Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978)
at the

Lambiek Comiclopedia Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

Archived
from the original on February 21, 2019. was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and illustrator known for his intricately detailed grotesques of bizarre or misshapen people. Wolverton was described as "Producer of Preposterous Pictures of Peculiar People who Prowl this Perplexing Planet." His many publishers included Marvel Comics and '' Mad'' magazine. His drawings have elicited a wide range of reactions. Cartoonist Will Elder said he found Wolverton's technique "outrageously inventive, defying every conventional standard yet upholding a very unusual sense of humor. He was a refreshing original." But Jules Feiffer stated, "I don't like his work. I think it's ugly." He was posthumously inducted into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991.

Biography

Early life and career

Born in Central Point, Oregon, he later moved to Vancouver, Washington, and worked as a vaudeville performer and a cartoonist and reporter for the ''Portland News''. At age 16 he sold his first nationally published work and began pitching comic strips to newspaper syndicates. His

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

, ''Marco of Mars,'' was accepted by the Independent Syndicate of New York in 1929 but never distributed because it was deemed too similar to '' Buck Rogers,'' which debuted that year. ''Disk-Eyes the Detective'' and ''Spacehawks'' were published in 1938 in ''Circus'' comics. In 1940, ''

Spacehawk Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978)
at the

Target Comics The Target and the Targeteers are fictional characters, a trio of superheroes who first appeared in 1940, in ''Target Comics'' (after which the characters were named) from Novelty Press. History ''Target Comics'' debuted with a premiere issue co ...

'' , published by Novelty Press. It ran for 30 episodes (262 pages) until 1942. Other Wolverton characters include Scoop Scuttle, a newspaperman who ran as a backup feature in Lev Gleason Publications' ''Daredevil Comics'' and ''Silver Streak Comics''; and Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot in Fawcett Publications' ''Comic Comics'' and ''Ibis The Invincible''. "Bingbang Buster and his Horse Hedy" was a three-page backup story in Lev Gleason's ''Black Diamond Western'' #16–28 (1950–1952).

Powerhouse Pepper and Lena the Hyena

Wolverton's humor feature ''

Powerhouse Pepper Powerhouse Pepper is a character in American humor comic books published in the 1940s by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics. Created by writer-artist Basil Wolverton, the character was a dim-witted but big-hearted boxer with superhuman s ...

'', about a superstrong if none-too-bright

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

, appeared in various comic books published by Timely Comics, the 1930s and 1940s precursor of Marvel Comics, from 1942 through 1952. The strip was characterized by alliterative, rhyming dialogue, screwball comedy and throwaway gags in background. The Timely titles, such as '' Joker Comics'', ''Gay Comics'' and '' Tessie the Typist'', debuted a number of his spin-off characters and features, including Flap Flipflop, The Flying Flash (who later appeared in Charlton Comics' ''Jack in the Box'' #13), Leanbean Green, "Cartoon Crime Mystery" featuring Inspector Hector the Crime Detector, Doc Rockblock, "Picture Poems about Peculiar People", "Funny Boners", Dauntless Dawson, "Hothead Hotel", "Bedtime Bunk", "Foolish Faces" and more. Five issues of a ''

'' comic book were released in 1943 and 1948 by Timely, but not all the covers were by Wolverton and many interior pages were also not devoted to Wolverton strips. In 1946, Wolverton won a contest to depict "Lena the Hyena", the world's ugliest woman, a running gag in

Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (wi ...

's '' Li'l Abner'' newspaper strip where Lena remained unseen beneath an editorial note stating her face had been covered to protect readers. Capp, responding to popular demand, announced a contest for artists to submit their interpretations. Among 500,000 entries, Wolverton's was the winner;Lee, Stan. ''Secrets Behind the Comics'' (Famous Enterprises, 1947), p. 81. it appeared in a ''Li'l Abner'' daily and '' Life'' magazine. Wolverton's fame briefly led to ''Life'' and ''

Pageant Pageant may refer to: * Procession or ceremony in elaborate costume * Beauty pageant, or beauty contest * Latter Day Saint plays and pageants, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or by members local to the area of the pageant * ...

