GREG IRONS' 'DEATH WISH'

Underground cartoonist Greg Irons tells his life story as a "normal" zombie here in this example of his original art, a bizarre twist on society and its numerous expectations of acts of perversion disguised as normal occurrences. Irons also contributed to SKULL COMICS, seen previously in MMW.

Greg Irons Yellow Dog #18 Complete 3-Page Story Original Art (Print Mint, 1970). The late Greg Irons tells a twisted version of his life story in this bizarre three-pager. Irons was definitely a one-of-a-kind artist with a unique style and a taste for the macabre, as this zombie-filled story proves; he also had a wicked sense of humor. The art is in ink and whiteout over graphite with Zipatone shading film on Bristol board, with an average per-page image area of 7" x 10.5". The first page is made up of three conjoined pieces; an early version of the first page's top tier of panels is on the back of one piece. Overall, Very Good condition with handling wear, toning, and a few small stains on the first page. From the Eric Sack Collection.

SKULL COMICS NO. 6

Skull comics lasted for six issues over a period of two years. In his remarkable history of horror comics, Ghastly Terror, Stephen Sennitt lavishes praise on Skull comics, stating: “Issues #3-#6 are exemplary and constitute almost faultless excursions into the darkest regions of horror comic book territory.” For admirers of Lovecraft, it is also important to note that the “Lovecraft issues” of Skull are included in Sennitt’s praise. He goes on to say that, “Skull #4 and #5 present the very best HP [sic] Lovecraft adaptations/variations to ever appear in any sort of comic”. Tall praise indeed, for a group of pot-smoking counter culture hippies possessed of the talent, business sense, and, yes, genius, to unleash their horrific fever dreams upon an unsuspecting, but nevertheless appreciative audience. Skull comics, born out of a kind of unholy union between Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman and E.C.’s Old Witch, have become true underground “cult” comics and remain vigorously sought after by horror aficionados and comics art collectors alike.

George Evans, one of the esteemed, original illustrators of E.C. comics summed it all up nicely in a career reminisce written on 5 December 1994: “Since the E.C. era, all of us have met people at comic conventions who dug EC. Rather than filling prisons and asylums, it turns out they are functioning people in all walks of life, and for me, it’s been a pleasure meeting them.”

SKULL COMICS NO. 5

Skull (#5), published in August 1972, could also very easily have been titled, “Special Lovecraft Issue”, as every story is either a Lovecraft adaptation or derivative of his work. The cover title is cleverly rendered in the shape of bones. The “Last Gasp” logo (Last Gasp Eco-Funnies had published Skull since issue #2) is still there and is accompanied by another, new logo. It is clearly meant to be a parody of a union stamp, as it shows a fist encircled by the phrase “Underground Cartoon Workers”. The cover artwork is by Spain Rodriguez and portrays a scene that is evidently meant to be some kind of ritual chamber inhabited by a gaggle of unholy, debauched denizens, and titled, fittingly enough, “Satan’s Slaves”.

The issue begins with a re-working of Lovecraft’s “The Rats In the Walls”. Written and drawn by Richard Corben (signing his name “Gore”, perhaps in homage to E.C.’s “Ghastly” Graham Ingles?), this version is grislier, and ultimately more horrifying (and better) than the version seen in Creepy just a few years before.

Next up is “The Hand of Kaä”, introduced by and starring a Skull version of “above ground” Charlton Comics’ Dr. Graves, named Wilfred Kreel, Seeker of the Strange. Kreel states: “In my many journeys into the strange, macabre and at times, fascinating, world of the unknown, the case of James Wormwood remains one of the most profoundly disturbing of my career”. The title page shows the one named Wormwood peering with amazement into a copy of The Necronomicon while a giant, corpse-like hand hovers menacingly over his … skull. Drawn by Spain, “The Hand of Kaä” is an over-the-top story of the supernatural that could only have appeared in a title such as this.

The next offering is a two-page spread of Lovecraft’s poem, “To A Dreamer”, drawn by Charles Dallas and Kim Deitch. Originally a part of the series of verse known as “The Ancient Track” in the 1963 Arkham House, Collected Poems (Fungi From Yuggoth & Other Poems in the Ballantine paperback version from 1971), “Dreamer” makes for an ethereally effective interlude between the more gruesome tales.

The last entry is entitled, “The Shadow From the Abyss” and is an illustrated version of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Out of Time” by Larry Todd, who collaborated for a time with the infamous underground comix legend Vaughn Bodé. Once again, using only a few word balloons, Todd succeeds in inducing the narrative style of Lovecraft in combination with his own dark and evocative artwork. A fitting finale to the Lovecraft cycle brought to life in Skull comics.