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Basil Wolverton




Title Creator Publisher Series Price
The Horror! The Horror! – Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read! Jim Trombetta, Basil Wolverton Abrams ComicArts $26.95
($29.95 list)
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Read more and comment... 		<< • >>  Selected, edited and with commentary by Jim Trombetta; with an Introduction by R.L. Stine << • >>  Next, we have the Abrams ComicArts entry.  This cleverly named tome presents readers with a smorgasbord of brain searing graphics and more.  The Horror! is a nicely put together 300+ page full color flexi-bound collection that comes complete with a running commentary by editor Trombetta to provide a "you are there" context.  It is heavy on covers and single page examples and much lighter on actual stories than Four Color Fear, but the covers, pages and stories that are here are generally well selected, and taken together do provide an excellent survey of the period (sans EC, of course – except for a few covers; presumably because EC stories are already under separate reprint agreements).  Perhaps the biggest surprise are the excellent stories by "artist unknown."  Let's hope that some well-informed comics sleuths can deduce the correct creators.  The reproduction here is nice as well:  good quality, full color scans printed on flat white stock.  And the icing on the cake is the bonus DVD slipped inside the back cover which contains the 30-minute TV show that originally aired on October 9, 1955, Confidential FIle, about the "evils" of comic books!  Taken all together, it makes for a great introduction to the comics and cultural climate of the early 1950s in the US of A. 
Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s John Benson, Greg Sadowski, Jack Cole, Basil Wolverton and more ... Fantagraphics $26.95
($29.95 list)
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Read more and comment... 		edited by John Benson and Greg Sadowski Just in time for Halloween, here's a trio of classic horror comics that provide a great window on the great thrill that comics once provided... and still can!  First up we have Fantagraphics' Four Color Fear:  320 pages of fulsome full color comics, all scanned from the pre-code originals and printed on flat white paper (except for the cover reproductions, which are, appropriately, reproduced on bright white glossy stock to best mimic their original appearance).  This is the horrific follow-up volume to last year's wild and woolly Supermen, that presented a revealing display of the earliest superhero comic books that showed the form before its tropes and conventions were still in flux, before they fully gelled (and later hardened).  Aficionados take note:  this is not one to miss – in fact, we sold out of our initial shipment almost immediately.  Not to worry:  new copies are on the way!  So, while you wait for our restock, take a moment and read the editor's introduction and check out the table of contents; and then... feast your eyes on this tumultuous 26-page preview that contains four complete stories! 
The Culture Corner Basil Wolverton Fantagraphics $19.99
($22.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		This 169-page, vertically formatted, full color hardcover volume is wacky and wonderful and Wolverton through and through.  Format fiends and practicing artists will relish this chance to see over 100 examples of a master working in the relatively rare half-page format.  Originally published in the pages of Whiz Comics (home of Captain Marvel) and several other Fawcett Comics titles, from 1944 through 1952, Culture Corner is a conceptual, idea-centered strip, that occupies a place in Wolverton's oeuvre that is analogous to that which "Hey, Look!" occupies in Kurtzman's.  The challenge was to repeatedly present a humorous concept month after month in a specifically ascribed format.  Culture Corner took modern manners as its taking off point and then gets going and gets goofy.  And it's all here – and then some!  Culture Corner not only collects the series in its entirety, but, offers up a truly amazing bonus feature of including the original pencil roughs for nearly every one of the published strips AND an incredible treasure trove of an additional 41 pencil roughs for strips that were rejected by the publisher (why?  who knows!  see if you can figure it out...).  Plus an introduction by Basil Wolverton's son, Monte that lays out the history of the strip and helps to puts it all in context  of Wolverton's career and comics history.
