Berni Wrightson's Classic SWAMP THING!

CLASSIC.

clas·sic - \ˈkla-sik\
adjective

1. a :  serving as a standard of excellence :  of recognized value [classic literary works]

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Greetings, comics fan.

I am

THE APOCOLYTE!

Welcome to another day for great comics!

I have a story first.

FLASHBACK:

The year was 1971. It was late spring. A young Apocolyte walks into the local Topps store (picture a department store, pre-Walmart, similar to a Kmart). On the wall near the entrance there are three vending machines and a photo booth. One vending machine sells candy. One vending machine sells soft drinks. The final vending machine sells...COMIC BOOKS!

Aha! Probably most of you have no idea what I'm talking about and have never seen a comic book vending machine! I think their heyday was during the mid 1960's through mid 70's. Distribution of comics and magazines wasn't quite like it is today. If you had a decent news-stand in town you were the lucky one. Another option for comic readers was to order a mail order subscription, and the comic book would come FOLDED IN HALF (!) vertically inside a small brown sheath envelope, which would invariably produce an everlasting wrinkle crease down the center of the cover.

Another way to get your comic fix was to find a drugstore that hopefully had a spinner rack or a small magazine section and if you were lucky you could get a copy of your favorite comic before they disappeared, but the chances were that the issue you'd been waiting a whole month for somehow eluded you at the stores you had access to. Yes, collecting your favorite comics back then was often a spotty practice that left gaps here and there that may one day, in the years to come, be rectified. Today, with internet sales, digital downloads, and specialty comic stores there are almost too many choices and too much comic content, and while problems still occur, finding what comic you're looking for isn't usually one of them.

So, in 1971, that's where comic book vending machines played a role. For many years I bought many comics from that old vending machine. That particular machine carried only DC comics, and they were loaded on their rotating spring arms in no particular order. You might have a Lois Lane in front, and behind it you could see there was a Sgt. Rock, and behind that was a Justice League of America. If you had enough change (it took a dime and a nickel, unless there was a 25¢ giant sized issue - don't you wish you could buy a comic for 15¢ now?) you could buy that ol' Lois Lane so you could get to the Sgt. Rock and the Justice League that you really wanted! 

I got stuck with many a Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen comic that way.

Back to my original story. In the machine this particular day was a comic I knew I had to buy! I'd have bought TEN Lois Lane's in order to get this issue of DC's HOUSE OF SECRETS #92! There was a cover like nothing my little brain had ever seen! WOW! And the story inside! Just as good!

So, my original, now rare and nearly priceless HOUSE OF SECRETS #92 comic was purchased from a vending machine. 

The sad addendum to the story is that the very same comic was stolen from me, along with most of my massive childhood comic collection. SNIFF! It still brings a tear to my eye! (dab dab)

I did eventually replace it, and much of my original collection, through the modern phenomena known as the internet, flea markets, garage sales, and a plethora of comic stores that one day miraculously sprouted up throughout the country. 

The End.

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Berni Wrightson's artistic style is unmistakenly his own, there is no one like him. Before Wrightson there was Graham Ingels, and since Wrightson there is Kelley Jones, and each was influenced by their predecessor. Similar styles, black shadows and somber moods, but Wrightson has established himself as the modern master of gothic horror. 

You've no doubt seen this story before, many times.

It is a story worth reading again, and again, as all classics are.

So, from my reprint, digitally enhanced and restored, is the masterpiece that came from the minds of Len Wein and Berni Wrightson.

Here is...

 SWAMP THING!

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- Digitally Restored Comic Art-

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-click to enlarge-

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Wow!

I could drone on and on about Wrightson's art! 

What marvelous layout, and staging, panel formation, and camera angles, and artistic execution! 

Brilliant!

According to the PENCIL INK blog, Wrightson was aided on the story inks by his art studio mates, 

Jeff Jones, Michael W. Kaluta, and Alan Weiss (who also had 6 pages of art in the same issue). 

GCD hesitantly credits Tatjana Wood (aka Mrs. Wally Wood) as colorist.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention and display Wrightson's stunning cover artwork.  

The original art was done as an ink wash drawing and is owned by collector Stephen Fishler, and is displayed here (click link), as well as posted below.

DC famously (or infamously) altered Wrightson's original art by what can be described as applying a mezzotint screen process, which produced the now familiar stippling effect. Either way you look at it, it remains an elegant and masterful composition and one of the most beautiful comic book covers ever created.

HOUSE OF SECRETS # 92, 1971

Gorgeous! What a masterpiece!

Whoever did the coloring did an amazing job!

(aha...now I see!  GCD credits Jack Adler)

Nicely done, Jack!

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I hope you enjoyed that, I certainly did!

But, before you go, I have a special treat for you!

