Bernie Wrightson
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Swamp Thing, created by Bernie Wrightson. |
Bernie "Berni" Wrightson (born
October 27,
1948,
Baltimore, Maryland,
USA) is an American
artist known for his
horror illustrations and
comic books.
He received training in art from reading comics, particularly those of
EC, as well as through a
correspondence course from the
Famous Artists School.
In 1966, Wrightson began working for
The Baltimore Sun newspaper as an
illustrator. The following year, after meeting artist
Frank Frazetta at a comic-book
convention in
New York City, he was inspired to produce his own stories. In 1968, he showed copies of his
sequential art to
DC Comics editor
Dick Giordano and was given a freelance assignment. Wrightson began spelling his name "Berni" in his professional work to distinguish himself from an
Olympic diver named Bernie Wrightson, but later restored the final E to his name.
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Bernie Wrightson, 1977. |
His first professional comic work appeared in
House of Mystery #179 in 1968. He continued to work on a variety of mystery and anthology titles for both DC and its principal rival,
Marvel Comics. In 1971, with writer
Len Wein, Wrightson co-created the muck creature
Swamp Thing for DC.
By 1974. he had left DC to work at
Warren Publishing, for whose black-and-white
horror-comics mgazines he produced a series of original work as well as adaptations of stories by
H. P. Lovecraft and
Edgar Allan Poe.
In 1975, Wrightson joined with fellow artists
Jeff Jones,
Michael Kaluta, and
Barry Windsor-Smith to form "The Studio," a shared loft in Manhattan where the group would pursue creative products outside the constraints of comic book commercialism. Though he continued to produce sequential art, Wrightson at this time began producing artwork for numerous posters, prints, calendars, and even coloring books.
Wrightson spent seven years drawing approximately 50 detailed pen-and-ink illustrations to accompany an edition of
Mary Shelley's novel
Frankenstein, which the artist considers among his most personal work.
Wrightson drew the poster for the
Stephen King-penned horror
film Creepshow, as well as illustrating the comic book adaptation of the film. This led to several other collaborations with King, including illustrations for the novella "
Cycle of the Werewolf" and the restored edition of King's apocalyptic horror epic,
The Stand.
Wrightson has contributed album covers for a number of bands, including
Meatloaf.
The "
Captain Sternn" segment of the animated film
Heavy Metal is based on a character created by Wrightson.
He did production design for the characters the
Reavers in the 2005 film
Serenity [
1].
Bernie Wrightson on editing the magazine
Web of Horror [
2]: "That was done by a guy named
Richard Sproul out in
Long Island. His company, Major Magazines, put out
Cracked magazine.... A fellow named
Terry Bisson tracked down me,
Mike Kaluta, and
Jeff Jones, and presented us with a proposal to do this black-and-white horror magazine in competition with
Creepy. ...Bisson (who was writing blurb copy for
romance magazines when I first met him) left after the third issue under very mysterious circumstances â€" and the running of the whole magazine, for some reason, fell into [writer-artist]
Bruce Jones' and my laps (and I can't remember if Terry said, 'Here, you guys take over the editorial', or if we volunteered). Bruce and I put together the whole fourth issue, which had already been assigned. We were working at home! We had to take this incredibly long trip to get [to Major Magazines] â€" Bruce lived in
Flushing at the time and from there we took a train to the end of the line and from there we had to take two buses and then walk about 10 blocks to get to the office! It was an all-day thing and we finally get out to the office.... and the place was empty. All the desks, all the filing cabinets, everything, was gone! ... [W]e never learned where the guy went and what happened to him. We had all this stuff for the fourth issue and we were planning issues five and six â€" Bruce and I were going to take over the magazine and make it like Creepy or EC Comics â€" but they just left! ... Whatever had been turned in already, they took with them. I don't think anybody got paid for anything â€" and Bruce and I took a bath on it".
Comics
Swamp Thing #1â€"10 (
DC Comics)
House of Mystery #179,183,186,195,204,207,221,224,226,228 (DC Comics)
House of Secrets #85,87, 89-90, 92-94, 96, 100 (DC Comics)
The Shadow #3 (DC Comics)
The Spectre Vol., 1, #9 (DC Comics)
Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror Vol. 11 segment "Squish Thing", which itself was a parody of Swamp Thing
*Bernie Wrightson: Master of the Macabre
1-5 (Pacific/Eclipse)
*Captain Sternn 1-5
(Kitchen Sink)
*Collected Purple Pictography
1 (Eros)
*Creepshow trade paperback
*Showcase #83,84'' (DC Comics)
Magazines
Creepy #62-63,87,103,113 (
Warren Publishing)
Eerie #61-62,64 (Warren Publishing)
Books
Frankenstein, by
Mary ShelleyCycle of the Werewolf, by
Stephen KingThe Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, by Stephen King
Bernie Wrightson: A Look BackMonsters: Color the Creature BookThe Studio (also includes artwork by
Barry Smith,
Jeff Jones, and
Michael William Kaluta)
The Stand by
Stephen KingPortfolios
Frankenstein Volume 1
Frankenstein Volume 2
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Rice BurroughsThe StandApparitionsWrightson won the Shazam Award for Best Penciller (Dramatic Division) in 1972 and 1973 for
Swamp Thing, the Shazam Award for Best Individual Story (Dramatic) in 1972 for
Swamp Thing #1 (with
Len Wein).
He has received additional nominations, including for the
Shazam Award for Best Inker in 1973 for
Swamp Thing, as well as that year's Shazam for Best Individual Story, for "A Clockwork Horror" in
Swamp Thing #6 (with Len Wein). He won the Shazam Award for Best Penciller (Dramatic Division) in 1974.
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Bernie Wrightson official site