The Toon Treasury of Classic Children's Comics Walt Kelly, Bob Bolling, John Stanley, Harvey Kurtzman and more ... Abrams ComicArts $35.00
($40.00 list)
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Read more and comment... 		edited by Art Spiegelman and Francois Mouly If the amazing kids' comics from the halycon days of yore are your thing, then you've hit the jackopot with this one!  Well over 300 pages of classics, all scanned from the original comics themselves, and printed at approximately 120% of the originals.  These scans have been digitally cleaned up a bit, so there's no newsprint background tones, just the flat white paper that they're printed on.  While this might upset some purists, it was probably a good call as this book is clearly going to be marketed as a gift for children as well as for older fans, and lay people will have difficulty appreciating the nuances of newsprint; and they did a more than decent job of balancing the tones.  The book is, somewhat arbitrarily, divided into five sections:  Hey, Kids; Funny Animals; Fantasyland; Storytime; and Weird and Wacky.  The book successfully draws across the spectrum of children's comics from the twenty years following the close of the second world war – the golden age of kids' comics that fed the baby boomers' imaginations before television took over.  While certainly no one is going to agree with every choice, the editors – along with the board of advisors – picked a good crop of comics that is certain to contain favorites of every fan as well as win the hearts of every reader and, more importantly, is sure to capture the imagination of the next generation.  Includes work by all-time greats Carl Barks, Basil Wolverton, Harvey Kurtzman, John Stanley, Bob Bolling, Walt Kelly, and many, many more (even Dr. Seuss, who started out in comics).  Get a sneak peek, here (just click on the image of the open book at the top right, under "Sample Toon Treasury").
Supermen Greg Sandowski, Jonathan Lethem, Jack Kirby, Will Eisner and more ... Fantagraphics $22.22
($24.95 list)
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Read more and comment... 		>> edited and designed by Greg Sadowski  >> introduction by Jonathan Lethem  >> Ladies and gentlemen!  Step right up and see the wonders of the ages!  This is where it all began:  the protoplasmic early days of the superhero comic book -- wild & heady, zany & crazy, fantastic & non-sensical, rough around the edges; all this and more.  Reading these stories is like witnessing history in the making, it is being present at the birth.  Sure, we've all read those original Superman and Batman stories along with other DC classics, as well as a those old Captain America, Submariner, Human Torch tales, and maybe a few other Golden Age Marvels (well, Timelys, actually), but these are usually presented in a self-promoting fashion by their corporate owners which mitigates and obscures the historical context in which these works need to be read to fully appreciate their novelty.  The work here spans the years 1936 to 1941, with the bulk of it originating in 1939 and 1940.  It is divided by publisher and includes the Comics Magazine Company, Chesler, Centaur, Fox, MLJ, Fiction House, Columbia, Your Guide/Rhoda and Novelty Press,  Some of the earliest work by the brightest stars of the Golden Age are collected here:  Jack Kirby, Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Jack Cole, Basil Wolverton, Bill Everett, Ogden Whitney, Dick Briefer, Fred Guardineer, and, yes, Fletcher Hanks.  It appears that this volume has been put together employing high quality scans of the original comic books which were then digitally restored and and enhanced and then crisply printed on flat (non-glossy) bright paper stock, and the results are excellent,  A minor quibble is that, for our money, we would have preferred an off-white paper that more closely matches the newsprint upon which these comics were originally printed, but this is negligible when stacked next to all that is right with the production.  While it should go without saying that no self-respecting comics scholar can pass this up, we hasten to add that anyone who misses the plain old fun that we associate with the term comic book, who wants a jolt of that good ol' four-color energy from back in the day, need look no further than this fine volume.
The Basil Wolverton Reader, Volume 2 Basil Wolverton, Greg Theakston Pure Imagination $22.50
($25.00 list)
OUT OF STOCK!
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Read more and comment... 		Believe it or not, this one's even better than the first volume.  Greg Theakston and Co. herein  present us with a true treasure trove of classic Wolverton:  a fistful of Spacehawk strips are complemented by a cartload of Powerhouse Pepper, and then seasoned with healthy doses of lesser known Wolverton creations like Meteor Martin, Splash Morgan, Mystic Moot, Scoop Scuttle, BingBang Buster and more!  Basil Wolverton is one of a handful of true comic geniuses whose work has informed, and continues to influence, the work of countless cartoonists who have followed in his wake, whether they realize it or not (R. Crumb's work owes an ineradicable debt to Wolverton's, and even such disparate artists as Bob Burden and Chris Ware have appropriated bits of Wolvertonia; and that's just for starters; without Wolverton's example Mad  might never have come into being... you get the idea.).  Check out this collection and you'll see what we're talking about.
