Bernie Wrightson by jekky
Biography
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.
Swamp Thing #1 panel, original ink art by Berni Wrightson, DC Comics, Inc.
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. He also co-created Destiny, later to become famous in the work of Neil Gaiman. In 1971 he also published BadTime Stories, a horror/sci-fi comics anthology featuring his own scripts and artwork, each story being drawn in a different medium (ink wash, tonal pencil drawings, duoshade paper, screen tones, e.g., along with traditional pen-and-ink and brushwork).
Wrightson had originally been asked by DC to handle the art for its revival of The Shadow, but he left the project early on when he realized he could not produce the necessary minimum number of pages on time.
By 1974. he had left DC to work at Warren Publishing, for whose black-and-white horror-comics magazines he produced a series of original work as well as short story adaptations. As with BadTime Stories, Wrightson experimented with different media in these black-and-white tales: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” featured intricate pen-and-ink work which stood in direct contrast with his brush-dominated Swamp Thing panels. “Jenifer”, scripted by Bruce Jones, was atmospherically rendered with gray markers. “The Pepper Lake Monster” was a synthesis of brush and pen-and-ink, whereas H.P. Lovecraft’s “Cool Air” was a foray into duotone paper. “Nightfall” was an exercise in ink wash and a subtle “Little Nemo in Slumberland” satire, and “The Muck Monster” a sequential art precursor to Wrightson’s Frankenstein, with the Franklin Booth-inspired pen-and-ink style in evidence.
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. He also drew sporadic comics stories and single illustrations for National Lampoon magazine from 1973 – 1983.
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 illustrated the comic book adaptation of the film Stephen King-penned horror film Creepshow,. This led to several other collaborations with King, including illustrations for the novella “Cycle of the Werewolf”, the restored edition of King’s apocalyptic horror epic, The Stand, and Wolves of the Calla, the fifth installment of King’s Dark Tower series.
Wrightson has contributed album covers for a number of bands, including Meat Loaf.
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.
Quote
Berni Wrightson on editing the magazine Web of Horror:
“That Was done by a guy named Richard Sproul outs 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 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] 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 Bruce and I were going to take over the magazine and make it like Creepy or EC Comics but they just left!… Whatever had been turned in already, they took with them. I don’t think anybody got paid for anything and Bruce and I took a bath on it”.
Bibliography
Comics Interior pages
DC
Batman: The Cult #1-4 (miniseries), interior pencils and painted covers
House of Mystery #179-181, 183, 186, 188, 191, 195, 204, 221
House of Secrets #92 (Swamp Thing first appearance)
Showcase #83-84
The Spectre #9
Swamp Thing #110
Tales of the Unexpected #119, 128
The Weird #1-4 (miniseries)
Witching Hour #2, 5
Marvel
The Punisher: P.O.V. #1-4
Savage Tales (King Kull feature) #2
Warren
Creepy #62-63, 87, 91, 95
Eerie #42
Other Publishers
Treehouse of Horror #11 segment “Squish Thing”, which itself was a parody of Swamp Thing
Berni Wrightson: Master of the Macabre #1-5 (Pacific/Eclipse)
City of Others #1-4 (Dark Horse)
Dead, She Said (with Steve Niles, IDW Publishing, 2008-ongoing)
Captain Sternn: Running Out of Time #1-5 (Kitchen Sink)
Collected Purple Pictography 1 (Eros)
Creepshow trade paperback
Comics Covers
DC
Batman #320
Batman: Nevermore #1-5 (miniseries)
Detective Comics #425
Jonah Hex #9
Kong the Untamed #1-2
Secrets of Haunted House #5, 44
The Spectre, Vol. 3, #58
Toe Tags Featuring George Romero #1-6