'' printing his caricatures. The Lena portrait typified the unique "spaghetti-and-meatballs school of design" style he employed regularly thereafter. In the 1950s, Wolverton produced 17 comic-book

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

and science-fiction stories for Marvel and other comic-book publishers, including one story by author Daniel Keyes, which led to him being "hailed for creating uniquely grotesque monsters". Among these tales were "The Brain Bats of Venus" for '' Mister Mystery'' #7 and "Where Monsters Dwell" in Marvel's '' Adventures into Terror'' #7, the title of which was later used for a 1970s Marvel reprint series.

''Mad''

Wolverton first appeared in '' Mad'' with a single panel in #10, drew ''Mad Reader!'' for #11 and also contributed an iconic Lena-like image to the cover of #11, which was billed as the "Beautiful Girl of the Month". Although Wolverton contributed sporadically to the title—appearing in just nine issues over two decades—his work was memorable enough that, in 2009, '' The New York Times'' dubbed him "The Michelangelo of Mad Magazine". E.C.'s other humor title, ''Panic'', edited by Al Feldstein (who later became ''Mads editor for 30 years) also used Wolverton's art on a ''Panic'' cover, though publisher William M. Gaines was not a fan of Wolverton's work. Other humor magazines from other companies such as '' Cracked'', ''From Here to Insanity'' and ''Cockeyed'' also featured Wolverton's work, as did an issue of ''Ballyhoo''.

Later career

In 1968, Wolverton did the ''Ugly Posters'' series of

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

s for Topps, displaying his trademark twisted headshots. In 1973, he returned to mainstream comics, illustrating several covers for Joe Orlando's satiric '' Plop!'' at DC Comics. '' Comix Book'', a joint production of Marvel Comics and Denis Kitchen's Kitchen Sink Press, featured two strips by Wolverton, "Calvin" and "Weird Creatures".

Personal life

In 1934, Wolverton married his Vancouver High School classmate Honor Lovette (class of 1927). They remained married until his death. Wolverton was baptized into Herbert W. Armstrong's Radio Church of God in 1941 and was ordained as an

elder An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and tr ...

in 1943. As a board member of that church, he was one of the six people, including Armstrong and his wife, who reincorporated the church in 1946 when it moved from its original headquarters in Oregon to California. Wolverton died on December 31, 1978, at age 69. Wolverton's son, editorial cartoonist

Monte Wolverton Monte Wolverton (1948, Vancouver, Washington) is an American editorial cartoonist who is best known for his satiric pages in '' Mad'', his ''Weekly Wolvertoon'' website and his contributions as associate editor of ''The Plain Truth''. Biography ...

, has worked for ''The Plain Truth'' and contributed to ''Mad''.

Bibliography

Books

Books by Wolverton or collecting his work include: * ''The Bible Story'' (1961) * ''Wolvertoons: The Art of Basil Wolverton'' (1990) () * ''Wolverton in Space'' (1997) () * ''Basil Wolverton's Powerhouse Pepper'' (2001) () * ''The Basil Wolverton Reader Vol.1'' (2003) () * ''The Basil Wolverton Reader Vol.2'' (2004) () * ''Basil Wolverton: Agony & Ecstasy'' (2007) () (reprints from ''The Bible Story'') * ''The Original Art of Basil Wolverton'' (2007) () * ''The Wolverton Bible'' (2009) () * ''The Culture Corner'' (2010) () * ''Spacehawk'' (2012) () * ''Creeping Death from Neptune: The Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton Vol. 1'' (2014) () * ''Brain Bats of Venus: The Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton Vol. 2'' (2019) () * ''Scoop Scuttle and His Pals: The Crackpot Comics of Basil Wolverton'' (2021) ()

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolverton, Basil 1909 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American artists American comics artists People from Vancouver, Washington Churches of God Christians Golden Age comics creators Mad (magazine) cartoonists People from Central Point, Oregon Vaudeville performers Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees EC Comics