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Creeping Death from Neptune: Horror and Science Fiction Comics
Basil Wolverton s work refuses to die. Following a well-received exhibit of original art in New York City s Gladstone Gallery (which The New York Times called exuberantly grotesque ) came 2009 s publication of The Wolverton Bible (Fantagraphics Books). Though his comic book work has been reprinted endlessly, it has either been modernized with digital colors or presented in austere black and white. The time has come for a robust volume of Wolverton s comics taken from their original printed source the comic books themselves.
A pioneer from the first generation of comic book artists, Wolverton arrived just as publishers began embracing original material, turning away from the newspaper-strip reprints that had been sustaining the industry since its inception our years earlier. One of the first to realize the value of in-house features was Centaur Publications, whose art director Lloyd Jacquet gave Wolverton his big break in comics in 1938, accepting Meteor Martin for Amazing Man Comics and Space Patrol for Amazing Mystery Funnies. Jacquet soon established an independent comics packager, Funnies, Inc., for which he asked Wolverton to invent a new science-fiction character. The artist came up with the iconic Spacehawk, who made thirty appearances in Target Comics. Prime examples of Wolverton s iconic space hero will be featured in Creeping Death from Neptune.
Fed up with the publisher s constant meddling with Spacehawk, Wolverton dropped his creation in 1942 and concentrated on humorous features for the rest of the decade. His short-lived return to serious subjects in 1951 resulted in some of the most intense horror and science-fiction stories of the pre-code era, including the classics Brain Bats of Venus, Escape to Death, and Robot Woman, all of which appear in this volume.
Created with the full cooperation of the Wolverton estate, Creeping Death from Neptune will also examine, for the first time, the artist s personal ledgers and diaries, shedding new light on his working methods and his day-to-day life as a freelance comic book artist. The digital restoration of the printed art will be performed with subtlety and restraint, mainly to correct registration and printing errors, with every effort made to retain the flavor of the original comic books.
A pioneer from the first generation of comic book artists, Wolverton arrived just as publishers began embracing original material, turning away from the newspaper-strip reprints that had been sustaining the industry since its inception our years earlier. One of the first to realize the value of in-house features was Centaur Publications, whose art director Lloyd Jacquet gave Wolverton his big break in comics in 1938, accepting Meteor Martin for Amazing Man Comics and Space Patrol for Amazing Mystery Funnies. Jacquet soon established an independent comics packager, Funnies, Inc., for which he asked Wolverton to invent a new science-fiction character. The artist came up with the iconic Spacehawk, who made thirty appearances in Target Comics. Prime examples of Wolverton s iconic space hero will be featured in Creeping Death from Neptune.
Fed up with the publisher s constant meddling with Spacehawk, Wolverton dropped his creation in 1942 and concentrated on humorous features for the rest of the decade. His short-lived return to serious subjects in 1951 resulted in some of the most intense horror and science-fiction stories of the pre-code era, including the classics Brain Bats of Venus, Escape to Death, and Robot Woman, all of which appear in this volume.
Created with the full cooperation of the Wolverton estate, Creeping Death from Neptune will also examine, for the first time, the artist s personal ledgers and diaries, shedding new light on his working methods and his day-to-day life as a freelance comic book artist. The digital restoration of the printed art will be performed with subtlety and restraint, mainly to correct registration and printing errors, with every effort made to retain the flavor of the original comic books.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 28, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 6, 2024
Basil Wolverton remains an intriguing fixture in the comics medium simply due to his ability to push boundaries, particularly with what early publishers dictated their literary parameters to be. Wolverton was an early non-conformist and pioneered the early crop of weird, esoteric sci-fi comics. This edition by Fantagraphics provides a thorough documentation of Wolverton's early career, starting from his childhood where he demonstrated immense talent producing strips and earning a modest income working in a cannery. Greg Sadowski works with the Wolverton estate to compile an immensely entertaining biography and also includes many of Wolverton's early works like "Brain Bats of Venus", "Escape to Death", "Creeping Death of Neptune", "Spacehawks" and "Robot Woman". The stories may not always resonate due to the oddball structure of the narratives, but the illustrations show of Wolverton's unending creativity and propensity for the grotesque.