Marvel
Chamber of Darkness #7-8
Frankenstein Monster #18
Gargoyle #1
The Incredible Hulk #197
Savage Tales#2
Tower of Shadows #9
Weird Mystery Tales #21
Other Publishers
Frankenstein Monster #7 (Image)
Night Terrors (Chanting Monks Press)
Nightmare Theatre #1-4 (Chaos! Comics)
Tarzan Le Monstre #11-12 (Dark Horse)
So Dark the Rose
Twisted Tales #2 (Pacific Comics)
Web of Horror #1-3
Creepy #62-63, 87, 103, 113 (Warren Publishing)
Eerie #61-62, 64 (Warren Publishing)
Vampirella #33, 40, 63 Warren Publishing
Nightmare #9,10
Epic Illustrated #13,22,25,27,30,34
The National Lampoon Encyclopedia of Humor,1973
Heavy Metal
Comics Journal #76 (Lenghty interview)
Comic Book Marketplace #105, 2003
Back Issue, 2004 #6
Alter Ego, Oct. 2004 #41
Comic Book Profiles, Spring 1998 Issue #2
Comic Book Artist, Spring 1999 #4
Trading Cards
1993-FPG cards, 135 card series with promo, hologram, and autographed cards
1994-FPG cards, 90 card series with promo, hologram, and autographed cards
1996-FPG Sticker cards, 50 cards
Sketchbooks
Creatures Featured: Volume I,II,III, and IV
Golden Apple Comics Exclusive, 1996. Limited to 100 copies
Look Out He’s Got an Axe! Doodles and Sketches on the cutting edge. 2006
Unusual Suspects, 2006
Books
Conan Reader Cover DJ 1968, by L. Sprague DeCamp
Conan Grimore Cover DJ 1972 by L. Sprague DeCamp
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
The Lost Frankenstein Pages
The art of Wrightson Vol. 1 a pop-up book
Cycle of the Werewolf, by Stephen King
Creepshow by Stephen King
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, by Stephen King
Berni Wrightson: A Look Back
Berni Wrightson: Back for More
The Berni Wrightson Treasury
The Reaper of Love and other stories
Badtime Stories
The Mutants
Monsters: Color the Creature Book
The Studio (also includes artwork by Barry Smith, Jeff Jones, and Michael William Kaluta)
The Stand by Stephen King
Stuff Out’a my Head, by Joseph M. Monks
Zombie Jam, by David J. Schow
House of Mystery #1,2 Warren Paperback 1973, by Jack Oleck
Sex Crimes, horror anthology
Portfolios
Frankenstein Volume 1
Frankenstein Volume 2
Frankenstein Volume 3
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Stand
Apparitions
Gardens of the Dead, with Joseph M. Monks
This section requires expansion.
Awards
Wrightson 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.
Wrightson received the H.P. Lovecraft Award (also known as the “Howie”) at the 2007 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Oregon.
References
^ Daniel Robert Epstein. Interview with Joss Whedon at suicidegirls.com Sep 30, 2005
^ Jon B. Cooke. Interview with Bernie Wrightson at twomorrows.com; Reprinted from Comic Book Artist #4
^ The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival Awards
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bernie Wrightson
Bernie Wrightson official site
Spotlight on Bernie Wrightson, Comic Book Resources, June 16, 2008
An audio interview with Bernie Wrightson by SiDEBAR
v d e
Swamp Thing
Creators
Len Wein Bernie Wrightson
TV series
Swamp Thing (live-action, 199093) Swamp Thing (animated, 1991)
Films
Swamp Thing (1982 original) The Return of Swamp Thing Swamp Thing (2010 re-make)
Other media
Swamp Thing comics Swamp Thing (video game) DC Universe Online Swamp Thing sets
Characters
Abby Holland Anton Arcane Floronic Man John Constantine Matthew Cable Nebiros Parliament of Trees Patchwork Man Tef Holland Un-Men Word
Categories: 1948 births | American comics artists | Comics inkers | American illustrators | People from Baltimore, Maryland | Living peopleHidden categories: Comics infobox image less alt text | Comics creator pop | Comics creator BLP pop | Articles to be expanded from June 2008 | All articles to be expanded
About the Author
I am an expert from China Crafts Suppliers, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as lcd monito, compaq armada m700 ram.
Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol. III Review