A while back I posted about the 90s Bernie Wrightson retrospective A Look Back and said that it was the only way from me to see anything from his Frankenstein illustrations when I was a kid. And then I was like, thank god it is back in print and y’all were like, Dude, the Dark Horse Frankenstein (2008) is totally out of print and goes for top dollar (you all said it just like that, with the date in the parentheses and everything). And then we all cursed god together.
Well, friends, I figured I would share the Dark Horse edition of Frankenstein with you, since it is so hard to come by. But I come bearing good news: in 2020, Gallery Books brought it back in print for not a small fortune. The bad news is that it is digest size, so Wrightson’s art is shrunk. This is sort of a travesty, but I was psyched to get some of these plates on trading cards back in the day, so while not the ideal presentation, something is generally better than nothing. Centipede Press keeps threatening to re-issue it, and if they do, you know it will be good, even if it is a kick in the wallet.
And I mean, jeeze, just look at these. Wrightson’s control over light is shocking to me, as is his use of negative space. The plates are so rich and deep, even the heavily white compositions like that snowy cemetery. Look at those regular white dots punctuating the background of that one lab illustration. Or how those swooping lines add both dreaminess and tense movement to the bed illustration. And all the details, endless books and vials and stuff. Maximalism at its finest. A true masterpiece.
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