Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing: Detail and Darkness - Comic Tropes (Episode 46) 

"Swamp Thing enters a bar in his new trenchcoat" is the best intro to a joke that was never finished, ever.

Mr Wrightson's artwork on Stephen King's 'Cycle of the Werewolf' was superb.

Wow, youtube finally put you on my Recommended list. How am i just now finding out about your videos?!? I'm watching your channel through my Tivo and loving your work. I had to get to my computer to write and say you're a Superb comic historian and your discussions are smooth, professional, and entertaining. Can't wait to dig into more.

Wrightson was on another level. My ideal batman; blue and gray scheme, yellow oval symbol, tall ears, big cape

this is the strangest Hot Ones interview I've ever seen

I was lucky to know Bernie from way back, like when he spelled it "Berni" to avoid getting mixed up with an Olympic diver whom few remember now. For being so dark artistically, Bernie was funny as hell.. I loved how his wild eyebrows looked like James Montgomery Flagg painted them. It was a heartbreaking realization to know that I won't be running into him again. He was a master, truly.

Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing and his Adaptation of Frankenstein are masterpiece works of comics Art. Truly Brilliant and Timeless.

I was exposed to Bernie Wrightson's comics in the 70's as a little kid like Swamp Thing. I gained more of an appreciated for his work when I was in art school, a classmate showed me original pages of Wrightson's work. Wow! He was the master of creating shadows, mood...the comic world lost a true giant. Great vid as usual! Awesome tribute to Wrightson. I'd love to try those hot sauces, but I don't think we get all those kinds here in Canada. Pity.

Bernie Wrightson's work on Batman: The Cult was amazing. I really enjoyed it.

"Use of dark blacks" *Cuts to one of the few pictures of a black guy in this issue.*

On this early issues he already had regenerative powers. When his arms were cut they grew back.

Wrightson's artwork, Mike Ploog, all resemble another late great artist from the 1950s era of Horror Comics published by EC-forerunner to MAD magazine. He was the one known as "Ghastly " Graham Ingels. Nobody could draw corpses crawling out of graveyard quite like he could. I think he died years ago. His stories and artwork still make my skin crawl ! BRR !:-)

Great channel. Love your trope episodes. First Got into Swamp Thing from Alan Moore’s story arc in the 80’s but Swamp Thing is Wrightson’s own. Thanks for the background and your food/drink break for the trope is a nice touch.

Loved these issues back in the day. In that Batman appearance issue, I thought that if all Batman issues were like that, I'd love Batman. Very dark and gritty. Was primarily into Marvel but Swamp Thing was amazing with Wrightson's work.

While I like Manny, Swampy was more interesting and complex. The art of Wrightson was absolutely brilliant.:)

It’s very refreshing seeing someone have some fun and enjoy your reviews

Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters was an exhibition organized by LACMA museum in Los Angeles and it featured the Bernie's Original Artwork from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. It was a true pleasure to see the original artwork in person.

swamp thing is great. mature with some silliness

Kudos, brother, on giving a nod to the laying down of heavy black shadows. I love that technique, and it's underused. Several artists have mastered it and only TWO animated cartoons in my memory utilized this; Mighty Max, and the 90's X-men series, respectively.

Would love to hear about Dale Keown. Have always loved his art.

Wrightson also has an amazing collection of Edgar Alan Poe illustrations. I saw some facsimiles and thought, “These look a lot like the old Swamp Thing comics”, looked it up and bingo! same guy. His version of Swamp Thing combined with Wein’s writing will always be the superior version, no matter what Moore sycophants think.