As a note, only a minor fraction of this book are made up of Wolverton's comics, the rest is essays, photos and commentary by Sadowski. It's perhaps not the best for those less familiar with Wolverton and might simply appeal to those who have more of an interest in learning more about his career.
As a note, only a minor fraction of this book are made up of Wolverton's comics, the rest is essays, photos and commentary by Sadowski. It's perhaps not the best for those less familiar with Wolverton and might simply appeal to those who have more of an interest in learning more about his career.
July 14, 2019
I admit it – I picked up this book solely on the cover! The name Basil Wolverton didn’t ring a bell but I had to know who this genius was who created such fabulous art. Turns out he was a comics creator who was born in Oregon in 1909 and began his career in the 1930s. This first volume of two covers his early years..
Comics were then as they are now, a tough business to be in when you’re trying to make a living. Wolverton couldn’t get by on the infrequent checks he received for his work and subsidized them by working in a cannery.
All throughout this book there are photos of his many comics, artwork, sketches, family photos, notebooks, and even rejection letters. Author Greg Sadowski presents a treasure trove of artifacts from Wolverton’s career, from childhood to 1940.
It was surprising to me the almost dictatorial instructions he received in communications from publishers. He was constantly told to change things, to tone down the grotesque, to be patriotic, that his space themes were passé. It would have been enough to make me quit! Is it still this way in the comics world?
It’s clear that Wolverton’s work became better and better over time. But the pressure to produce was harmful to his health and got to his nerves. Guess I’ll find out how he fared in the next volume.
I loved this book because Wolverton’s old school space art is some of the best I’ve ever seen.
Comics were then as they are now, a tough business to be in when you’re trying to make a living. Wolverton couldn’t get by on the infrequent checks he received for his work and subsidized them by working in a cannery.
All throughout this book there are photos of his many comics, artwork, sketches, family photos, notebooks, and even rejection letters. Author Greg Sadowski presents a treasure trove of artifacts from Wolverton’s career, from childhood to 1940.
It was surprising to me the almost dictatorial instructions he received in communications from publishers. He was constantly told to change things, to tone down the grotesque, to be patriotic, that his space themes were passé. It would have been enough to make me quit! Is it still this way in the comics world?
It’s clear that Wolverton’s work became better and better over time. But the pressure to produce was harmful to his health and got to his nerves. Guess I’ll find out how he fared in the next volume.
I loved this book because Wolverton’s old school space art is some of the best I’ve ever seen.
March 27, 2023
It's difficult to imagine how this could be surpassed as an overview of Wolverton's early work. Lots of well-reproduced art and photographs, and an abundance of documentary material, including Wolverton's own diary and correspondence with agents and publishers.
The last is particularly illuminating, since it demonstrates how comic artists were micromanaged by their employers—it looks to me like a miserably harried way of making a living—and indeed Wolverton seems to have frequently teetered on nervous breakdowns from the poor pay and countless rejections he endured. One senses that most publishers, with rare exceptions like Stan Lee, actually abhorred unusual or interesting work. Glancing through the online files of comic books from the late '30s and early '40s, one sees the generally tedious result.
My only complaint is that Sadowski plainly favours Wolverton's sci-fi over his humour comics, and we are shown much more of the former than the latter, while my taste runs in the opposite direction. But the book is still a magnificent achievement.
The last is particularly illuminating, since it demonstrates how comic artists were micromanaged by their employers—it looks to me like a miserably harried way of making a living—and indeed Wolverton seems to have frequently teetered on nervous breakdowns from the poor pay and countless rejections he endured. One senses that most publishers, with rare exceptions like Stan Lee, actually abhorred unusual or interesting work. Glancing through the online files of comic books from the late '30s and early '40s, one sees the generally tedious result.
My only complaint is that Sadowski plainly favours Wolverton's sci-fi over his humour comics, and we are shown much more of the former than the latter, while my taste runs in the opposite direction. But the book is still a magnificent achievement.
