Finding Bernie Wrightson on the Isle of Arran

A tale of school trips, geology and werewolves

As I catch up on some reading , I thought I would post some of my attempts at blog posts from an earlier incarnation. I’ve edited and updated these. Enjoy until normal service is resumed!

I first discovered Bernie Wrightson on the Isle of Arran, off the Scottish coast.

Bear with me.

I had seen Bernie Wrightson’s work much earlier but never realised. The covers of House of Secrets, House of Mystery, and Weird Mystery. Not forgetting the random copies of Warren magazines — Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella — that I occasionally managed to stumble across in the UK.

This guy knew how to draw monsters. So, of course, I was transfixed.

Anyway, I was on a school field trip for geology in 1985. At 15 years old, we were away for the week. This was the first time I had spent any time away from my parents. We stayed in some old, barrack-style, freezing-cold huts. I remember some stunning days on the beach and some dreadful, post-apocalyptic weather while searching for geological rock compositions. We had a great time — just a bunch of kids let loose from their parents for the first time. I have the fondest memories of the trip and still have a fascination for geology to this day.

In between our studies, we had some free time and were allowed to go to Brodick, the town centre of the island. We were staying next door, so it was an easy walk.

So, off we went with our spending money from our parents to buy pop and sweets and goof around!

I don’t remember the bookshop we visited, but it must have sold a lot of different things; otherwise, there was no way a bunch of schoolmates would have gone to a bookshop.

Being the Eighties, the paperback horror craze was at its height, and some of us (especially me and my school pal Joe) couldn’t get enough of them! The local WH Smiths and Sweetens Bookshop were our local book haunts. So, once we saw the shelves of books (no doubt full of King, Herbert, and Hutson), we had to look to see if they had anything.

There it was, on a table: Cycle of the Werewolf. A strangely-sized paperback book with an incredible illustration of a werewolf on the cover. I loved werewolves but was not a big fan of Stephen King. However, once I opened the book and faced the eye-popping, gory images, I had to buy it! The image of the policeman having his face torn open just amazed me! I remember spending most of my money (£4.95! I think it retails for nearly £20.00 now!) to buy it. I was also convinced the images were so violent, that the shop would not let me buy it! I’m sure my school pals thought I was mad to spend my money on this instead of Curly Wurlys and Irn Bru.

As soon as I got back home, I attempted to draw these werewolves. Who was this guy? I must have thumbed through that book so many times. I copied the images the best I could, read the story over and over again. I even used it for an English project (used James Herbert’s Domain next — I was a strange kid).

It was about a year later, when my brother came home from one of his comic-hunting trips, that I discovered Wrightson’s work in Roots of the Swamp Thing. DC had reprinted his run with Len Wein as the comic boom was kicking off and Alan Moore had taken the title into the stratosphere.

When I moved to Liverpool, I met some of my long-standing friends who liked the same stuff I did and knew who Bernie Wrightson was. When the collectible trading card craze started, I was first in line to get my hands on those Masters of the Macabre sets! My good pal Chris, who was the manager of Forbidden Planet at the time, managed to get me his art books, a pop-up book, any comics I could find, including Batman vs. Aliens, Batman: The Cult, and his tour de force, Frankenstein.

I still have the original Cycle of the Werewolf. Apologies to Stephen King fans, but that book wouldn’t be half as good without Bernie Wrightson’s werewolves. It’s one of the originals from my book collection. Despite moving houses, it has survived the usual cull that comes with relocating and family commitments that demand more space. Thank goodness!

Wrightson’s work has always been a big influence. He also worked with Marvel and Dark Horse and drew the poster for Stephen King’s horror film Creepshow, as well as illustrating its comic book adaptation. His zombie drawings inspired the special effects crew on The Walking Dead. He even worked on Ghostbusters. My love of the macabre and the gruesome has undoubtedly been fuelled by his stellar work. I wish I had been lucky enough to meet him and let him know how important he was to this weird 15-year-old kid who loved werewolves and other monsters.

After a battle with cancer, Bernie passed away on March 18, 2017, at the age of 68. A great loss.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart and my ink-stained fingers, Mr. Wrightson.