scans_daily

Tsk. You should've practiced safe sex... Oh. Never mind.

One final post of Basil Wolverton's horror work, featuring excerpts from two Atlas/Marvel stories plus a bonus selection of especially disturbing Revelation-themed illustrations he did for The Plain Truth magazine. As to the latter, warning for gore.

( 'First we take over the insane asylums...' )

alicemacher

Come on, be a good boy and you'll get an "I was brave in my ~~drug trip~~ journey through my unconscious today" sticker.

Yet more grotesque phantasmagoria from Basil Wolverton.

( 'How strange are the fancies of the inner mind!' )

alicemacher

No, dude, you can't be Bane.

Another grisly tale from Basil Wolverton.

( 'I can do a much better job than a plastic surgeon!' )

alicemacher

Well, since you asked so nicely...

It's lethal for human beings to visit the surface of Venus, due to its extremely high average temperature and air pressure. Plus, if this classic Wolverton-illustrated story is to be believed, you might encounter one of these creatures.

( 'I'll not willingly become a walking dead man!' )

alicemacher

There's no way this could ever go wrong...

This Hallowe'en season, I thought I'd spotlight one of my favourite Golden Age artists, Basil Wolverton. When this prolific fellow wasn't drawing humour features for Timely and Charlton, or gonky illustrations for MAD, he lent his distinctively grotesque vision to weird tales (horror, SF, or a combination thereof) for a variety of publishers. Fortunately, some of these publishers' titles are now in the public domain, so I can post them in full. Let's begin with the story of an inventor blessed with wealth and fame, but cursed with disfigurement and loneliness.

Warning for abuse.

( 'Look what you've done, Fozzmo!' )

alicemacher

For my final horror-themed post of the month, here's a Basil Wolverton creeper from Gillmor's Weird Mysteries #5 (June 1953). Public domain; thanks once again to ComicBookPlus.com for the scans.

( I can do a much better job than a plastic surgeon! )

alicemacher

In the 1950s, when Basil Wolverton wasn't drawing exaggeratedly gonky people for Mad or horrifying apocalyptic scenarios for the Christian Plain Truth magazine, he wrote and drew a number of kooky and fun stories, full of his signature alliteration and rhyme, for younger readers. Among his recurring characters was the space hero Jumpin' Jupiter. Here's a representative story from Key Publications' Weird Tales of the Future (November 1952), which is in the public domain (scans courtesy of Comic Book Plus).

( Well crack my crown and call me coo-coo! )

thebigapricot

I recently came across a delightful book edited by Art Spiegelman, "The Toon Treasury of Classic Childrens Comics". It includes a number of early comics including stories featuring Scrooge McDuck, Captain Marvel, Little Lulu and Sugar and Spike. Oh, and this
( click )

dr_hermes.insanejournal.com

*Ack!* Those things are just WRONG. This story appeared in MISTER MYSTERY# 7, September 1952. Basil Wolverton had a distinctive style like no other, it had texture and solidity that made it seem both unreal and convincing. He's mostly remembered for his twisted distorted portraits that appeared in MAD and DC's PLOP, as well as trading cards. Odd stuff. He also wrote and drew POWERHOUSE PEPPER, which used more alliteration per page than anything in history. Later in life, he did religious art that seems to concentrate on the coming apocalypse and it's as unsettling as you might expect.Earthmen Rod Crenshaw and Reese Bitner make a crashed landing on Venus, slamming down on the dense mysterious jungle. Not wearing any restraint belts (of course a 1950s comic), Bitner dies from a broken neck in the crash. Oh well, Crenshaw thinks and goes out to clear the encroaching fungus off the ship and make repairs. Then he notices some native life forms that are a bit unusual.

( Read more... )

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Bringing the crack since December 2003

Entries tagged with creator: basil wolverton

Gateway to Horror / They Crawl By Night! / Wolverton does Armageddon

Weird Tales of the Future: Nightmare World

Weird Mysteries: Swamp Monster

Mister Mystery: The Brain Bats of Venus

Weird Mysteries: Robot Woman

Weird Mysteries: Swamp Monster

Basil Wolverton's Jumpin' Jupiter

You know what they say about big noses

Brain Bats of Venus... I hate those things

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May 2025

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