(Stock Image)
SOLD ON: Monday, 09/23/2013 3:03 PM
This auction has ended.
PUBLISHER: DC
COMMENTS: Prelim Cvr; Bernie Wrightson painted and signed; 12" x 16"
Wraparound cvr; 1977 DC Special Series
Read Description ▼
Prelim Cvr; Bernie Wrightson painted and signed; 12" x 16"
Wraparound cvr; 1977 DC Special SeriesDC Swamp thing vs Arcane & Un-Men, Matt Cable. Painted by and signed by Bernie Wrightson himself, this large thick illustration board features Swamp Thing in an action scene fighting a bad guy and being fired at from behind. A unique and original piece, this is a preliminary art-work that served as the inspiration for the final design of the front-cover of DC Presents The Original Swamp Thing Saga 1. The book was printed in 1977 as a part of the DC Special series that ran from 1977 through 1981 with each issue focusing on a certain hero. Although the comic is labeled as 1, the comic is the second issue in the Bronze Age series. Art is in excellent condition. The final comic cover is shown but not included.
Artist Information
Starting out as an amateur, a meeting with Frank Frazetta at a comic convention in 1967 inspired Bernie Wrightson to pursue his dream of becoming a comic book artist, he began working for DC after contributing work samples to Dick Giordano, in the Silver Age he would illustrate short stories in horror anthologies, in one of those tales he invented the Swamp Thing, who would be granted his own title, which Bernie drew the first ten issues of, then he moved over to Warren, known for their macabre content, and grew his fan base, at one point he was living in the same building as Al Milgrom, Howard Chaykin and Walt Simonson. He left comics to form an artist's collective known as 'The Studio' where he would concentrate on posters and lithographs, portfolios and the like, his adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is commonly regarded as his finest achievement. His pen and ink and brush work on this black and white collection is elegant and emotionally resonant. He also collaborated with Stephen King on adapting his work like Creepshow. In later years he did spot work on comics, while continuing his poster work, notably illustrating the popular Batman: The Cult series. He passed away in 2017 after a long battle with brain cancer.