Monday Madness / Halloween Horror THE SPECTRE "Abraca-Doom!"

As we pointed out HERE...

...One of Earth Two's mightiest characters had been reduced to a near-powerless horror-host/narrator in his own comic!

Written by Denny O'Neil and illustrated by Berni Wrightson, this rarely-reprinted story from DC's The Spectre #9 (1969) is an excellent example of simple, but effective, short story telling!

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Showcase Presents

The Spectre
(which reprints this tale...but in black-and-white!)

Monday Madness / CoronaVirus Comics MORLOCK 2001 AND THE MIDNIGHT MEN "Then Came the Midnight Man" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Protagonists...

...Professor Eugene Whitlock possesses books (forbidden in the year 2001)!

For that crime alone, he is sentenced to death.

The execution is interrupted by the arrival of Morlock, who changes to his lethal plant form to save the scientist because he believes Whitlock can duplicate the serum that allows him to control the transformation.

Morlock drives off the Thought Police and the scientist, though scarred, survives...

Sadly, I couldn't spend 25₵ on the next issue...since it never came out!

If you look at the last page, you'll see Morlock reverting to his human form after being shot.

He probably survived.

And, it's likely the self-destruct system either was defective, or only partially-functioned, leaving the Midnight Man, Morlock, and some of the freedom fighters separated from the Thought Police and able to escape!

As I mentioned earlier, this was a one-time collaboration between two legends (even in 1975) of the comics field...Steve (Spider-Man) Ditko and Berni (Swamp Thing) Wrightson!

This concludes our re-presentation of the time-lost Morlock 2001 series from 1975.

Next week we'll see...

Actually we don't know yet what we'll run, but it'll be interesting, disease/infection-related, and likely never-before seen by most of you!

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Fahrenheit 451

the Authorized (Graphic Novel) Adaptation

Monday Madness / CoronaVirus Comics MORLOCK 2001 AND THE MIDNIGHT MEN "Then Came the Midnight Man" Part 1

We Have Already Seen...

...except it isn't Morlock: 2001!

It's now Morlock 2001 and the Midnight Men, according to the book's cover!

The creative team is totally-new, including the one-time-only team-up of penciler Steve (Spider-Man) Ditko and inker Berni (Swamp Thing) Wrightson!

We've now witnessed the origin of the Midnight Man.

What next?

Be here for Morlock's (and the Midnight Man's) last stand!

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Fahrenheit 451

the Authorized (Graphic Novel) Adaptation

Berni Wrightson Exhibition 1977

Even with less than a decade of published work...

...the comics field knew Wrightson was a singular talent!

The (now defunct) New York Comic Arts Gallery devoted an exhibition to the work of this then up-and-comer!

These scans are from a HTF comic-book sized catalog produced for the exhibition.

Note: the story "They Just Fade Away" appeared in Marvel's EPIC Illustrated #34 (1986).

Absolutely Incredible Comics was never published.

The koolest part is reading Berni's own opinions of his work.

Want to see more?

Let us know!

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Berni Wrightson

A Look Back

Berni Wrightson (1948-2017)

In tribute, here's a quartet of intro pages illustrated by Berni Wrightson...

...for DC's 100-Page Super Spectacular #4 (1971)

Titled "Weird Mystery Tales", the reprint anthology featured brand-new art for the section headers with Berni himself as a "host" doing intros...

BTW, none of these headers has ever been reprinted!

So, unless you own this HTF issue, this will be the first time you've ever seen these pix!

Here's the book's text piece, a never-reprinted story with a large Wrightson illo, and a cute twist ending!

Yep, Wrightson's the protaganist!

It's Friday the 13th...Let's Have Some HORROR (and a little Sci-Fi)!

Here's a quartet of intro pages illustrated by Berni Wrightson...

...for DC 100-Page Super Spectacular #4 (1971)

Titled "Weird Mystery Tales", the reprint anthology featured brand-new art for the section headers with Berni himself as a "host" doing intros...

BTW, none of the headers has ever been reprinted!

So, unless you own this HTF issue, this will be the first time you've ever seen these pix!

And be here tomorrow when we present the book's text piece, a story with a large Wrightson illo!

Shadows by Berni Wrightson and Jim Steranko

In 1972, both DC and Marvel acquired comics rights to classic Street & Smith pulp characters whose paperback reprints were selling well. (and The Shadow's reissued radio shows were among the best-selling spoken-word record albums and cassettes.)

Marvel nabbed Doc Savage and DC picked up both The Shadow and The Avenger. (although Marvel initially claimed to have The Shadow as well...)
Immediately, many big-name artists, as well as up-and-comers, vied for the coveted assignments.
Alex Toth, Jim Steranko, Gene Colan, Berni Wrightson, and Mike Kaluta were among those who submitted test pieces.
Here's two of them.
Wrightson's piece was used as a house ad by DC, and Berni inked an entire issue over Kaluta's pencils, as well as assisting on a couple of other Kaluta stories.
Steranko's pencil piece was reused as the envelope art for his Shadow Secret Society licensed fan club.
This version was inked by the late, great, Dave (Rocketeer) Stevens.