Bernie Wrightson's Legacy and Achievement 1 1

[bronze johnny]

Bernie Wrightson's Legacy and Achievement

Bernie Wrightson's recent passing was a great loss to the hobby. The history of the second great age of the horror-mystery genre coincides with Wrightson's greatest corpus of art work. Bernie will forever be mainly identified with the great covers of HOS and HOM. The Bronze Age of Horror was also the era of Wrightson. The question remains as to whether Wrightson is the greatest horror artist in comic book history. To begin to attempt an answer to this question requires a comparison between Wrightson and the precode horror artists- those that best represented the first great age of horror comics. Those that come to mind are Ingels, Davis, Evans, Wolverton, Frazetta, Feldstein, Craig, L.B. Cole, Jack Cole, Heck, Kirby & Simon, Fox, Heath, Everett, Bailey,Elias, Nostrand, Powell, Briefer, Cameron, Saunders, Ditko, Fass, Morales, Maneely, Moldoff, Moriera, and Wood (please forgive me if I left anyone out).

Now one key factor presents a challenge in trying to determine  where Wrightson stands among the greats- the Code. The Code placed restraints on later horror artists by setting parameters making it impossible to draw covers with a bullet to the head, decapitated heads, injuries to eyes, exposed brains, hangings, and acid thrown in faces. "Postcode" artists had to find ways to convey fear in a censored medium. Some classic mystery and prehero monster covers came out during the postcode but nothing comparable to what precode gave readers in terms of a "shock effect." Any horror related to precode during the 60s was reserved for those that read and collected Warren magazine classics, Creepy and Eerie, and Eerie Publications (Skywald would begin in 1970) would later publish . The second great age of the mystery-horror genre in comic book form started with HOM 174 with a cover which in some ways resembled the book that really started the precode horror era- Adventures into the Unknown 1 (the "Columbus" of precode horror comics as compared to the "Leif Erickson" horror book, Eerie Comics 1). Comic book readers were again about to enter the haunted house- only this time they were invited in. It's noteworthy that Adams, in his own right, drew some of the greatest mystery-horror covers that also added, in some cases, a gothic flavor (see HOS 88). But Adams did it all and his being the greatest ever is not exclusive to one genre.  

Enter Wrightson with HOM 179 who along with Adams, began to lay the foundation for the new era of mystery-horror in comic book format.

It should also be noted that while Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie were telling their stories to the magazine readers, Cain and Abel began hosting Mystery-Horror tales for the first time in comic book format. The horror host in comic book format began in the underscored Yellowjacket Comics 7 where the Ancient Witch first appears in the Tales of Terror feature- a first in comic book history. Now, Cain and Abel were the premiere hosts in the second great age of horror-mystery in comic book form. 

Still the Code presented challenges that could either stifle art or encourage horror artists to reach new levels of creativity. Wrightson exceeded to a level beyond expectations given the Code's restraints with D.C. 100 Page Spectacular 4 and of course, House of Secrets 92. Marvel also had its share of great Horror artists at the time and those that come to mind include Colan, Morrow, Ploog, and a guy with Boris as a first name (hint - not Karloff nor the guy who sang the original version of Monster Mash). 

It can be argued that the Code was "loosening up" by the time Wrightson kicked into full gear. Marvel had previously issued the first post-Code "no-Code" comic book with Groovy 1 in '68 and Stan Lee went further with the Spidey drug issues. But was a soft humor book and a popular superhero taking on a major social issue at the time a real challenge to the Code? Were the Spidey issues controversial in any negative way beyond challenging the Code? After all, Spidey is taking on drugs- difficult for anyone to take issue with his stance even back in the early 70s. In terms of horror-mystery, would anyone expect the same reaction if D.C. or Marvel decided to publish material similar to the stuff that Fass published in Voodoo magazine? 

Wrightson's incredible achievement is that he succeeded in giving comic book readers classic horror within boundaries that would have been unacceptable to many - Bill Gaines comes to mind. The apex of Wrightson's horror during the beginnings of the second great age of this genre is among the most remarkable the art form has provided in the 20th Century History of the American Comic Book.

