New Edition of Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein

If there's one thing that will get to start this blog again, it's a new edition of Bernie Wrightson's classic Frankenstein. This edition was just published by Gallery 13, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Even though the image is cropped, doesn't that cover look nice?

                                                                                                                                      

Unfortunately, what's nice about this ends there. Let's open the book up, shall we?

Oh look! No endpapers! Don't worry. They're randomly inserted elsewhere in the book. But how about the illustrations?

Many of them are printed much too dark, losing much of Wrightson's stunning linework and negating the main reason to buy this book.

Did I mention the size? The book is only 6 1/4" x 9 1/4". Smaller than a bronze age comic book. That's the real crime here. I don't understand why anyone would bother releasing this book in such a small format. This review could really just say "Smaller than a comic book" and that would tell you all you would need to know.

Part of me is glad this book is in print in any format, and I certainly hope his estate gets some money from it but I feel like this is a lost opportunity. All the older editions of this book are expensive on the secondary market. This book is legendary, and likely a lot of new or younger Wrightson fans don't have it. I could some of them so happy to finally get this book and being like "This is it?" 

I think the best edition of this book is the 2008 Dark Horse edition. Some people say the reproduction is better in the earlier Marvel / Dodd-Mead edition but I think you need a magnifying class to tell the difference. The Dark Horse one is larger, printed on higher quality paper and much better designed. If you can save your money and pick up one of those editions that's currently the best way to see this masterpiece. I guess if you can't afford one of those and have to have something, get this Gallery 13 edition. Or, if you're a nut like me and buy this book in languages you can't even read, then you probably already have it.

Some of you may have heard IDW is planning an Artist Edition of this book, with the art reproduced full size and photographed in color to pick up every bit of underlying pencil and nuance in the inking. That was supposed to be out in October 2019. At a panel from the online San Diego Con in August 2020 the editor said it will be out early next year. Let's keep our finger's crossed.

The Wrightson Completionist: Part 11

The eleventh in a series of posts highlighting oddball Bernie Wrightson items in my collection.

What do you do when you've bought all the Bernie Wrightson stuff, except for the stuff that's really expensive (S&N The Stand book, weird-ass Nakotomi prints they made five of) or impossible to find (Nozdrovia, Gothic Blimp)? The answer is you start buying foreign editions of his work, which I've spent a lot time doing the last couple years.

Here's an Italian edition of Wrightson's masterwork: the illustrated Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus by Mary W. Shelley. It's smaller than the Dark Horse edition or the original Dodd-Mead edition, about 7" x 9 3/4". It has the full endpapers and all the illustrations. Like the Dark Horse edition, there are small greyish vignettes from the illustration on the previous page.

Nothing here you haven't seen before, but if you're a nut about this like me, it's worth getting. As of this writing, it's available on the Italian Amazon page, your regular Amazon user name and password will work. It ended up costing me about $35 with postage. It took about two or three or weeks to get it in the mail. The book is published by a company called Oscar Ink. It's a hardcover and is 302 pages.

Ciao everybody!

Bernie Wrighson Frankenstein Portfolio

The first of Bernie Wrightson's three Frankenstein portfolios. This was released by Tyrannosaurus Press in 1977 in a signed and numbered limited edition of 1000.

Dollar Store Monsters

Web of Horror Art Contest

The third issue of Web of Horror (1970)featured an art contest. Readers were invited to fill in the blank on the operating table with a monster of their imagining. Below is Bernie Wrightson's art as it appeared in the magazine, and below that is a scan of the original art with Wrightson's creature in all its glory.

Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein

Here's a promotional feature for Bernie Wrightson's illustrated edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It was published in Marvel Age #12, March 1984.

U is for Universal Studios

The Bride of Frankenstein, 1935.

The Bride of Frankenstein, 1935

The Ghost of Frankenstein, 1942.

Dracula, 1931.

Frankenstein, 1931.

The Wolfman, 1941.

The Invisible Man, 1933.

The Mummy, 1932.

Son of Frankenstein, 1939.

Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein Alive, Alive!

Here's an interview with Bernie Wrightson about Frankenstein and his latest project with Steve Niles: Frankenstein Alive, Alive! The first issue was just released. I think it's going to be pretty enjoyable.

Monster Monday

Frankenstein poster, 1972. Art by Jack Davis.




Strange Tales #73, February 1960. Cover art by Jack Kirby.



Weird Mystery Tales #21, August 1975. Cover art by Bernie Wrightson.




Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Lobby Card, 1956.

Friday Night Frights

Here's some photos of plastic monsters I got at the dollar store:

Gray Morrow

Gray Morrow (1934-2001) drew just about everything and worked for just about every comic book publisher who was around during his career. He drew Spiderman in the late 1960's and was well-known for his renditions of Zantanna for DC Comics. He also drew lots of newspaper strips such as Tarzan and Flash Gordon. Morrow also produced lots of covers and illustrations for science fiction digests. Below is a selection of his art:



Cover art for Worlds of Tomorrow magazine, March 1966.




Cover art for Red Circle Sorcery #7, 1974.




Cover art for Red Circle Sorcery #9, 1974.




Page 5 of the story "Zatanna...Kill or be Killed" from Adventure Comics #415, 1972.




Page from How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains, 1995.




Frankenstein painting, n.d.