"Jenifer" unused page 1, Creepy #63
Artist: Bernie Wrightson (All)
17 Comments - 8,241 Views - 5 Likes
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DescriptionBruce Jones and Bernie Wrightson’s “Jenifer” is the greatest horror comic story of all time.Disagree? I've included the complete ten page masterpiece in additional images for you to revisit or… *choke*… discover for the first time. Be forewarned: "Jenifer" is not a tale for children. If you are a child, you should not read "Jenifer." I was a child when I first read "Jenifer." It's been forty-three years since I purchased Creepy #63 from the newsstand and, aside from the vivid nightmares steadily pushing me toward madness, I feel OK. Allow me to reference my earlier codicil. As a kid, I was obsessed with monsters and horror movies. If you're like me (and I know I am), you watched the movies, read the comics, glued the model kits, hung the posters, studied the books and magazines, and played with the little rubbery action figures and toys. However, there was always one last step to full immersion in the monster craze: becoming a monster. Sure, I prowled around after dark on full moon nights, darting from shadow to shadow, hands curled into claws and lips contorted over snarling imaginary werewolf fangs (I actually did this). But, taking my fandom to the next level meant doing something I could only dream about, but never afford. It meant getting hold of a spectacular over-the-head monster mask from Don Post Studios, which made dead-on replicas of movie monsters that shamed anything I'd ever attempted for Halloween. They also sold matching hands to complete the transformation from kid to convincing monster. Pardon me while I have a strange interlude. I first actually saw the Don Post movie monster masks at a high-end toy store that sold Dinky toys and Corgi cars and other stuff that I would not be getting for Christmas. The masks were lined up on a high shelf behind a counter and protected by employees who knew you couldn't afford the $39.95 price tag just by looking at you, so don't even ask to see them up close, kid. The masks were awe-inspiring. Eventually my friend Josh (from a gainfully employed and intact family) got the Creature from the Black Lagoon mask. He sometimes wore it swimming in our local public pool, and would slowly surface his head from the water behind unsuspecting swimmers of all ages. The full-head mask was so convincing that the result was absolutely hilarious every time. Man, I am prefacing the hell out of this, here! Publisher James Warren made a deal to market the Don Post masks in the back of his black and white magazines. So, every time I went to the newsstand to buy comics, I also pored through Creepy and Eerie, mostly just to look at the full page ads with all the Don Post movie monster masks. I knew that the closest I would ever come to my dream was to buy one of the Warren magazines, so I could look at the advertisement and fantasize about owning the Wolfman mask and hands. However, in 1974 you could buy four regular comics for the cost of one Warren magazine. So, seasons of newsstand loitering came and went. Armed with a dollar for my tenth birthday, I flipped through the pages of Creepy #63 to find the monster mask ads and was immobilized by Bruce Jones and Bernie Wrightson’s “Jenifer," the greatest horror comic story of all time. One look into Jenifer's opaque, repugnant yet hypnotic eyes and there was no question that this must be my Warren magazine. I was one more in a succession of hapless males to be mesmerized and rendered helpless by the power of Jenifer. What kind of sick, negligent news vendor would sell this unsettling tale of obsession, rape and cannibalism to a child of ten? Where was my trigger warning? Jones and Wrightson's story was enthralling and deeply disturbing. It's a bravura work, from the pacing and dynamics to the brilliant staging and masterful rendering. Bernie Wrightson's casual genius was in full flower at this point. Bruce Jones drew on the mythological child-devouring Lamia for inspiration, but the real horror of his story is psychological, where free will fights subrational compulsion for ascendancy and loses, with tragic, nightmarish results. The inexorable cycle of mayhem that bookends "Jenifer" awakened me to the Möbius strip of relentless horror that is our apportioned lot in this grim parade of sorrow, and I will always have Bruce Jones and Bernie Wrightson to thank for removing the clouds of innocence from my young mind in 1974. Oh yeah! I don't know why Bernie decided to forsake this first draft and undertake a slightly different layout for the splash page. This art is on heavy board, and doesn't look like one of the prelims to me. Perhaps he started inking the Uncle Creepy head and decided that an ink wash technique would require a different tonal balance. I'll try to find out! Postscript: the joke was on me, as Creepy #63 didn't even have the full page ad with all the Don Post movie monster masks. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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Mark Yanko
Member Since 2009
Posted on 1/15/2017
Gosh, this is so nice, I have to wonder why Berni rejected it.
steve staszower 
Member Since 2005
Posted on 1/15/2017
Congrats!!! And don't look into her big sad eyes...
Tom Coker
Member Since 2005
Posted on 1/15/2017
Cool to see Berni's preliminary page layout. Love the inked Creepy head. Maybe this head lead to his masthead creations for other Warren stories?
Mark Levy
Member Since 2004
Posted on 1/15/2017
Wow - makes me want to see an unpublished Berni pencils portfolio!
John B
Member Since 2004
Posted on 1/15/2017
Fascinating to see full pencils like this. You'd think, inking himself they'd be looser. It's always great to see the process. I've got some loose pencil stuff by Bernie, but nothing this finished. So cool.
artless artmore
Member Since 2013
Posted on 1/17/2017
Beautiful! And so fascinating to see the creative process behind my favorite Wrightson story of all time. I could study this all day
Robbie Cook
Member Since 2006
Posted on 1/19/2017
Geez- this is like peeking over Berni's shoulder during the process! I actually like it better than the finished piece!!!
Brian Boggs
Member Since 2003
Posted on 1/20/2017
Absolutely agree, best horror story ever. "Clarice" comes in second.
Roland Velina
Member Since 2013
Posted on 11/1/2018
this is imho the closest one can get to bernis real artwork!
thanks so much for sharing!
Bob Diamond
Member Since 2020
1 - Posted on 8/24/2020
I remember those latex mask ads, couldn't afford one either, but always dreamed of having one for Halloween. Great page and great backstory.
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