Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf illustration - "November" by Bernie Wrightson (1982)

Alright, story time! I have been looking for a Bernie Wrightson piece from a Stephen King book for many years now and they have always been simply more than I could afford to spend. But a piece from COTW or Dark Tower was my goal. Over the last few years I have been working through a "bucket list" of art & artists that I want something from before the prices get so high that it is completely impossible. Because I have been in this hobby for so long, I have been doing a lot of trading with art I have had for years that has also gone up. So I have managed to get several dream pieces over time in some larger trade deals. This is one of those pieces where it came up available so I first started asking around if people wanted to buy certain things from me to see if I could even raise this much money and it turned out that I could. So I reached out to the owner and worked out a deal. I was super glad that he was willing to work with me, so I sold the art to pay for this and mailed off the check. So to me this was just another large trade deal, as it cost me art to get the art. So that is how I justify it to myself lol.

This incredible Bernie Wrightson illustration is from Stephen King’s Cycle of the Werewolf novel, published back in 1983. Bernie did this one in 1982, just after he finished his legendary Frankenstein illustrations for Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. For Cycle of the Werewolf, Bernie did a b&w illustration for each month (this is November) that showed various shots around the small town, a color painting for the wolf scene per “month” and a small b&w image at the end of each chapter. These b&w scenery shots from around the small town are fantastic and peak Bernie art, and I wanted this one specifically because it’s an amazing old cemetery scene rather than just houses or forest or cliffs and such around town. In my mind, the ideal piece needed the fantastic linework AND something a bit more macabre than the rest and this is the most macabre plate Bernie did for the book. So I preferred a cemetery scene and fell in love with this one. This is some of his finest ink work and from what many consider to be his peak period and I am thrilled to add it to my collection. :)

Here are the details from the listing:

Description:
-Artist: Bernie Wrightson (1948-2017)
-Publisher: Land of Enchantment
-Publication Date: 1983
-Title: Cycle of the Werewolf (written by Stephen King).
-Piece: Title plate for November.
-Medium: Pen and ink (over graphite/pencil?) on art board.
-Signed: Yes. Signed "Wrightson 1982" in lower left of image.
-Dimensions: 18" wide by 12" tall (image area); 24.625" wide by 19.125" tall (framed).
-Description: Cycle of the Werewolf (later made into a movie titled "Silver Bullet") is a horror novel written by Steven King. The story of a werewolf attacking the residents of a small Maine town is presented in twelve chapters, each corresponding to a month of the year (and a full moon). Bernie Wrightson illustrated the novel, creating three pieces of art for each chapter/month (a color painting depicting the action of the chapter, a large black and white "title" illustration which seeks to capture the feel of the month, and a small illustration, showing the aftermath of the events described, at the end of each chapter). This is the original artwork for the large black and white "title" illustration for the month of November. The scene depicts a wintry graveyard at night, with snow covering the ground, stones and monuments. Wrightson perfectly captures the feel of a cold and still November night, with the light of the full moon throwing long shadows from the stones. Wrightson paid homage to two of the 20th century's greatest pen and ink illustrators (and two of his major artistic influences) by including stones reading "John [I know, it should have been Joseph] Clement Coll" and "Franklin Booth" ("Fran" and "Boo" are partially visible on the stone directly behind the central monument). He also provides a tip of the hat to Stephen King's earlier novel, 'Salem's Lot, with a Hubert Marsten engraved stone.

COTW was Wrightson's first major project following his epic work illustrating Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which is generally deemed to be among (if not THE) greatest horror illustrations of the 20th century. The pen and ink work here is nothing less than stunning. Wrightson was at the peak of his artistic powers, and it shows. There is no white-out or other corrections to the art. Simply breathtaking pen work. If you've always wanted a classic Wrightson pen and ink illustration from his peak artistic period, but could not afford a Frankenstein plate, this is the one for you.

And it was..... :)