. Because of all these great horror comics were huge in the 70's. Plus all those great old monster movie shows we used to watch on tv. Like Shock theater, tv series like The Outer Limits & Twlight Zone.

    Man I loved those Bernie wrightson & Mike Ploog master pieces back then. Especially his House of Mystery & Swamp Thing! Do you remember those two awesome House of Mystery novels written by Jack Oleck in 73 I believe. With the 8 illustrations in each by Bernie Wrightson. As far as I know, they've never been reprinted any where either. I was incredibly lucky enough to get two nice reading copies of each & two mint copies also.

    Man those brought back some great memories. I can't wait to see what you have next for us! Remember those great pics in the old Marvel Calenders from 74-76. By Frank Brunner, Ploog & Gene Colan!

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  3. Michael JonesOctober 1, 2009 at 9:32 AM

    Those are indeed truly amazing covers. I always preferred Abel's comic over Cain's. (BTW, You may want to doublecheck the final word in your entry.)

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  4. The Groovy AgentOctober 1, 2009 at 2:33 PM

    Thanks for the heads up on my gaffe there, Michael! Typos--ya gotta luv 'em!

    ReplyDelete
  5. senskiOctober 1, 2009 at 7:25 PM

    I love #135; it's great to know that, even when the assignment called for evil bunnies, Wrightson was your man!

    Can't wait to see what you have cooked up for the next month, Groovy...

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  6. The Groovy AgentOctober 3, 2009 at 8:43 AM

    Lots more Wrightson goodness is on the way for this month, Groove-ophiles. Bernie's art is waaaaaay too far-out to be confined to just one post!

    Mike, if I can get my hands on some scans of the Wrightson art from those House of Mystery novels, I'll definitely post 'em! I've been on the prowl for them (I don't have copies of my own, sniff). I have the 1978 Marvel calendar with the cool Paul Gulacy October pic, but that's all I have of the calendars. Something else to fish around the internet for!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousMay 13, 2014 at 6:32 PM

    http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.com/2012/10/blog-post_22.html

    Here they are---beautiful high res scans, too! Click on each image to enlarge. I think the drawings in #2 are the best, but #1 has some good moments.

    Chris A.

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  8. Dave RyanJanuary 4, 2023 at 3:24 AM

    You can't go wrong with Berni Wrightson, covers as beautiful and current as the day they were created.

    Did you know that assistant editor Mark Hanerfeld is the visual inspiration for Abel? I can't recall where I learned that, but just a year or two ago. Probably COMIC BOOK ARTIST magazine, or an old issue of AMAZING WORLD OF DC COMICS. Amazing how even 50 years later, we're still learning new things about the material we grew up with, and their creators.
    https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Mark_Hanerfeld

    There's few Wrightson covers or interior splash pages of Cain or Abel that aren't suitable for framing. Thanks for this sampling, that makes the point.

    ReplyDelete

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!