Wolverton's Bible

He never had a single art lesson, but he's been called “the Hieronymous Bosch of comics.” He's also been called “the most bizarre cartoonist who ever lived.” And though he was one of the greatest artists of the Golden Age, Basil Wolverton is also well known for a completely different kind of illustration. Yes, the man best known for his creepy space freaks and grossly out-of- proportion weirdos made a whole new name for himself in 1961 with his work on The Bible Story.

It all began when Basil Wolverton was born in 1909. He started selling illustrations as a child, and though he did odd work for newspapers and humor magazines in the '20s and '30s, he really burst onto in the '40s and '50s with the sci-fi oddness of Spacehawk and the rhyming, alliterating, bald-headed muscleman Powerhouse Pepper. In 1947, his Lena the Hyena - a contest-winning hag that was all warts, teeth - debuted. Work for MAD magazine and a variety of other EC, DC and Marvel titles followed suit.
Then, in 1961, Wolverton began work on simplifying the text and executing hundreds of black and white illustrations for the Book of Genesis through the Book of Samuel.

These illustrations are minutely detailed with fine lines and crosshatch patterns that give the illusions of dramatic space and, often, movement. That they are in simple black and white lends to this effect. From exotic, staring lions and trunk-waving elephants emerging from Noah's Ark to lizard-like pagan idols to stark splashes of white representing deadly bolts of fire, Wolverton's works are moving, inspiring, and often shocking. Wolverton also illustrated a series of disturbing, apocalyptic color works from the Book of Revelations, separate from The Bible Story.

He once said, “I realize my drawings tend to turn delicate stomachs, but I kind of consider myself one of the tops in the horror-comic field.” How right he was. Wolverton died in 1978, and was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2000.

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