Thank you so much for informing me about the artist's style and his gripes with some of his work in past comic issues. I read some Swamp Thing graphic novels in the past and could not stand the art. I had a suspicion the guy had to been good for him to last so long drawing the series, and was aware of the issues with his art for the series. There's just no way in hell for him to not hear any gripes about it or keep being able to work on the series if he wasn't good. Thanks to you it confirms my suspicions. I agree with this dude completely. The comic and graphic novels for Swamp Thing really does water down and ruin his penciling style. It is by no means small in severity. The colorist, inker, reworking on it in digitally, and etc. really does damage his product on a massive scale. It took me years to figure out what the heck is happening in the reprints of the books they make of Swamp Thing having his work. I knew something had to be going on. You finally helped me identify the problems. I actually formed a new profound level of respect and admiration towards Bernie Wringhtson because of you now. Thank you a lot.

The hot sauce caused Chris to see visions of a space coyote who sounds exactly like Johnny Cash.

This version Batman by Bernie Wrightson reminds me of Neal Adams' Batman.

We need a swamp thing movie in 2021 in the DC Universe.

I'd love to see you cover Pacific Comics Berni Wrightson Master of the Macabre and Twisted Tales for Halloween. They're great series that no one ever talks about.

He also did a Sub-Mariner of all things over Sal Buscema's pencils

For a long time, I always thought that Kelley Jones drew the most horrifying art in comics...until I watched this episode. You defo must review Jones' art sometime in the future, starting with his Elseworlds' work - Batman: Vampire (Red Rain; Bloodstorm; Crimson Mist) w/ Doug Moench!

I only got into Swamp Thing movie and TV Show. Yes, sad I know.

Gene Colon was the master of shadows

Wrightson couldn't draw, or color any better. His figures have no real depth or physicality to them. They're flat surfaces on a 2-dimensional page. His faces range between the fright and the fanciful. Maybe he should have taken a few lessons?

One of my all time favorite characters. I've always wanted to draw a great Swamp Thing, very tricky to do it!

I love your channel. Cool stickers in the background

22:40 I thought you'd have learned your lesson from the last time you played this "pepper challenge"...oh, well. But Bernie Wrightson's Batman is easily the coolest looking version I've ever seen! He was a great artist, it's really too bad I'm just now finding out about him in detail.

Jennifer was a COMIC?! I only know it from the Masters of Horror episode!

At this point our hero already knew that he had to record the story before starting to get overwhelmed by pepper.

Man-Thing is more compelling than Swamp Thing. At it's best, I love it. Steve Gerber and Mike Ploog!

The coloring of Wrightson's drawings are a crime against art. Frankenstein in original black/white is awesome. Same with Swamp Thing, so much more detailed and better without the colors.

ah back in the days when writers were not afraid to portray Batman as anything less than invincible

12:25 Hey, someone posted some scenes from that Frankenstein book on imgur! They were amazing. Same for the earlier Jennifer excerpt, if he's shading and creating all this depth and detail, no wonder he wants such basic flat colors, you have to have the base shine through. Great episode again, man!

seems to me Wrightson was a huge influence on Brian Schroeder the one and only PUSHEAD! I mean theres a couple record covers, specifically two he created for his own band SEPTIC DEATH that are lifted from a couple of Bernie's pieces. he put his own spin on them but you put em back to back and its undeniable. Pushead did awesome pieces for everyone from Metallica to Dr Dre to Travis Barker and even a signature pair of Nikes! i actually got into Wrightson via Frazetta's covers of a Dust record and a Molly Hatchet cover (clearly lifted from Conan pieces) and then Pushead's pieces from Metallica shirts... i collected comics for a bit but sold em all for punk and metal records, if ya cant tell! i had a copy of Bernies Frankinstein and regrettably gifted it a girlfriend of mine with an incredible drawing talent. the girl and the book never to be seen again.... cooooooool!!! ever see Dario Argento version of Jennifer he did for Masters of Horror tv series? nearly as jarring as Bernies comic incarnation, with an alright performance from Steven Webber from Wings as the cop (if i remember correctly). better than his take on Jack Torrance in ABC presents Stephen Kings The Shining! not his fault, how ya gonna try to best Nicolson with Webber?! shoulda had Argento try his hand at THAT one! if anyone coulda had a stylistic toe to toe with Kubrick, i'd like to see Dario try n fuck up Stan the man! anyway, cool video. i just stumbled across it. cheers!!!!

