Personally, I consider George Wilson to be one of the greatest comic book cover artists ever. One of the few artists who eschewed interiors and stuck exclusively to covers, Wilson rendered many dramatic visuals over the 100's of works he created. Characterized by dynamic designs and intensely colored (but not lurid) covers, he worked for many comic publishers and titles, very often with Gold Key.
A World War II veteran, Wilson was educated at the Richmond Art School and the Pratt institute, He worked as a commercial artist for various advertising agencies, but found his stride with painting covers for comics and paperback publishers such as Jove, Avon, and Harlequin. Inspired by the work of Alex Raymond, Wilson's comic covers display thrilling scenes, frozen in time, that evoke a sense of adventure and peril that were unique. He worked in mediums of oils, acrylics, opaque watercolors and gouache with equal skill.
Shown here are samples of his original art for various comic book covers that have been sold at auction for a number of years.
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| BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #29 |
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| BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #42 |
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| DARK SHADOWS #10 |
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| DARK SHADOWS #11 |
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| OCCULT FILES OF DR. SPEKTOR #7 |
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| RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT #77 |
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| SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON #13 |
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| STAR TREK #43 |
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| THE TIME MACHINE (CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED) |
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| TUROK, SON OF STONE #46 |
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| THE TWILIGHT ZONE #24 |
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| UFO FLYING SAUCERS #11 |
Ripley's Believe It or Not, #77 (Sailors, Rowboat) is NOT by GW. I believe that later cover is by MEL CRAWFORD.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jim. This was sourced by the Grand Comics Database via Heritage Auctions where the piece was listed. Granted, nobody's 100% correct, especially when dealing with these subjects from so far in the past. Thanks for browsing the site!
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