On sale date: January 4, 2015
This is the first in a two-volume retrospective—collecting full comics stories, unpublished art, ads, etc.—and biography of the famous Mad cartoonist.
This is the first of two volumes reprinting copious amounts of comics stories and recounting the career of cartoonist Basil Wolverton. Based on his correspondence and journals, the biographical portion of the books follow Wolverton from childhood to adult day-to-day life as freelance cartoonist, itinerant handyman, persistent contest enterer, and local pastor of the Radio Church of God. Wolverton lived and worked in the Pacific Northwest, unique among the first generation of comic book pioneers. In the precious period before the industry calcified into a commercial institution, Wolverton was free to work under the radar to explore in detail his weird tales of the future. The book collects all of Wolverton's non-humorous comic stories and a substantial selection of his humorous comics, alongside dozens of pages of unpublished artwork, unsold features, and never-before-seen correspondence, including rejection letters!
Praise
"Most comic-book artists are associated with a particular genre, but Wolverton was a genre unto himself… This biography-cum-compilation traces the first phase of Wolverton's career… This volume collects all of Wolverton's non-humor stories from the period, mostly space operas with titles like Meteor Murphy and Space Patrol, along with a sampling of his uniquely wacky comedic work, rejected syndication attempts, a Mickey Mouse tryout, and celebrity caricatures." — Gordon Flagg - Booklist
" …[A] biography that will stand as the definitive work on Basil Wolverton, one of the twentieth century's most singular artists. … Creeping Death is resplendent with about 240 pages worth of rare photos, tear sheets, cartoons, unpublished art, manuscript pages, journals, letters, sketches, rare comics, covers, and more. Several complete stories are reprinted in restored color, which makes it worth the price of admission alone. It would be hard to imagine a more satisfying book for a culture vulture. On nearly all levels, the book delivers: selection, presentation, scholarship, writing, design and production." — Paul C. Tumey - The Comics Journal
"Creeping Death from Neptune… provides an invaluable biography of the first half of Basil Wolverton's life. It's a must-read for any lover of classic comic art." — Jason Sacks - Comics Bulletin
Specs
- Pages
- 304
- Format
- Hardback
- Color
- Full-color
- Dimensions
- 8.4" × 10.8"
- ISBN-13
- 9781606995051