The work for horror comic book historians on Wrightson will continue and my guess is that now that Bernie has entered the "Ultimate House of Mystery," reflection on his place in horror comic book history will include defining his place among the greatest horror comic book artists of all time- including among the precode horror masters. Where he places among his precode predecessors is an interesting question and will generate passionate debate. Again, it's important that in exploring Wrightson's place among those predecessors, not to forget how Wrightson achieved this greatness with his "two hands tied behind his back..."

Bern baby Bern!!!

Best,

John

 

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by bronze johnny

[boomtown]

12 minutes ago, bronze johnny said:

Bernie Wrightson's Legacy and Achievement

Bernie Wrightson recent passing was a great loss to the hobby. The history of the second great age of the horror-mystery genre coincides with Wrightson's greatest corpus of art work. Bernie will forever be mainly identified with the great covers of HOS and HOM. The Bronze Age of Horror was also the era of Wrightson. The question remains as to whether Wrightson is the greatest horror artist in comic book history. To begin to attempt an answer to this question requires a comparison between Wrightson and the precode horror artists- those that best represented the first great age of horror comics. Those that come to mind are Ingels, Davis, Evans, Frazetta, Feldstein, Craig, L.B. Cole, Jack Cole, Heck, Kirby & Simon, Fox, Heath, Everett, Bailey,Elias, Nostrand, Powell, Briefer, Cameron, Saunders, Ditko, Fass, Morales, Maneely, Moldoff, Moriera, and Wood (please forgive me if I left anyone out).

 

 i loved many of the classic EC and Warren artists, Ingels, Wood and Frazetta come to mind, but I don't think any work held up to Wrightson's Frankenstein. I don't know if I have ever been more impressed by a work of art in the genre. It was a defining moment for an already great artist. I always felt that Wrightsons work trailed off after that, still beautiful work but not awe inspiring, but that period of work from the early 1970s to the early 1980s was just amazing.

[bronze johnny]

7 hours ago, boomtown said:

 i loved many of the classic EC and Warren artists, Ingels, Wood and Frazetta come to mind, but I don't think any work held up to Wrightson's Frankenstein. I don't know if I have ever been more impressed by a work of art in the genre. It was a defining moment for an already great artist. I always felt that Wrightsons work trailed off after that, still beautiful work but not awe inspiring, but that period of work from the early 1970s to the early 1980s was just amazing.

Agreed - Wrighton's 70s work will stand above the stuff he did later.

[bronze_rules]

A wrightson artist edition was announced, to include full hom covers and stories. So excited!!!

[Ken Aldred]

Another all-time great horror artist from the Bronze Age period, working unconstrained outside the Code with self-published material, in the underground comix field and for Warren magazines, is Richard Corben.  Like Wrightson, one of the most talented artists and storytellers ever to work in comics.  

[Jayman]

@bronze johnny Fortunatly fans of Bernie could also explore unconstrained work from the master in gorgeous black and white if they ventured into the magazine section as you mentioned. One of my favorite panels from The Black Cat!

[Jayman]

On 4/3/2017 at 7:30 AM, Ken Aldred said:

Another all-time great horror artist from the Bronze Age period, working unconstrained outside the Code with self-published material, in the underground comix field and for Warren magazines, is Richard Corben.  Like Wrightson, one of the most talented artists and storytellers ever to work in comics.  

Agree completely with this! 

[bronze johnny]

10 minutes ago, Jayman said:

@bronze johnny Fortunatly fans of Bernie could also explore unconstrained work from the master in gorgeous black and white if they ventured into the magazine section as you mentioned. One of my favorite panels from The Black Cat!

Awesome! Thanks for posting

Just another example of "Bernie-Unplugged." 

 

[Mr bla bla]

On 3/4/2017 at 1:30 PM, Ken Aldred said:

Another all-time great horror artist from the Bronze Age period, working unconstrained outside the Code with self-published material, in the underground comix field and for Warren magazines, is Richard Corben.  Like Wrightson, one of the most talented artists and storytellers ever to work in comics.  

  Corben has just gotten better an better. Loved rat god ...

[oakman29]

On 4/4/2017 at 4:15 PM, Jayman said:

@bronze johnny Fortunatly fans of Bernie could also explore unconstrained work from the master in gorgeous black and white if they ventured into the magazine section as you mentioned. One of my favorite panels from The Black Cat!

Every panel a work of art.