Basil Wolverton
Encyclopedia
Basil Wolverton was an American
cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer-artist
and professed "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", whose many publishers included Marvel Comics
and Mad
.
His unique, humorously grotesque drawings have elicited a wide range of reactions. Cartoonist Will Elder
said he found Wolverton's technique "outrageously inventive, defying every conventional standard yet upholding a very unusual sense of humor. He was a refreshing original," while Jules Feiffer
stated, "I don't like his work. I think it's ugly".
He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991.
, Oregon
, he later moved to Vancouver
, Washington, and worked as a vaudeville
performer and a cartoonist and reporter for the Portland News. At age 16 he sold his first nationally published work and began pitching comic strips to newspaper syndicates. His comic strip
, Marco of Mars, was accepted by the Independent Syndicate of New York in 1929 but never distributed because it was deemed too similar to Buck Rogers
, which debuted that year.
Disk-Eyes the Detective and Spacehawks were published in 1938 in Circus comics. In 1940, Spacehawk (a different and improved feature) made its debut in Target Comics (Novelty Press
), running for 30 episodes (262 pages) until 1942.
Other Wolverton characters include Scoop Scuttle, a newspaperman who ran as a backup feature in Lev Gleason Publications
' Daredevil Comics and Silver Streak Comics; and Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot in Fawcett Publications
' Comic Comics and Ibis The Invincible. "Bingbang Buster and his Horse Hedy" was a three-page backup story in Lev Gleason's Black Diamond Western #16-28 (1950-1952).
, about a superstrong if none-too-bright boxer
, appeared in various comic books published by Timely Comics
, the 1930s and 1940s precursor of Marvel Comics
, from 1942 through 1952. The strip was characterized by alliterative, rhyming dialogue, screwball comedy and throwaway gags in background. The Timely titles, such as Joker Comics, Gay Comics and Tessie the Typist, debuted a number of his spin-off characters and features, including Flap Flipflop, The Flying Flash (who later appeared in Charlton Comics
' Jack in the Box #13), Leanbean Green, "Cartoon Crime Mystery" featuring Inspector Hector the Crime Detector, Doc Rockblock, "Picture Poems about Peculiar People", "Funny Boners", Dauntless Dawson, "Hothead Hotel", "Bedtime Bunk", "Foolish Faces" and more.
Five issues of a Powerhouse Pepper
comic book were released in 1943 and 1948 by Timely, but not all the covers were by Wolverton and many interior pages were also not devoted to Wolverton strips. Later gag cartoon mags continued to use Powerhouse Pepper strips leftover in inventory throughout the 1970s, reprinting the same few stories endlessly.
In 1946, Wolverton won a contest to depict "Lena the Hyena", the world's ugliest woman, a running gag in Al Capp
's Li'l Abner
newspaper strip where Lena remained unseen beneath an editorial note stating her face had been covered to protect readers. Capp, responding to popular demand, announced a contest for artists to submit their interpretations to be judged by Boris Karloff
, Frank Sinatra
and Salvador Dalí
. Among 500,000 entries, Wolverton's was the winner; it appeared in a Li'l Abner daily and Life magazine. Wolverton's fame briefly led to Life and Pageant
printing his caricatures. The Lena portrait typified the unique "spaghetti and meatballs" style he employed regularly thereafter.
In the 1950s, Wolverton produced 17 comic-book horror
and science-fiction stories for Marvel and other comic-book publishers, including one story by author Daniel Keyes
, which led to him being "hailed for creating uniquely grotesque monsters". Among the most celebrated of these tales was "The Brain Bats of Venus" for Mister Mystery #7 and "Where Monsters Dwell" in Marvel's Adventures Into Terror #7, the title of which was later used for a 1970s Marvel reprint series.
with a single panel in #10, drew Mad Reader! for #11 and also contributed an iconic Lena-like image to the cover of #11, which was billed as the "Beautiful Girl of the Month". Mocking the glossy cover images of Life Magazine
, Wolverton's hag was the first magazine parody cover image on Mad. Although Wolverton contributed sporadically to the title—appearing in just nine issues over two decades—his work was memorable enough that, in 2009, The New York Times
dubbed him "The Michelangelo of Mad Magazine". E.C.'s other humor title, Panic, edited by Al Feldstein
(who later became Mads editor for 30 years) also used Wolverton's art on a Panic cover, though publisher William M. Gaines was not a fan of Wolverton's work. Other Mad
rip-offs from other companies such as Cracked, From Here To Insanity, Crazy, Man, Crazy and Cockeyed, also featured Wolverton's work as did an issue of Ballyhoo.
