No artist did horror comics better in the 1970s than all-time terror great, Bernie Wrightson. Mr. Wrightson would have fit in nicely with the great EC comics bullpen of the 1950s - among fellows like Graham Ingels, Jack Davis, Reed Crandall, and many more masters. He just had that slimy touch.Wrightson did the cool cover on this issue as well. This comes from House of Mystery No. 204, July 1972.
Wrightson is certainly a genius in his own right, but it's hard to deny how much of his art is taking after Ghastly. The hands on page 3, the mother's buck-toothed grin, the twisted architecture, the shadow/light clothing folds, and the heavy shading.
ReplyDeleteThat's not to take anything away from Wrightson, and if there was anybody to be the base of your style, you couldn't pick better than Ghastly.
It also doesn't help that this swamp tale has some uncomfortable parallels to the kind of rotting, mutant type of swamp story Ghastly was always handed during the EC days.
Well observed, Brian. I'm sure I remember Wrightson saying in some interview Ingels was a major influence. You can certainly see it in the drooling, dripping mouths, as you say.
ReplyDeleteLike on page 7 . . .
ReplyDeleteWe never got to see much of Ghram Ingels artwork....
ReplyDeleteWe have many images and one or two pages ... all we have really seen over the many years....