“Gutter of
Horror” is a Brazilian column from Dinamo Studio website about horror comics.
This
is a translated version of the articles.
In march 18, 2015 we lost Bernie Wrightson (sometimes written Berni Wrightson), one of the
most celebrated artists in comics in general and horror comics in particular.
With an unmistakable and dynamic style, Wrightson worked at several publishers
and with classic characters, from superheroes to monsters, and was also
responsible for helping creating the character that would become one of the most
classic of the horror genre in DC Comics. Let’s know a little more about him.
The early
years
Wrightson
was born in 1948 and it was practically a self-taught artist. He learn about
the craft through the TV show “Are You an Artist?”, hosted by Jon Gnagy, by
reading comics and with a course via mail (which were, for those who are
younger, an analog version of an online course). His influences from the start
were horror comics from E.C. and artists Frank Frazetta, which I think needs no
introduction, and Graham Ingels, known for his work in The Haunt of Fear and
Tales from the Crypt.
Wrightson’s
career began in 1966, working as an illustrator for a Baltimore newspaper. But
it would not take long for him to jump to comics. A year later he met one of
his idols, Frank Frazetta, in a comic convention. This encounter inspired him
to work on his own comics. While living in New York, Wrightson shared an
apartment in Queens with artists Al Milgrom, Howard Chaykin and Walter
Simonson. At the beginning, Wrightson started to write his name as “Berni”
instead of “Bernie” to avoid confusion with an Olympic swimmer with the same
name. It was just years later that he get back to sign his original name –
that’s why there’s two different ways of writing his name.
As soon as
1968, he started to draw comics professionally. His first story was published
in issue #170 of DC Comics’ House of Mystery. From there, he never stop doing
comics. Wrightson created, along with Marv Wolfman, the character Destiny,
which appeared in Weird Mystery Tales #1 and would be later rebooted by Neil
Gaiman in his Sandman Universe.
Swamp Thing
Along with
writer Len Wein, Wrightson is responsible for the creation of Swamp Thing, one
of the most important DC Comics Characters and one of those responsible for the
creation of the Vertigo Imprint. Wein told that he was talking to Wrightson
about the story when the artist had just broken up with his girlfriend. So
Wein said that he had an idea for a story that seems to reflect what Wrightson
was going through. After hear the story, Wein told, Wrightson wanted to draw it
so badly.
The story, published in House of secrets #92, was
a short standalone story that took place in the early 20th century
about a man who was betrayed by his best friend and returns as a swamp creature, just to see himself unable to go
back to his lover. The story was a big success and DC decided to give the
character his own title, where his origins were retold to take place in the present
(the 1970s). Wrightson drew the first 10 Swamp Thing stories (more on the
character in a future article).
The Warren
Years and his own studio
In 1974,
Bernie Wrightson left DC to work at Warren Publishing, making original stories
and adaptations. He adapt, among other things, H.P. Lovecraft’s “Cool Air” and
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat”. Among
the original stories was “Jenifer”, written by Bruce Jones; the story would be
adapted decadeslater to a segment from “Masters of Horror” anthology, directed
by Dario Argento.
A year
later, Wrightson join fellow artists artists Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Michael
Kaluta e Barry Windsor-Smith to found "The Studio", which was basically a shared
loft in Manhattan where they make art outside the restrictions of the most
mainstream comics. For The Studio, Wrightson made posters, prints, calendars and
even a coloring book; besides, of course, comics and illustrations for National
Lampoon between 1973 and 1983.
Other works
His
original character, Captain Stern, published by Heavy Metal in 1980, was
adapted to the animation based on the magazine. In 1982, Wrightson would join
Bruce Jones again to illustrate Freakshow, graphic novel published in Spain and
later release in serialized form on Heavy Metal. In 1983, Wrightson would
published one of his most known works: the illustrated version of Frankenstein,
published by Marvel Comics. Inspired by the works of Gustave Doré in Paradise
Lost, Wrightson made incredible illustrations that is arguably his most outstanding work.
Note: His first wife, Michelle, also contributed with stories for Underground Comix, satirical magazine that launch several underground artists like Robert Crumb and might be considered the initial step to popularized alternative comics. Michelle also past away in 2015.
Wrightson
also drew the comic adaptation of Creepshow, horror anthology from Stephen King
inspired by E.C. Comics and other classic horror comics from the 1950s, which
King grew up reading. King liked the partnership and put Wrightson to
illustrated some of his books, like Cycle of the Werewolf, a restored version of The Stand and the fifth book from The Dark Tower series, Wolves of the Calla. He also made an illustration for TV Guide about The Shinning TV miniseries.
Still in
the 1980s, Wrightson join Jim Starlin to make 2 charity comics: Heroes for Hope
for Marvel, in 1985, which raise money to hunger in Africa and had also several
other authors (Stephen King and George R. R. Martin among them); and Heroes
Against Hunger, for DC, in 1986, featuring Superman and Batman.
Starlin e
Wrightson also collaborated in “The Weird”, character created by Jim Starlin for DC Comics; the classic story Batman: Cult and Marvel Graphic Novel #29 that
united The Hulk and The Thing – and all this in 1988. For Marvel, Wrightson
also would illustrated several years later a Punisher story arc in which he
turns into an “angel of death” (be happy if you don’t known about this arc).
In most
recent years, Wrightson did the production design for the characters of Joss
Whedon’s Serenity, a 2005 film based on Firefly TV series,and also collaborated
with Steve Niles in “Frankenstein Alive, Alive” for IDW in 2012.
Bernie
Wrightson influenced many artists and authors (me included) and was always faithful to
comics, even when reached out to other medium. He only stop working in January
2017, 2 months before his passing, when he retired to be treated of cancer. He
passed away in March 18, leaving the entire comic industry in mourning, but
with a legacy that will never be forgotten.
Rafael Algures is a Bachelor of Philosophy specialized in Neurosciences of Language. He is also a copywriter, content and science writer, and a comic book creator. His latest work, “Gutter of Horror: Transition” is available at Amazon – digital and paperback.
Further
reading: Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley and Berni Wrightson
Creepy PresentsBernie Wrightson (Creepy Archives), by Bernie Wrightson and others