In 1956, Wolverton illustrated Herbert Armstrong's apocalyptic booklet 1975 in Prophecy and later, The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last, offered free on Armstrong's radio show The World Tomorrow
. In 1958, Wolverton began writing and illustrating The Bible Story, also titled The Story of Man, covering the entire history of the Old Testament, serialized in The Plain Truth
and later published in six volumes.
, displaying his trademark twisted headshots.
In 1973, he returned to mainstream comics, illustrating several covers for Joe Orlando
's satiric Plop!
at DC Comics
. Comix Book
, a joint production of Marvel Comics
and Denis Kitchen
's Kitchen Sink Press
, featured two uninspired strips by Wolverton, "Calvin" and "Weird Creatures". Underground cartoonists half Wolverton's age (or a third) were alongside the old master. His style had greatly influenced underground/alternative cartoonists like Robert Crumb
, Gilbert Shelton
, Jay Lynch
, XNO, Peter Bagge
, and others.
Wolverton's return was cut short by a stroke in 1974. He died in Vancouver, Washington, four years later.
Radio Church of God in 1941 and was ordained
as an elder in 1943. As a board member of that church, he was one of the six people, including Armstrong and his wife, who re-incorporated the church in 1946 when it moved its original headquarters from Oregon to California
.
Wolverton's son, editorial cartoonist Monte Wolverton
, draws in a style similar to his father's; the younger Wolverton also worked for The Plain Truth and contributed to Mad. Several cartoonists have been influenced by Wolverton's "spaghetti-and-meatball" style, including the hotrod stalwart Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer-artist
Comic book creator
A comic book creator is someone who creates a comic book or graphic novel.The production of a comic book by one of the major comic book companies in the U.S...
and professed "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet", whose many publishers included Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
.
His unique, humorously grotesque drawings have elicited a wide range of reactions. Cartoonist Will Elder
Will Elder
William Elder was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art, but is best known for a zany cartoon style that helped launch Harvey Kurtzman's Mad comic book in 1952....
said he found Wolverton's technique "outrageously inventive, defying every conventional standard yet upholding a very unusual sense of humor. He was a refreshing original," while Jules Feiffer
Jules Feiffer
Jules Ralph Feiffer is an American syndicated cartoonist, most notable for his long-run comic strip titled Feiffer. He has created more than 35 books, plays and screenplays...
stated, "I don't like his work. I think it's ugly".
He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991.
Early life and career
Born in Central PointCentral Point, Oregon
Central Point is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. The population was 17,165 as of July 1, 2009 The city shares its southern border with Medford and is a part of the Medford metropolitan area...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, he later moved to Vancouver
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
, Washington, and worked as a vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer and a cartoonist and reporter for the Portland News. At age 16 he sold his first nationally published work and began pitching comic strips to newspaper syndicates. His comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, Marco of Mars, was accepted by the Independent Syndicate of New York in 1929 but never distributed because it was deemed too similar to Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
, which debuted that year.
Disk-Eyes the Detective and Spacehawks were published in 1938 in Circus comics. In 1940, Spacehawk (a different and improved feature) made its debut in Target Comics (Novelty Press
Novelty Press
Novelty Press was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940–1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of The Saturday Evening Post...
), running for 30 episodes (262 pages) until 1942.
Other Wolverton characters include Scoop Scuttle, a newspaperman who ran as a backup feature in Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications
Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics....
' Daredevil Comics and Silver Streak Comics; and Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot in Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett . At the age of 16, Fawcett ran away from home to join the Army, and the Spanish-American War took him to the Philippines. Back in Minnesota, he became a...
' Comic Comics and Ibis The Invincible. "Bingbang Buster and his Horse Hedy" was a three-page backup story in Lev Gleason's Black Diamond Western #16-28 (1950-1952).
Powerhouse Pepper and Lena the Hyena
Wolverton's humor feature Powerhouse PepperPowerhouse Pepper
Powerhouse Pepper is a fictional, comic-book humor character who appeared in comics published in the 1940s by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics...
, about a superstrong if none-too-bright boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, appeared in various comic books published by Timely Comics
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
, the 1930s and 1940s precursor of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, from 1942 through 1952. The strip was characterized by alliterative, rhyming dialogue, screwball comedy and throwaway gags in background. The Timely titles, such as Joker Comics, Gay Comics and Tessie the Typist, debuted a number of his spin-off characters and features, including Flap Flipflop, The Flying Flash (who later appeared in Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...
' Jack in the Box #13), Leanbean Green, "Cartoon Crime Mystery" featuring Inspector Hector the Crime Detector, Doc Rockblock, "Picture Poems about Peculiar People", "Funny Boners", Dauntless Dawson, "Hothead Hotel", "Bedtime Bunk", "Foolish Faces" and more.
Five issues of a Powerhouse Pepper
Powerhouse Pepper
Powerhouse Pepper is a fictional, comic-book humor character who appeared in comics published in the 1940s by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics...
comic book were released in 1943 and 1948 by Timely, but not all the covers were by Wolverton and many interior pages were also not devoted to Wolverton strips. Later gag cartoon mags continued to use Powerhouse Pepper strips leftover in inventory throughout the 1970s, reprinting the same few stories endlessly.
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin , better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips Abbie an' Slats and Long Sam...
's Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished town of Dogpatch, Kentucky. Written and drawn by Al Capp , the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934 through...
newspaper strip where Lena remained unseen beneath an editorial note stating her face had been covered to protect readers. Capp, responding to popular demand, announced a contest for artists to submit their interpretations to be judged by Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
. Among 500,000 entries, Wolverton's was the winner; it appeared in a Li'l Abner daily and Life magazine. Wolverton's fame briefly led to Life and Pageant
Pageant (magazine)
Pageant was a 20th-century monthly magazine published in the United States from November 1944 until February 1977. Printed in a digest size format, it became Coronet magazine's leading competition, although it aimed for comparison to Reader's Digest....
printing his caricatures. The Lena portrait typified the unique "spaghetti and meatballs" style he employed regularly thereafter.
In the 1950s, Wolverton produced 17 comic-book horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
and science-fiction stories for Marvel and other comic-book publishers, including one story by author Daniel Keyes
Daniel Keyes
Daniel Keyes is an American author best known for his Hugo award-winning short story and Nebula award-winning novel Flowers for Algernon. Keyes was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2000.-Early life and career:Keyes was born in Brooklyn, New...
, which led to him being "hailed for creating uniquely grotesque monsters". Among the most celebrated of these tales was "The Brain Bats of Venus" for Mister Mystery #7 and "Where Monsters Dwell" in Marvel's Adventures Into Terror #7, the title of which was later used for a 1970s Marvel reprint series.
Mad
Wolverton first appeared in MadMad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
with a single panel in #10, drew Mad Reader! for #11 and also contributed an iconic Lena-like image to the cover of #11, which was billed as the "Beautiful Girl of the Month". Mocking the glossy cover images of Life Magazine
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, Wolverton's hag was the first magazine parody cover image on Mad. Although Wolverton contributed sporadically to the title—appearing in just nine issues over two decades—his work was memorable enough that, in 2009, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
dubbed him "The Michelangelo of Mad Magazine". E.C.'s other humor title, Panic, edited by Al Feldstein
Al Feldstein
Albert B. Feldstein is an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine Mad. Since retiring from Mad, Feldstein has concentrated on American paintings of Western wildlife...
(who later became Mads editor for 30 years) also used Wolverton's art on a Panic cover, though publisher William M. Gaines was not a fan of Wolverton's work. Other Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...
rip-offs from other companies such as Cracked, From Here To Insanity, Crazy, Man, Crazy and Cockeyed, also featured Wolverton's work as did an issue of Ballyhoo.
In 1956, Wolverton illustrated Herbert Armstrong's apocalyptic booklet 1975 in Prophecy and later, The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last, offered free on Armstrong's radio show The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow
The World Tomorrow is a now-defunct radio and television half-hour program which had been sponsored by the Radio Church of God which ran from 1934 to 1994...