There was a movie adaptation of Jennifer I saw on Netflix six or seven years ago. Horror movies haven't scared me since I was in elementary school in the 80's, but the Jennifer movie did weird me out the way Hellraiser 2 did when I first watched it in high school, which earns it high praise by my standards.

On the cover , the light on swamp things back is reflected light.

Dark Genesis was the trade that got me hooked on comics. I was astonished with how well it was drawn and written especially considering the years in which they were making it. Swamp Thing will always be my favorite comic character because of their quality of work and the subsequent writers/artists drawn to it later (i.e. Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, etc.)

Bernie Wrightson was the greatest!

Gator is good, tastes like chicken---greasy, bony chicken---but chicken.

RIP Bernie you were the best

Jennifer is actually a Dario Argento's episode from Masters of Horror. Based on that comic apparently.

I love these videos so much because they don’t feel like a RU-vid video they feel like a conversation with a friend about comic books.

Swamp Thing and Ghost Rider are what got me into comics along with Tales From The Beanworld. As you can tell, I'm not really into "superheroes."

I've never realize that color took way so much when it came art and I'm just wondering what else I've missed out on

I like to read Swamp Thing in Dick Durocks voice

these days with all the cons it never surprises me when dc and marvel run with similar ideas. these folks are hanging out with each other all the time now. ps you should do mike ploog one of these days.

I got my kids the Wrightson velvet edition of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Truly one of the best

Great Wrightson review! He would've appreciated it. BTW, Wrightson loved my work. More on that at a later time. Hope you dont turn into a pepper creature with all that hot sauce! Best Regards!

How have I missed this channel for so long? Great look at Bernie Wrightson and this issue of Swamp Thing.

Bernie had so much talent! RIP ..

Awesome video!

the way you interlude the video with these little challenges is extremely endearing

If I learned anything from "Monstervisions" Joe Bob and John Wick, it's that. "you never kill the dog".

The master, I have to get the Frankenstein hardcover.

I have adored Bernie"s work since I saw The Studio many years ago.His Frankenstein work is unsurpassed.when I think of Bernie I think too of Aubrey Beardsley & harry Clarke.his dark,long eared batman IS batman.his swamp thing work still fills my mind & lingers there.it was so sad to hear of his death,rest in peace sir & thank you for giving this world such gorgeous,poetic imagery

10:58 "Here's a little hat for your doll." - ACTION FIGURE!!!! (j/k, ha!)

the dog has an eerily HUMAN face.

These videos where you put yourself through pain are so entertaining 👍

R.I.P Bernie..after his run NESTOR REDONDO did great work on the title..also check out DON NEWTON..he did THE PHANTOM ..

Tip: eat some thick yoghurt after every bite of hot sauce. Milk products neutralise the heat much better than water.

How well did you do after this video? Did you have to lay down?

the hot sauce helps with the humidity

When did you live in New Orleans? I was there between 1996 and 2006. I'm sure we were doing different things so we'd never have met, but... Good to know!

Cross hatching is my addiction when I draw

I wa rewatching this episode and when JENNIFER was mentioned and saw the image reminded me of movie from MASTERS OF HORROR by the same name. Sure enough it was based on the comic.

Please talk about the Creepy/Eerie or Vampirella magazines!

14:31 Agreed. The werewolf on the cover of The Bernie Wrightson Monsters coloring book is a prime example: www.creaturebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/01_colorcreaturebook.jpg

One thing...could have mentioned the examples were from Creepshow and Cycle of the Werewolf. But, appreciate the dedication to the hot sauce per trope, did notice (understandably) that the dabs got less liberal as you went along, fair enough, amazing that you even started without a cup of water (or milk would be better) at the ready.

