Basil Wolverton's Planet of Terror
Published by Dark Horse in 1987. Cover price $1.75
I know I have a lot of favorite artists, but in the big ol' pantheon of all-time greats, this guy is surely very close the top. His idiosyncratic style speaks of spaghetti and meatballs, melting monstrosities, crazy creatures and creepy things that go PLOP! I am, of course, talking about the great Basil Wolverton.
Planet of Terror - 1987
Gateway to Horror - 1988
Basil Wolverton's Space Funnies - 1990
the two-issue Fantastic Fables in 1993
Basil Wolverton in Space TPB in 1997
Space Hawk
Powerhouse Pepper
Simultaneously compelling and repulsive. Because of the high strangeness of his style, Wolverton simultaneously attracts and repels. Pull and push. Compels the viewer because of the flat out weirdness.
PLANET OF TERROR (SIX PAGES - Journey into Unknown Worlds #7 - October, 1951; published by Marvel)
The narrator, a man known only as Greg, and his buddy, Biff Houston, head on out to the planet Saturn to hunt horned bears. While searching for the elusive beasts, the pair are warned by the bald, big-eared natives that their great god Mokog is a vain and vengeful deity, one that demands proper tribute or their lives are forfeit. Passing off the creatures claims as mere superstition, the buddies head to higher ground where they are accosted by horrific images of a giant floating head -- demanding they bear gifts unto Mokog -- and a gallery of airborne grotesqueries. To make a short story even shorter, much to the shock of the natives, Mokog demands an audience with the earthmen … blank, expressionless stare…that's because it's not a face at all but a mask!
It's an odd little piece, especially considering the time during which it was produced when most stories of this type -- be they horror or sci-fi -- relied on the old tried and true O Henry turn of the table-type ending. Planet of Terror features a more subdued, more introspective resolution. The humans run roughshod over the customs and beliefs of the indigenous peoples, fueled by an arrogance borne of their assumption that because of their technological superiority, they somehow know more about the strange planet than the creatures who were born on it. In the end, it's the humans that are at the root of the terror, both the visitors and stranded space explorer, Leo Gorman, who survived through duplicity, exploiting the cultural fears of the natives, and slavery. Leo's tactic could be applied to many of our present-day institutions, no? Leo's end is a fitting one, for his comeuppance was not delivered at the hands of a strange alien beastie but by one of his own. Roughly 750 million miles away from Earth and the scientist was not killed by the creatures he subjugated but by a fellow human, and by a bullet, no less, a crude projectile. Might as well have been a rock thrown by a caveman. In a nutshell: human beings are a pox on the universe. Avoid at all costs.
Like Lovecraft, Wolverton was a visionary, one who granted his audience glimpses into strange worlds the likes of which had not been seen before or since.
Issue contains three other stories:
Planet of Terror http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2011/01/jings-soon-comes-round.html
The End of the World http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2010/07/end-of-world-by-basil-wolverton.html
The Devil Birds http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2010/10/devil-birds-by-basil-wolverton.html?zx=23becf3a790d41e2
The Monster on Mars http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2011/03/monster-on-mars-by-basil-wolverton.html
Look into Wolverton's career by Bill Spicer.
Full-page illo of Wolverton and some of his creations drawn by his son, Monte Wolverton.
If you see this book in a cheapie bin, do pick it up. It's very much worth your time and attention.
Published by Dark Horse in 1987. Cover price $1.75
I know I have a lot of favorite artists, but in the big ol' pantheon of all-time greats, this guy is surely very close the top. His idiosyncratic style speaks of spaghetti and meatballs, melting monstrosities, crazy creatures and creepy things that go PLOP! I am, of course, talking about the great Basil Wolverton.
Planet of Terror - 1987
Gateway to Horror - 1988
Basil Wolverton's Space Funnies - 1990
the two-issue Fantastic Fables in 1993
Basil Wolverton in Space TPB in 1997
Space Hawk
Powerhouse Pepper
Simultaneously compelling and repulsive. Because of the high strangeness of his style, Wolverton simultaneously attracts and repels. Pull and push. Compels the viewer because of the flat out weirdness.
PLANET OF TERROR (SIX PAGES - Journey into Unknown Worlds #7 - October, 1951; published by Marvel)
The narrator, a man known only as Greg, and his buddy, Biff Houston, head on out to the planet Saturn to hunt horned bears. While searching for the elusive beasts, the pair are warned by the bald, big-eared natives that their great god Mokog is a vain and vengeful deity, one that demands proper tribute or their lives are forfeit. Passing off the creatures claims as mere superstition, the buddies head to higher ground where they are accosted by horrific images of a giant floating head -- demanding they bear gifts unto Mokog -- and a gallery of airborne grotesqueries. To make a short story even shorter, much to the shock of the natives, Mokog demands an audience with the earthmen … blank, expressionless stare…that's because it's not a face at all but a mask!
It's an odd little piece, especially considering the time during which it was produced when most stories of this type -- be they horror or sci-fi -- relied on the old tried and true O Henry turn of the table-type ending. Planet of Terror features a more subdued, more introspective resolution. The humans run roughshod over the customs and beliefs of the indigenous peoples, fueled by an arrogance borne of their assumption that because of their technological superiority, they somehow know more about the strange planet than the creatures who were born on it. In the end, it's the humans that are at the root of the terror, both the visitors and stranded space explorer, Leo Gorman, who survived through duplicity, exploiting the cultural fears of the natives, and slavery. Leo's tactic could be applied to many of our present-day institutions, no? Leo's end is a fitting one, for his comeuppance was not delivered at the hands of a strange alien beastie but by one of his own. Roughly 750 million miles away from Earth and the scientist was not killed by the creatures he subjugated but by a fellow human, and by a bullet, no less, a crude projectile. Might as well have been a rock thrown by a caveman. In a nutshell: human beings are a pox on the universe. Avoid at all costs.
Like Lovecraft, Wolverton was a visionary, one who granted his audience glimpses into strange worlds the likes of which had not been seen before or since.
Issue contains three other stories:
Planet of Terror http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2011/01/jings-soon-comes-round.html
The End of the World http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2010/07/end-of-world-by-basil-wolverton.html
The Devil Birds http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2010/10/devil-birds-by-basil-wolverton.html?zx=23becf3a790d41e2
The Monster on Mars http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2011/03/monster-on-mars-by-basil-wolverton.html
Look into Wolverton's career by Bill Spicer.
Full-page illo of Wolverton and some of his creations drawn by his son, Monte Wolverton.
If you see this book in a cheapie bin, do pick it up. It's very much worth your time and attention.