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14 April 2009

A Wrightson Saga... For several years I've been searching for a bit of doggerel from a horror comic book I had as a kid. I finally found it.[More:]

It's not particularly work-unsafe (for a comic book) though it is mildly adult-themed, but use your judgment if you click through to the page scans.

Without further ado, here's "A Martian Saga," written by Nicola Cuti, from Berni Wrightson: Master of the Macabre #3 (Pacific/Eclipse, 1983).


I had come to the land of the pale ochre sand,
Where God shines his eye dim and cold,
Where the air though it's thin kicks a hell of a wind,
Which cuts through the tears in my clothes.

In the great Helas Bowl bright yellow clouds roll,
They swirl round a silver obelisk,
Once a ship, now a tomb, for my crew, for me soon,
Well, we all were aware of the risk.

There's no reason to stay, rescue's two weeks away,
And I've only three days worth of air,
So I'll see what I can of this desolate land,
The direction I go, I don't care.

Sure, there're clouds in the sky, but the seas are bone dry,
Cause nowhere on Mars does it rain,
Hills and craters abound, on the smooth desert ground,
But most of the land is the same.

Then I came to a plain, laminated terrain,
Where the ground into layers was pressed,
On the rust-colored land, camped a nomadic band,
In tough leather hides they were dressed.

They were fleshy and plump, round faces, full rumps,
But their bodies were as solid as clay,
They laughed at the man who breathed air from a can,
But in gestures they bid me to stay.

Corraled was a beast for some future feast,
And it seemed to know of that fate,
For as I came near it bellowed with fear,
And kicked till it broke down the gate.

It charged into the clan, and tore up a man
Then turned to a girl near my side,
While the tribesmen were stunned, I unholstered my gun
And burned a hole through its hide.

As the beast heaved and bled, moaning, dying, then dead,
The girl that I saved came to me,
Her face, so serene, her onyx eyes gleamed,
Like the moon on a glittering sea.

She was a girl I had known on the green fields of home,
She was each girl from out of my past.
The first girl I kissed, the one that I missed,
The best, the others, the last.

With a childlike charm, she accepted my arm,
For she understood my desire.
Neath oilskin dome, we were both all alone
As our nakedness shined in the fire.

I thankd all the stars, for this one night on Mars,
For the beauty so firm and so fair,
As we locked in embrace, horror twisted my face,
Damnation, I ran out of air!
Yes yes good stuff. Originally published in black and white in Creepy #87. My brother used to own the original art to one of these pages, I can't remember which.

I could go on about Wrightson at some length, but I'll spare you all from that.
posted by Marxchivist 14 April | 12:59
I could go on about Wrightson at some length, but I'll spare you all from that.

Wha? Please do! I had this piece in both the Master of the Macabre book and Creepy #87; I think they're boxed up in my parents' basement, but I didn't get a chance to look last time I was in town.

I used to love his Swamp Thing art. He designed the Reavers in the film Serenity.

Bernie Wrightson is awesome and I'd love to learn more about him.
posted by Hugh Janus 14 April | 13:27
Well...around 1980-1981 I read the first Wrightson comic I was aware of. I soon decided to buy EVERYTHING this guy did. Under the instruction of a good friend of mine, I started buying up old DC Mystery titles with Wrightson art (usually 50 cents to $2 in those days). Quickly moved on to the Warren magazines, fanzines, portfolios and prints.

Its too bad that shortly after this period, Berni's newer work started to show a lack of enthusiasm and passion. It seemed to appear after the release of his Frankenstein book. But even his stuff like the Spiderman graphic novel Hooky were/are miles above most other superhero stuff. (I don't have any connection with that Pencil/Ink blog except that I like it a lot.)

I stopped keeping up with his current output around the time the Kitchen Sink Captain Sternn stuff was coming out. I probably have about 90% of Berni's published pre-1990 work.

I got to meet Berni once at a comic show in Greensboro NC, probably around 1989 or so. He was very nice and personable. I knew the guy that put on the show and the night before I got to hang out in a room off the lobby with Berni, Brian Bolland, Murphy Anderson and a few other folks.

Luckily, just before I got married in 1991, I purchased the original art for The Siren of Satan. It was an astronomical sum at the time. I've managed to hang on to it.

All three issues of Web of Horror with art by Wrightson, Kaluta, Brunner, others. The same guy posted lots of cool Wrightson art here.

I got a little fantasy art blog and have been trying to highlight some oddball Wrightson items in my collection. It's time for me do something else. Maybe the comic covers he did for Fisher-Price?

(you asked)
posted by Marxchivist 14 April | 13:57
Hey, that's really cool, thanks, Marxchivist.

I heard he dropped the trailing -e from his first name so as to differentiate himself from the Olympic gold-medal winning diver.
posted by Hugh Janus 14 April | 14:14
Wow, great blog, Marxchivist. Chu-Bops, holy shit, that takes me back.

Here's a nice interview with Mr. Wrightson.
posted by Hugh Janus 14 April | 14:28
Thanks for pointing to that interview. I think the trailing "e" is back now, I forget to put it in there. At one time I had a pretty decent Wrightson checklist going. I've thought about reviving it, but there's been so much in the last 10-15 years I don't feel like trying to round all that up, not to mention the money it would cost.

I'm toying with the idea of doing a super-duper Wrightson Frankenstein bibliograpy. All the plates in the book cross-indexed with what's in the portfolios and all the not-used in the book plates reproduced hither and yon.

Yeah, I'm a nut.
posted by Marxchivist 14 April | 14:58
The Potty's Over by Bernie Wrightson. From Epic Illustrated #25 and NSFW but very much in tune with the old Creepy and Eerie comics. The Horrors of it All blog also pointed out that Wrightson did the Father's Day vignette in Stephen King's Creepshow comic book and now that I think about it, it's really obvious.
posted by ooga_booga 14 April | 16:58
Miniature Sound Stages from classic TV shows || Happy birthday

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