The Wolverton Bible Basil Wolverton Fantagraphics $22.22
($24.99 list)
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Read more and comment... 		While, from a historical perspective this release is not of the magnitude of the aforementioned Humbug collection, from a purely artistic point of view it might just give it a run for its money.  Compiled and edited by Wolverton’s son, Monte, this 304-page hardcover volume provides excellent quality reproductions of the detailed pen & ink work that represents Wolverton's final, and most sustained, body of work.  The drawings are arranged as closely as possible according to Wolverton's original conception and, unlike most (all?) previous editions presenting this work, each is accompanied by the original caption written by Wolverton.  The Wolverton Bible is printed on flat, bright white stock, and -- for the first time ever under one cover -- includes all of Wolverton’s artwork for the Worldwide Church of God corporation, all of which was produced between 1953 and 1974.  This volume comprises over 550 works illustrating select Old Testament narratives, as well as 20 apocalyptic illustrations inspired by the Book of Revelations, and dozens of cartoons and humorous illustrations for various Worldwide Church publications, most notably The Plain Truth.  Recording artist and noted EC authority Grant Geissman provides an insightful foreword, while Monte Wolverton delivers commentary and background in the introduction and in each section.  Basil Wolverton is one of comics' true originals and we are grateful to have this opportunity to experience these amazing works.  An added bonus to this book being released now is that it gives us a chnace to take in Wolverton's treatment of the Book Of Genesis shortly before R.Crumb's forthcoming treatment, given that Wolverton was one of Crumb's early influences.   
Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories: Volume Two David Mazzuchelli, Leif Goldberg, Brian Chippendale, Elinore Norflus and more ... Yale University Press $20.00
($28.00 list)
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Read more and comment... 		edited by Ivan Brunetti It's too early to say for certain, but this follow-up to Brunetti's already classic 2006 anthology, also published by Yale University Press, might just be even better than its precursor.  One thing's for certain:  Brunetti has held onto -- and further refined -- his editorial vision of arranging the work contained in this volume in an organic sequence, deftly managing to map out the similarities between artists so that each piece flows smoothly into into the other, creating an amazing sense of an innate connectivity between all areas of comics here on display.  This book is a powerful ally in the struggle to bring the light of comics to those poor souls still dwelling in the darkness.  It's the perfect choice to turn on a friend or relative to the joy, beauty and pleasures of our favorite medium.  Hold onto your hats, here's the contributor list:  Daniel Clowes, Saul Steinberg, Sammy Harkham, Chris Ware, R. Sikoryak, Michael Kupperman, Drew Friedman, Mark Beyer, Mack White, Jayr Pulga, Renee French, Kim Deitch, Richard Sala, J. Bradley Johnson, Archer Prewit, Anonymous (utility sketchbook), HJ Tuthill, Milt Gross, Bill Holman, Harvey Kurtzman, R.Crumb, Basil Wolverton, Art Spiegelman, Jess, John Hankiewicz, Tim Hensley, Bill Griffith, Richard McGuire, Gilbert Hernandez, Jim Woodring, David Collier, Eugene Teal, Charles Burns, Karl Wirsum, Gary Panter, Paper Rad, Fletcher Hanks, CF, Charles Forbell, Ron Rege, Jr., Winsor McCay, Matthew Thurber, Souther Salazar, Kevin Scalzo, Megan Kelso, James McShane, Laura Park, Vanessa Davis, Onsmith, Joe Matt, Jeffrey Brown, Martin Cendreda, Dave Kiersh, John Porcellino, Carrie Golus/Patrick Welch, Jessica Abel, Cole Johnson, Lynda Barry, Debbie Drechsler, Diane Noomin, Aline Kominsky-Crum, Ariel Bordeaux, Chester Brown, Anders Nilsen, Joe Sacco, Phoebe Gloeckner, Elinore Norflus, Brian Chippendale, Leif Goldberg, David Mazzuchelli, Jerry Moriarty, Ben Katchor, Frank Santoro, Dan Zettwoch, Kevin Huizenga, Harvey Pekar/R.Crumb, Carol Tyler, Maurice Vellekoop, Seth, Adrian Tomine, Jaime Hernandez & David Heatley.  It's simply amazing.  Comics Power!  PLEASE NOTE:  We feel compelled to mention that this volume includes several pieces that contain quite explicit sexual content; and while this content represents only a miniscule fraction of the total, it nevertheless renders this volume fit for ADULTS ONLY.