November 20, 2021
Damn I'm conflicted. I wanted so much to give this 5 stars. For Basil Wolverton's amazing outlandish art work and stories it is definitely a five star book. The biographer and compiler of this great art book, Greg Sadowski, is to be commended and widely lauded by comic fans everywhere for the prodigious work he did on this book. For my taste he relies a bit too much on letters written to Basil from his New York publishers. Instead of a narrative flow to the biographical segments, Sadowski pretty much reprints whole the letters by said publishers which bogs down the text a bit. I found my eyes glazing over a few times because of the repetitive nature of this correspondence. Still, all in all, this is an almost perfect book, beautifully designed and of course includes all that eye-popping Basil Wolverton art.
December 25, 2025
Esta biografía exhaustiva es una maravilla. Creo que ni los familiares del buen Basil llegaron a ver tanta info junta. Claro que por momentos se puede volver repetitiva, en especial las cartas de rechazo que tuvo en sus comienzos. Pero o se saltea o lectura diagonal... está todo bien. Hay fotos personales, dibujos, bosquejos, historias completas. La edición hermosa, tapa dura rugosa, papel de excelencia, es titánica la tarea de Sadowski.
Wolverton fue un precursor a la hora de expandir las posibilidades del dibujo, creando deformidades monstruosas y divertidas a la vez. Imagino que Tex Avery se habrá cruzado con estos trabajos..
Wolverton fue un precursor a la hora de expandir las posibilidades del dibujo, creando deformidades monstruosas y divertidas a la vez. Imagino que Tex Avery se habrá cruzado con estos trabajos..
February 23, 2020
A comprehensive look at the life and art of Basil Wolverton. This follows his early development up until the early 1940s. Wolverton had a distinctive style that easily set him apart from his peers as can be seen in this volume, which collects most of his non-fiction work from this time period (excluding Spacehawk, but including art pitch for Disney).
September 20, 2022
Amazing and Hard Working Artist
Amazing artis! Ahead of the curve and times! I can not believe a lot of his ideas were rejected. He came into his own once the nineteen fifties kicked in.
Amazing artis! Ahead of the curve and times! I can not believe a lot of his ideas were rejected. He came into his own once the nineteen fifties kicked in.
November 2, 2022
It is so fantastic that this lost master of sci fi comics is now forever remembered in this book.
February 9, 2016
Covering Wolverton's earliest years of struggling to get published to is first successful years, this book is text heavy with detailing Wolverton's beginnings in the industry.
That said, I thought the essays made for compelling reading in that we see Wolverton was not an overnight success, and that he received much support and guidance form the many editors, agents, publishers who were instrumental in developing his talent and in getting his stories into the early comics of the 1930s and 1940s. The book also features several of his humor stories, as well as a few of Wolverton's adventure stories. The humor stories are quite good and have held up well. Not so much the few adventure stories.
That said, I thought the essays made for compelling reading in that we see Wolverton was not an overnight success, and that he received much support and guidance form the many editors, agents, publishers who were instrumental in developing his talent and in getting his stories into the early comics of the 1930s and 1940s. The book also features several of his humor stories, as well as a few of Wolverton's adventure stories. The humor stories are quite good and have held up well. Not so much the few adventure stories.
July 16, 2016
Wonderful book about the "weird" cartoonist Basil Wolverton covering his life up through 1941. Many, many pages of well-reproduced science fiction and humor done for both newspapers and comic books. Also covers his life, with special emphasis on this professional career. Diary entries and letters from publishers are included. It is a bit more detailed than I need, but it is a fascinating look at the comics-publishing world in the first half of the 20th century.
January 26, 2016
This is more a biography of Basil Wolverton than anything else, the comics included from this era of his career are fun (although if I never see Disk-Eyes again it'll be too soon), but altogether felt like a brief sampling of a larger, better body of work yet to come. No word on a second volume—blegh.
February 15, 2015
This was perhaps the most important comics publication in 2014, an absolutely essential addition to the understanding of the Golden Age of comic books, and an utterly fascinating biography of the legendary Basil Wolverton.
December 5, 2016
This is an excellent book exploring the early life and career of comic artist Basil Wolverton. It contains plenty of Wolverton's unmistakable artwork as well as an interesting "behind-the-scenes" look at the early days of the comic book industry.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews