Happy Birthday Bernie Wrightson!

We are remembering Bernie Wrightson on his birthday and celebrating his life and artwork! Wrightson’s first comic book work was with House of Mystery #179 (1969). In 1971, Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson collaborated to create the Swamp Thing in House of Secrets #92. The following year, Wein and Wrightson produced Swamp Thing #1 that introduced Alec Holland and Matt Cable. Abigail Arcane first appeared in Swamp Thing #3 (1973). Wes Craven wrote and directed the Swamp Thing (1982) movie. There was a sequel with The Return of Swamp Thing (1989). A live action series was on the USA Network starting in 1990 and lasting three seasons. Dick Durock played Swamp Thing in the movies and series. An animated series followed in 1991. Another live action series started in 2019 on the DC Universe streaming channel before moving to the CW network. 

Captain Sternn was one of Wrightson’s well known characters introduced in the June 1980 issue of Heavy Metal. He was voiced by Eugene Levy in the Captain Sternn segment of the animated movie, Heavy Metal (1981). The horror anthology movie, Creepshow (1982), was directed by George A. Romero with a screenplay by Stephen King. One of the greatest comic book works is Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (1983) with 47 illustrations by Bernie Wrightson that took him seven years to complete. It was republished as a hardcover book by Dark Horse Comics in 2008. Wrightston drew the graphic novel based on the film. Cycle of the Werewolf (1984) was a Stephen King novella featured illustrations from Wrightson. It was adapted into a film, Silver Bullet (1985). In 1985, Wrightson and Jim Starlin produced the comic book, Heroes for Hope starring the X-Men, to raise funds for African famine. 

The following year, the duo produced Heroes Against Hunger for DC Comics. Starlin and Wrightson worked on the 1987 Marvel Comics graphic novel, The Incredible Hulk and the Thing. In 1990, Wrightson illustrated Stephen King’s The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition. It was adapted into two mini-series in 1994 and a CBS All-Access series in 2020. Starlin and Wrightson worked on two comic book mini-series in 1988; The Weird and Batman: The Cult. Wrightson returned to Captain Sternn writing and drawing Captain Sternn Running Out of Time mini-series for Kitchen Sink. Ron Marz teamed up with Wrightson on the Batman/Aliens limited series in 1997 and also a second series in 2002-2003. Steve Niles was the writer with art by Wrightson for the mini-series, Frankenstein Alive, Alive! Three issues were completed in 2012 and 2014. Kelley Jones completed the artwork for the fourth issue in 2018. Bernie Wrightson died in 2017 and his work continues to inspire artists, authors, filmmakers and fans.  

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