Yep Jennifer was and still is one of creepiest stories by Wrightson I have ever read. It's pretty disturbing even by today's standards. And I agree, the colored version saturated the original artwork to such a degree you couldn't appreciate Bernie's original version of the artwork.

Bernie Wrightson has as distinctive a style as that of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Carmine Infantino but seems to have far less recognition. That's a shame: I find those other three to be highly over rated. My guess is that their popularity is based more on mass exposure due to a higher volume of output in mainstream comics than on any kind of esthetic merit. No, I don't read replies, hahahaha.

@12:12 the original inked drawing of that Frankenstein comic recently sold for the highest amount ever for such an artifact, going for over a million dollars (1.2 million) news.justcollecting.com/bernie-wrightson-frankenstein-marvel-cover-art-auction-record/

When did you change your channel name from Skunk Ape to ComicTropes? Love that bit of lore hahah

Just want to point out that Wrightson heavily used “hatching” and varied line weight in his Frankenstein illustrations (I always assumed it was influenced by woodcut and intaglio- two mediums where crosshatching are not as prevalent). Cross hatching isn’t employed quite as much in these drawings of his. Just a nitpick, not trying to be a douchebag.

The Weightson art you showed from Frankenstein reminded by of Jack Katz work on _The First Kingdom_ comics. I find such lush, almost overdetailed B&W linework to be very attractive.

Wrightson did some interesting superhero work, he inked a Green Lantern/Green Arrow and a Buckler Batman story that appeared in 1975 and a Ditko Moorlock 2001 for Atlas.

"I don't like it, I don't like it! Oh l, that's not fun!" Gotta change my underwear from pissing my pants laughing! Hilarious!

Can you please,please do one on Richard Corben ? His artwork has been in underground comics for a long,long,time and did lots of Creepy and Eerie stories ! Coverartist extraordinaire !

Instant Death is the best NOLA hot sauce, brother. One mocrodrop will season a big ol' pot of chilli.

Only recently discovered this channel and really, really enjoying it! This particular episode and the wonderful dark moodiness of Wrightson's artwork makes me want to see you do something relating to the collaborations between John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake; either their work on The Spectre or Martian Manhunter and the themes that were explored in those series with Jim Corrigan's journey as a character or the exploration of the real nature of J'onn J'onzz.

It was an implanted microchip in the dog, not a camera on his collar.

Man, his work on Cycle of the Werewolf with Stephen King was fantastic. I am going to have to hunt down his version of Frankenstein and that issue of Creepy, if i can even find it.

I had a comic book with a guy who wore blue tights and there was some sort of child murderer or abductor in it who has screwdriver. Do you know what it's called? Because I can't find it anywhere.

8:45 Jennifer is indeed terrifying.

I always found it surprising that the original publication of Wrightson's Frankenstein was by Marvel!!??!!

this video helped me pass my history midterm at nyu! we read sir gawain and the green knight and talked about these "green men" in literature! thanks, chris!

You've done a man's job sir...

Swamp Thing was one of my favorites as a kid, I was raised in a native village in Alaska!! We all thought he was cool

There was a Masters of Horror episode called Jennifer. The pic you showed looked just like it. I really wonder if theres a connection.

My pagan friend prays to the Green Man every year in spring for her plants.

I like a bit of spice, but I also like a good flavor. I can't really handle hot sauce that's too hot. I wouldn't have risked those last three hot sauces you tried.

You forgot to mention that Wrightson was influenced by Graham Ingels.

i liked Gerber's book, Man-Thing, more at the time. Wein was a good writer but Gerber's work got my attention more.

my brother loved spidey and indian food back right when they were both getting popular . one time he ordered a dish he actually had to sign a release before they would serve it to him. the waiter served it wearing a gas mask. the kitchen staff kept coming to the door to see if he was actually eating it. he did but he said it was not worth it. it was all super spice no flavor. he didnt like. now like the rest of us mere mortals he can t take super spicey.