. In 1958, Wolverton began writing and illustrating The Bible Story, also titled The Story of Man, covering the entire history of the Old Testament, serialized in The Plain Truth
The Plain Truth
The Plain Truth is a U.S.-based magazine founded by Herbert W. Armstrong, who also founded the Radio Church of God , Ambassador College, and The World Tomorrow radio and television programs. Herbert W...
and later published in six volumes.
Later career
In 1968, Wolverton did the Ugly Posters series for ToppsTopps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
, displaying his trademark twisted headshots.
In 1973, he returned to mainstream comics, illustrating several covers for Joe Orlando
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...
's satiric Plop!
Plop!
Plop!, "The New Magazine of Weird Humor!", was a comic book anthology published by DC Comics in the mid 1970s. It falls into the horror / humor genre. There were 24 issues in all and the series ran from Sept./Oct. 1973 to Nov./Dec. 1976.-Contents:...
at DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Comix Book
Comix Book
Comix Book was an underground comic book series published from 1974–1976, originally by Marvel Comics. It was the first underground comic to be published by a mainstream publisher. Edited by Denis Kitchen, Comix Book featured work by such underground luminaries as Justin Green, Kim Deitch, Trina...
, a joint production of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and Denis Kitchen
Denis Kitchen
Denis Kitchen is an American underground cartoonist, publisher, author, and agent from Wisconsin, and the founder of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.-Early life:...
's Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
, featured two uninspired strips by Wolverton, "Calvin" and "Weird Creatures". Underground cartoonists half Wolverton's age (or a third) were alongside the old master. His style had greatly influenced underground/alternative cartoonists like Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
, Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton
Gilbert Shelton is an American cartoonist and underground comix artist. He is the creator of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, Wonder Wart-Hog, Philbert Desanex, Not Quite Dead, and the cover art to The Grateful Dead's 1978 album Shakedown Street.He graduated from Lamar High...
, Jay Lynch
Jay Lynch
Jay Lynch is an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his Bijou Funnies and other titles. His work is sometimes signed Jayzey Lynch. He has contributed to Mad, and in 2008, he expanded into the children's book field.-Early life and career:Born in Orange,...
, XNO, Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge
Peter Bagge is an American cartoonist. He is the creator of Buddy Bradley, Hate, Neat Stuff, Martini Baton, and Sweatshop, Apocalypse Nerd and Other Lives. His stories often use black humor and exaggerated cartooning to dramatize the reduced expectations of middle-class American youth...
, and others.
Wolverton's return was cut short by a stroke in 1974. He died in Vancouver, Washington, four years later.
Personal life
Wolverton was baptized into Herbert W. Armstrong'sHerbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God in the late 1930s, as well as Ambassador College in 1946, and was an early pioneer of radio and tele-evangelism, originally taking to the airwaves in the 1930s from Eugene, Oregon...
Radio Church of God in 1941 and was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
as an elder in 1943. As a board member of that church, he was one of the six people, including Armstrong and his wife, who re-incorporated the church in 1946 when it moved its original headquarters from Oregon to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Wolverton's son, editorial cartoonist Monte Wolverton
Monte Wolverton
Monte Wolverton is an American editorial cartoonist who is best known for his satiric pages in Mad, his Weekly Wolvertoon website and his contributions as the managing editor of The Plain Truth....
, draws in a style similar to his father's; the younger Wolverton also worked for The Plain Truth and contributed to Mad. Several cartoonists have been influenced by Wolverton's "spaghetti-and-meatball" style, including the hotrod stalwart Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.
Books
Books by Wolverton or collecting his work include:- The Bible Story (1982)
- Wolvertoons: The Art of Basil Wolverton (1990) (ISBN 1-56097-022-7)
- Wolverton in Space (1997) (ISBN 1-56971-238-7)
- Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper (2001) (ISBN 1-56097-148-7)
- The Basil Wolverton Reader Vol.1 (2003) (ISBN 1-56685-017-7)
- The Basil Wolverton Reader Vol.2 (2004) (ISBN 1-56685-027-4)
- Basil Wolverton: Agony & Ecstasy (2007) (ISBN 1-56685-041-X) (reprints from The Bible Story)
- The Original Art of Basil Wolverton (2007) (ISBN 978-0-86719-687-0)
- The Wolverton Bible (2009) (ISBN 978-1-56097-964-7)