Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Ol' Groove has made no secret of his admiration for the art of comics' Master of the Macabre, Bernie Wrightson. From Kull to Swamp Thing, not to mention the tons of classics he created on DC and Warren's horror/mystery titles--and a few for Marvel, too--Wrightson put the "oooOOOooo" in "groovy", baby! It all had to start somewhere, and for Bernie (who started out spelling his name "Berni" so's not to be confused with the Olympic diver of the same name) it began with this Marv Wolfman-scribed three pager in House of Mystery #179 (December 1968). Dig "The Man Who Murdered Himself!"
You could see the style already there, ready to blossom and take comicdom by storm. But hey, we can't celebrate the greatness of Wrightson without looking at some of his mind-blowing cover art. Here are a few choice Wrightson covers that popped up in some rather unexpected places...
Hey Groovy one!
ReplyDeleteI love Bernie Wrightson as well! his swampthing was awesome! I just wish he & Len Wein would have stay on it alot longer! I'd still love to see him do a DC/Marvel cross over with Swampy & Man-Thing. Why Marvel never let him do more Hulk covers or even the Hulk's & Man-Thing titles boggles my mind to this day! DUH!
Hey you forgot his beautiful cover from Dead of the Night#11 with the Scarecrow. By Gil Kane & Bernie Wrightson! My all time favorite monster cover. Ever consider featuring his illustrations from the two House of Mystery Jack Oleck novels from 1972/73? Beautiful illustrations in those. as well as their covers all by Wrightson.
Wrightson's version of Batman (from an appearance in Swamp Thing) was a breath of fresh air when it was released: long claws, billowing spooky cape, lots of shadows, a real BAT-man. I wish that look had caught on then...
ReplyDeleteWow! Just read that TOD issue last night from the Omnibus! Had not idea that was Bernie!
ReplyDeleteWrightson and John Buscema are two artists I can never get enough of.
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