gjdrkzlxcbwq comics

Glenn Bray & Basil Wolverton (1973)
This digest-size comic features a book packed with full-page portraits and a few multi-panel gag sequences by the unrivaled leader of grotesque illustrations, Basil Wolverton. Wolverton, who passed away in 1978 at the age of 69, was a one-of-a-kind artist whose style is so unique, you instantly recognize it whenever you spot it. I personally like the phrase “spaghetti and meatballs” to generally describe the style of his convoluted, outrageously grotesque drawings.

It took more than a decade of effort in the 1920s and ’30s before Wolverton broke into the comic book biz, which he finally did with Powerhouse Pepper, a humor feature about a superstrong yet super dumb boxer that appeared in various comic books published by Timely Comics from 1942 through 1952 (76 episodes, 539 pages). Powerhouse Pepper was an exceptional screwball comedy series, featuring Wolverton’s signature rhyming dialogue and his influential use of throwaway gags in the backgrounds.

In the ’50s and ’60s, Wolverton’s work appeared in Mad, Panic, Cracked, and Crazy, among other humor cartoon magazines. In 1973 and ’74, he illustrated a bunch of terrific covers for Joe Orlando’s Plop! at DC Comics. He suffered a stroke in 1974 that basically ended his career and he died four years later. His style influenced many cartoonists, including underground and alternative creators like Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Jay Lynch, Mike Roden, XNO, Peter Bagge and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, among many. Wolverton’s son, Monte Wolverton, draws in a style similar to his father’s and has fashioned his own successful career.

Gjdrkzlxcbwq Comics is not really an underground comic in the strictest sense, but it is often classified as one and, unlike some others that get dumped into the underground’s body of work, it honors us with its presence. In 1991, Wolverton was posthumously inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame.

Basil Wolverton – 1, 3-36 • Suzanne Williams – 1(cover design & color)

2 – About the artist • 3 – Culture Quickie • 9 – Other stuff • 20 – Numbskulls in the News • 21 – Other stuff • 36 – Here You See a Goofy Type