I’ll Be Damned

The year was 1969.  I was attending a comic book convention in Detroit, Michigan.  It was held in the ball room of a local hotel chain.

In attendance over two days was about 5,000 to 7,000 people.

About a dozen vendors were there along with several guest artists. Jim Steranko was the headliner and young Rich Buckler was there also there.  He helped set up the convention.

At the far end of the room was a small room holding an art gallery.  Steranko’s art was there, as was Buckler’s.  

Also hanging on he wall was the art of someone whose name I did not recognize although I had seen some of the artist’s art mostly in Creepy and Eerie and a few short tales for DC Comics.

The art was unsettling with its heavy shadows, disturbing subject matter and with its heavy emphasis on anatomy and clothing.  The artist’s name was Bernie Wrightson.

There are moments in your life when you recognize genius.  That was one of those moments.

In the self-published fan magazine I’ll be Damned editor and publisher Mark Feldman gave Bernie the chance to shine by printing some of his early work including a Frankenstein gallery and a short story called Out On A Limb!

Even then Bernie’s art really captured the horror and dynamic layout of early EC Comics.  Also included are a Tom Sutton story, single pages by Frank 

Brunner and Gray Morrow and a short tale by Dan Adkins.

It a wonderful early insight into some of the industry’s up and coming talent at that time.