Swamp Thing #8 Page.19 (1974)

Wow man! It is easy to understand you are over the moon... who wouldn't be? It is a superb page. Huge congrats. 

MONSTROUS PAGE ;)

Thank you so much! It means a lot coming from a collector with an amazing collection!

Now that's a beauty!  Full mastery of the artform from Wrightson who incorporates skill and vision for Swamp Thing.

Wow, this is a Bernie Wrightson one-and-done, if ever there was one. That inset panel with Swamp Thing is priceless and the full-page splash of The Lurker in Tunnel 13 knocks me out. Horrible (in a good way).  It is always nice to know that a comic creator is a sociable and helpful person too. 

Thank you so much! Definitely a one and done for me! Really loved this issue; it was when Bernie did an interview with me for a school project that I first learned learned each Swampy issue was playing with a certain horror arche-type and that this issue was inspired by Lovecraft.  

I am with you there as when I first read that issue as a reprint back in the late 1970s I did not realise it was an homage to the Cthulhu mythos as I had no knowledge of Lovecraft (except for Bernie’s Cool Air adaptation he did for Warren Publishing). You are aware that the ending of this issue is left open but I don’t know if you have seen M’Nagalah makes a return in Challengers of the Unknown 82 which was drawn by Mike Nasser doing his very best Neal Adams impression but that comic is notable in that Nasser drew a panel featuring a full-length shot of Swampy and a caption underneath reads that Bernie inked it which I thought that was a great mark of respect for him – that DC got him to come back to do that; it’s a pity they burned him on any other form of revival of the character. It really is good to hear that Bernie was so friendly and helpful when you interviewed him. Everyone says he was the absolute best when you met him, so humble when he needn’t have been with all he had achieved, and I am super-jealous that you did get to speak to him at length. He’s a great comics creator hero of mine.

I actually just found out very recently that M'Nagalah made a future appearance; I was suprised. I only discovered while refreshing myself on this issue and then later stumbled on the info searching through a wiki. With that said Ive never read that Challengers issue and didn't know that Bernie came to ink that panel. Thats real awsome info; thank you so much for sharing!

Yeah it really was a shame when DC shut him down on some of his plans like I believe a Swampy portfolio set was one: which a lot of the illustrations that were to be a part of it were stunning.

Yes I can attest that he was a very kind gentleman, and very true about how humble he was from what I remember about our convo. Definitely my favorite interaction I've ever had with a creator.

Thank you for your reply. Umm, I was wondering if your school project interview with Mr Wrightson was ever posted online. Always interested in what he had to say and it would have been especially insightful as I believe by then he had retired from any drawing owing to health issues.

Thanks for showing interest in the interview! I can link you to where I posted a transcript of the conversation. Haha unfortunately I dont know if youll find any new info as I was quite a novice back then and asked probably the most typical questions haha. I think Bernie was drawing Frankenstein Alive, Alive during this time and it was the following year or two he got rather ill. Also this interview was published in the first issue of a fanzine called The Holland Files I believe, if you happen to stumble upon a copy haha. Link here though for the transcript... https://sequentialscience.blogspot.com/2012/11/talking-comics-w-bernie-wrightson.html 

Thank you so much for this link to your interview. I really enjoyed reading it. I can understand why your school would not run it and it was not because of its quality but because it was so specialised; Bernie Wrightson is rightly recognised as one of the greats amongst comics fans – everyone knows him – but I remember that flurry of questions that circulated around the Internet when an episode of The Walking Dead was dedicated to Bernie shortly after he died. Regular people, by which I mean comics-Muggles, were wondering who he was. Anyway, thanks for asking the questions that any true fan would. I have always wondered what he felt about the Alan Moore issues, or if he had even read them as I think amongst horror comics fans that was always a dream project: An Alan Moore-written, Bernie Wrightson-drawn one-off issue of Swampy. I can understand how he did not keep up with all the other reboots (eg Scott Snyder’s) because as you get older (or so I am finding) you want to spend less time on the not-so-important things as you know your time is precious because it is limited. Those Frankenstein Alive, Alive! pages are incredible for the amount of work he put into them with the grey tones. It is a shame he did not get to finish it, which is no slight to Kelley Jones because I believe he was handpicked to take over but how can you follow Bernie Wrightson? Congrats on getting that interview and what sort of person Bernie was really comes across: helpful, friendly, self-effacing. I hope you don’t mind if I put a hotlink below to the article (you can obviously delete this entire message if you don’t approve of the hotlink). You should not hide your light under a bushel and you have every right to be very proud of the interview. It is not every day that you get to rap with one of the greatest-ever illustrators. Thank you again.

https://sequentialscience.blogspot.com/2012/11/talking-comics-w-bernie-wrightson.html

Thank you for reading! I'm very glad you enjoyed it! I'm happy that you were able to get some new info on a few things from it. I also appreciate you posting the hotlink haha I was not aware I could do that. I also appreciate this conversation with you; enjoyed reading your insight very much. I just went back and read your description/story of your Wrightson Swampy commission and enjoyed it very much as well (will be leaving a comment on it soon). Again, I thank you for all the kind words regarding the interview and I completely agree with all you mentioned regarding Mr. Wrightson and his work. He too is my favorite artist hands down for his art and my interaction with him left such a big impact on me and my love for this hobby and genre.   

Firstly, sorry for misnaming the word used for clickable text. It is actually “hyperlink” – my bad, as you youngsters often say (and as we old-timers practically never say). It is funny but like you I never used that hyperlink feature Bill Cox built into the text attributes, and it was only when fellow British CAF member Paul Roach a few weeks back drew it to my attention by hyperlinking a reference to a comment I made about an artwork in someone else’s gallery that I thought I should give it a try. It is always gratifying to know that certain artists whose work one loves are not only experts in their creative fields but also nice people as well because they do not always go hand in hand, and there are certain artists and writers who are notoriously not nice people, and even criminal, which does leave a bad taste in one’s mouth if one loves their work. Thank you for sharing your interaction with Bernie.

Congratulations on the upgrade, Dave, it's a beauty and you finally have Swamp Thing himself on it as well!

Awesome page showcasing Wrightson's mastery with a brush.

Congrats buddy! 

Nice Swamp Thing page with good action & motion! ~Congratulations!

Perfectly pure Wrightson! Pulsating page!

Man that's a good lookin' Wrightson page! Stunning actually, and the big Swampy image is wonderful. Congrats!

Thank you so much sir! It means a lot coming from a fellow Swampy/Wrightson connoisseur with such an amazing collection! 

Outstanding! Huge congrats!

So happy for you Dave!!! Owning any Wrightson published Swamp Thing is special but owning one with the title character himself and with such interesting surrounding visuals and a unique hybrid panel page yet splash at the same time layout makes this top notch and a jaw dropping experience to pore over. Love it!!!! Huge congrats man.

Thanks so much Kavi; I really appreciate the kind words! It's true with my previous page it already was a dream and if it wasnt for things lining up so well I would of been happy to keep it. This though felt almost untounchable for me; im just so estatic that it worked out. Thank you again and as always hope all is well! 

That's a sweet page - reminds me of the cover image too!

...now that is something!!

Superb

So glad that you were able to add such a meaningful piece to your collection. Congrats, it's beautiful! 

Wow, what a page! Splendid as a whole and in every detail... A mastergul lessonnin storytelling and fine arts!

Lovely - the viewer really is immersed in the scene. 

great page!

Superb Swamp Thing page by Bernie Wrightson! Love this enormous splash of an underground cavern caving in. Glad that Bernie included a panel with Swampie on it. Nobody drew Swamp Thing better than BW. Fantastic pick-up, congrats.