Over at 

BLACK 'N' WHITE AND RED ALL OVER

I have posted original artwork by Berni Wrightson 

doing a Simpson's parody of his SWAMP THING creation!

You don't want to miss this!

CLICK HERE!

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I'll be back here with more good stuff for you!

The DOCTOR is in - STRANGE is truther than fiction

The year is 1963.

At Marvel Comics, 

the "Marvel Age" of comics was in it's infancy.

Stan Lee, aided ably by Jack Kirby and to a lesser degree Steve Ditko, had picked up the superhero ball more recently owned by DC and ran with it. Spurred by publisher Martin Goodman, Lee had remolded the "super-team" model offered by National's Justice League Of America and with Kirby developed the Fantastic Four in late 1961, complete with an updated version of one of Marvel's most popular Golden Age characters, the Human Torch.

Soon after, in 1962, Marvel brought forth Hank Pym (the Ant-Man), followed by the Hulk, then Spider-Man, and Thor. 1963 saw the creativity continue, first with Iron Man, then Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos. By this time Stan Lee had taken the FF's Human Torch and given the character even more exposure by having him star in Strange Tales. Lee hoped to revitalize the monster anthology, whose sales were waning, and he counted on the revamped Carl Burgos character to boost comic sales as it had in previous decades.

Unfortunately, artist Kirby was already taking on the lion's share of the art chores for Marvel, and drawing a full-length Torch comic wasn't a possibility. Also, the once popular monster tales weren't a good match for the new super-hero themed Strange Tales. It seemed the time was right for another new character.

Lee tapped Spider-Man artist Steve Ditko for the new character, a magician.

Did I say a magician? Nay, not just a mere magician, a sorceror supreme! Stan Lee based his new character Dr. Strange (er, no relation to Golden Age hero Doc Strange...er) on magician heroes from the radio and pulps of his youth, primarily on Chandu The Magician, whose radio exploits were heard by Lee growing up.

Steve Ditko was the perfect choice to draw the new adventures. 

His already slightly odd figures and landscapes took on a whole new aspect of, well, strange. 

It wouldn't be long before Dr. Strange became the comic book hero of choice on college campuses throughout the country, as young minds perused the pages with heightened interest, searching out hidden meanings and mind-expanding truths in the eastern mysticism laden panels. In an ironic twist, it seems that the Mighty Marvel Revolution coincided with the Drug Revolution, and it turns out that Dr. Strange became a favorite of hippies and stoners as the decade progressed, and the psychedelic style of artwork put Dr. Strange and Strange Tales among those at the forefront of the movement.

So, starting with Strange Tales # 110, 1963, the Human Torch had a new co-star. 

Dr. Strange was introduced fully formed, and it wasn't until issue #115 that Marvel presented an origin story.

Here are both of those early stories.

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From STRANGE TALES #110

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From STRANGE TALES #115

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Taking a whiff of Alex Toth's CRUSHED GARDENIA

Most of you already know this, but for the benefit of the guy over there in the back of the room who hasn't heard this yet,
 I'll take a minute and sum up...

Alex Toth. 

Great artist. 

An artist's artist. 

Extremely knowledgeable about the visual medium known as comics, 

a true professional, a master, an iconic and influential talent.

Graduating from the School Of Industrial Art in 1947, Alex Toth began working for National (DC) Comics and did artwork for Golden Age heroes like Green Lantern, Flash, and the Atom, as well as a number of westerns. Later, he worked on a variety of crime, war, and romance comics for Standard Comics. After a stint in the Army, Toth then worked for Dell Comics until 1960, when he entered the field of animation.

Here is where Toth's real influence is felt by a generation of baby-boomers like myself. 

Toth became the Art Director for the animated science fiction television program Space Angel. Space Angel utilized the same Synchro-Vox lip technique pioneered by Clutch Cargo,  famous for limited animation and bright red moving lips superimposed on the characters.

Hanna-Barbera then hired Toth to do layouts and character designs, where he was responsible for such series as The Herculoids, Space Ghost, Mightor, Sea Lab 2020, Birdman, and  Super Friends. 

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Here's a DC ALL AMERICAN WESTERN comic I sought out 

and bought purely based on the beautiful Alex Toth cover artwork.

Today's Alex Toth story comes from the crime genre.

It's called THE CRUSHED GARDENIA, and was originally published in Standard's one-shot comic WHO IS NEXT?, 1953. 
It was reprinted in 1985 by Eclipse in SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT #3, with new color done by Toth himself.

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First, the reprinted version with new Toth color...

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 SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT #3

cover art by Meskin and Roussos

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Now, just for fun, the original version from 1953...

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WHO IS NEXT #5, cover art by George Roussos

To see the story associated with this cover, click here and go to Pappy's Blogzine

for the interesting post and story about DON'T LET ME KILL AGAIN!