| Basil Wolverton | |
|---|---|
 Basil Wolverton at his drawing board, c. 1950 | |
| Born | (1909-07-09)July 9, 1909 Central Point, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | December 31, 1978(1978-12-31) (aged 69) Vancouver, Washington, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer,Penciller,Inker,Letterer |
Notable works | Powerhouse Pepper,Spacehawk |
| Awards | Jack Kirby Hall of Fame |
| Relatives | Monte Wolverton (son) |
Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978)[1] was an Americancartoonist and illustrator known for his intricately detailedgrotesques of bizarre or misshapen people. Wolverton was described as "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet." His many publishers includedMarvel Comics andMad magazine.
His drawings have elicited a wide range of reactions. CartoonistWill 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." ButJules Feiffer stated, "I don't like his work. I think it's ugly."[2]
He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry'sJack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991.
Born inCentral Point, Oregon, he later moved toVancouver,Washington, and worked as avaudeville performer and a cartoonist and reporter for thePortland News. At age 16 he sold his first nationally published work and began pitching comic strips to newspaper syndicates. Hiscomic strip,Marco of Mars, was accepted by the Independent Syndicate of New York in 1929 but never distributed because it was deemed too similar toBuck Rogers, which debuted that year.[3]
Disk-Eyes the Detective andSpacehawks were published in 1938 inCircus comics. In 1940,Spacehawk (a different and improved feature) made its debut inTarget Comics, published byNovelty Press. It ran for 30 episodes (262 pages) until 1942.[3]
Other Wolverton characters include Scoop Scuttle, a newspaperman who ran as a backup feature inLev Gleason Publications'Daredevil Comics andSilver Streak Comics; and Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot inFawcett Publications'Comic Comics andIbis The Invincible. "Bingbang Buster and his Horse Hedy" was a three-page backup story in Lev Gleason'sBlack Diamond Western #16–28 (1950–1952).[4]
Wolverton's humor featurePowerhouse Pepper, about a superstrong if none-too-brightboxer, appeared in various comic books published byTimely Comics, the 1930s and 1940s precursor ofMarvel Comics, from 1942 through 1952.[4] The strip was characterized by alliterative, rhyming dialogue,screwball comedy andthrowaway gags in background. The Timely titles, such asJoker Comics,Gay Comics andTessie the Typist, debuted a number of his spin-off characters and features, including Flap Flipflop, The Flying Flash (who later appeared inCharlton 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 aPowerhouse Pepper comic book were released in 1943 and 1948 by Timely,[4] but not all the covers were by Wolverton and many interior pages were also not devoted to Wolverton strips.
In 1946, Wolverton won a contest to depict "Lena the Hyena", the world's ugliest woman, a running gag inAl Capp'sLi'l Abner newspaper strip where Lena remained unseen beneath an editorial note stating her face had been covered to protect readers.[5] Capp, responding to popular demand, announced a contest for artists to submit their interpretations. Among 500,000 entries, Wolverton's was the winner;[6] it appeared in aLi'l Abner daily andLife magazine. Wolverton's fame briefly led toLife andPageant printing his caricatures. The Lena portrait typified the unique "spaghetti-and-meatballs school of design" style he employed regularly thereafter.[3]
In the 1950s, Wolverton produced 17 comic-bookhorror and science-fiction stories for Marvel and other comic-book publishers, including one story by authorDaniel Keyes, which led to him being "hailed for creating uniquely grotesque monsters".[7] Among these tales were "The Brain Bats of Venus" forMister Mystery #7 and "Where Monsters Dwell" in Marvel'sAdventures into Terror #7,[4] the title of which was later used for a 1970s Marvel reprint series.
Wolverton first appeared inMad with a single panel in #10, drewMad 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".[4] 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".[8] E.C.'s other humor title,Panic, edited byAl Feldstein (who later becameMad's editor for 30 years) also used Wolverton's art on aPanic cover, though publisher William M. Gaines was not a fan of Wolverton's work. Other humor magazines from other companies such asCracked,From Here to Insanity andCockeyed also featured Wolverton's work, as did an issue ofBallyhoo.
In 1968, Wolverton did theUgly Posters series oftrading cards forTopps, displaying his trademark twisted headshots.[9]
In 1973, he returned to mainstream comics, illustrating several covers forJoe Orlando's satiricPlop! atDC Comics.Comix Book, a joint production ofMarvel Comics andDenis Kitchen'sKitchen Sink Press, featured two strips by Wolverton, "Calvin" and "Weird Creatures".
In 1934, Wolverton married his Vancouver High School classmate Honor Lovette (class of 1927). They remained married until his death.[10][11]
Wolverton was baptized intoHerbert W. Armstrong'sRadio Church of God in 1941 and wasordained as anelder in 1943. As a board member of that church, he was one of the six people, including Armstrong and his wife, who reincorporated the church in 1946 when it moved from its original headquarters in Oregon to California.[12][better source needed]
Wolverton died on December 31, 1978, at age 69.[1]
Wolverton's son, editorial cartoonistMonte Wolverton, has worked forThe Plain Truth and contributed toMad.[volume & issue needed]
Books by Wolverton or collecting his work include:
Used courtesy of Zondervan Bible Publishers
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