Home To Stay!

I was late to the Ray Bradbury experience. I got hold of a copy of The Martian Chronicles when I was young, but it seemed just okay. In later years I got hold of more of his work and have come to appreciate him better. But truth told, I like Bradbury's stories best when they were adapted to comics form, and no one did it better than the guys at E.C. Comics, though they did it surreptitiously at first. Home to Stay! is an oversized collection from Fantagraphics of all the stories of Bradbury's adapted by William Gaines, Al Feldstein, and an amazing array of artists. 

In the early 50's comics were coming under fire, but the heat was not such that a writer of Bradbury's status considered it a problem to be associated with the format. In fact, he was a lover of comics and so after he was tipped off that some of his stories might have been lifted and altered ever so slightly, he  wrote a letter to the offices of Entertaining Comics and reminded them that they had "forgotten" to send him a check for fifty bucks for the secondary rights of the stories involved. (His letter is reproduced in this collection.) He then went on to suggest that EC and he enter a formal arrangement to bring his stories into comics form. And soon he had his fifty bucks and a new outlet to attract readers. 

EC lost no time in celebrating the new arrangement and the badge above soon began appearing on various issues of their comics when a Bradbury story was within. But after a few years, the war on comics became a bit too hot and Bradbury ask that his name no longer be used on the covers, though they continued to adapt his stories. It strikes me odd now that the writer of Fahrenheit 451 would wilt in the face of such a tirade, but as we see even today, it's hard to stand up for what's right, even when you know it to be true. Eventually EC folded and the adaptations stopped. But now we can enjoy them all over again. 

Here are the covers of the comics in which Bradbury's stories appeared. Few of the covers actually related to his particular contribution and I've noted when that's the case. 

(for the story "He Walked Among Us" based on "The Man")

(for the story "A Sound of Thunder")

(for the story "I, Rocket")

(for the story "The Screaming Woman", the only cover which features a Bradbury story with the badge)

(1965 Ballantine Books collection with Frank Frazetta cover)

(1966 Ballantine Books collection with a Frank Frazetta cover)

It was wise in the long run for Bradbury to allow EC to adapt his stories. It saved him the cost of lengthy and uncertain legal proceedings, and it proclaimed his name to comics fans for all time and spread his fame and influence. I enjoyed reading these stories, especially those rendered by Wally Wood and Joe Orlando. But other artists such as Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, Will Elder, George Evans, Graham Engels, Jack Kamen, Bernie Krigstein, John Severin, and Al Williamson are well represented. Whether you get to these stories in this collection or in any of the other EC reprints from across the decades, I wish you well. 

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Frankenstein Day!

Berni Wrightson was born on this date in 1948. Wrightson made his mark in the fanzines and later at DC where he brought a stylishness to his work on the ghost books. He went on to do outstanding for Warren Magazines as well. He's likely most famous for his breakthrough work on DC's Swamp Thing. His epic work though was his detailed illustration of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein is one of the most influential novels in history. It's impact on culture is enormous generating plays and adaptations almost from the very beginning in the 19th Century. In more modern times adapting the story to film has been almost a requisite. There are countless film adaptations of the story from Edison's early attempt in the teens to the iconic Universal version in 1931 which along with its sequels and imitators catapulted the story into myth. I've read the novel a half dozen times at least and taught it in school many times as well. It's a lush story of one man's startling obsession to conquer death by bringing the reassembled remains of many dead back to some sort of shambolic existence. It is the story of a man's obsession to conquer nature and the cancel even the thought of God from the equation of man's time on this planet and beyond. The novel is a cornerstone of both science fiction and horror and more besides. And it was the lifelong love of another artist, a chap named Berni Wrightson. 

As an artist who was often called on to illustrate horror tales, Wrightson did many takes on the Frankenstein myth such as "The Patchwork Man" in Swamp Thing and "The Muck Monster" for Eerie Magazine.  But it's here, illustrating the original Shelley narrative that we see how much he is ideal for the work. It was a true of passion, something he worked on between paying jobs for Marvel and DC and others. It took seven years to create the artwork which would serve to draw the reader into the world of Frankenstein more completely. As can be seen readily Berni lavished time and effort into each of the carefully rendered pages, each capturing a single moment from the novel. Reading the novel again for the first time in several years I was struck by the venal nature of Frankenstein, his absolute self-absorption is stunning but alas exceedingly modern. If anything Wrightson elevates him to a more heroic status with his idealized presentations. 

The art was first published alongside the text by Marvel in one of their oversized graphic novels. I missed out back then and had long wanted to behold this material, to hold it in my hand. Dark Horse at long last gave me that chance when they published the book again. 

The art itself is magnificent and as it turns out stunningly expensive. The original of the image above (seen in its entirety below) sold recently for a cool million dollars. 

Below are just a few of the magnificent images which Wrightson produced for his favorite work of literature. He comes close to making it mine too. 

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