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"...and then we'll get him!"
Fine; Signed. See scans. Signed First edition and first printing [stated] of the softcover edition, which was issued simultaneously with the hardcover. New Richard Marek, 1978. Flat signed by Wilson on the ffep. Quarto, illustrated wraps, 125 pp. Fine condition; flawless. First edition of the seventh collection of cartoons by the master of the macabre, who has been called a hybrid of Charles Addams and Woody Allen - but that seems to me to fall well short of what he is. Born in 1930, Wilson gained fame for his uniquely chilling - yet funny - cartoons in Playboy Magazine. Wilson runs his gamut of topics and mood in this one. Scarce as the first and signed. L-32
125 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1978
22 people want to read
About the author
Gahan Wilson
283 books49 followersGahan Wilson was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.
Wilson's cartoons and illustrations are drawn in a playfully grotesque style, and have a dark humor that is often compared to the work of The New Yorker cartoonist and Addams Family creator Charles Addams. But while both men sometimes feature vampires, graveyards and other traditional horror elements in their work, Addams's cartoons tended to be more gothic, reserved and old-fashioned, while Wilson's work is more contemporary, gross, and confrontational, featuring atomic mutants, subway monsters, and serial killers. It could be argued that Addams's work was probably meant to be funny without a lot of satirical intent, while Wilson often has a very specific point to make.
His cartoons and prose fiction have appeared regularly in Playboy, Collier's Weekly, The New Yorker and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. For the last he also wrote some movie and book reviews. He has been a movie review columnist for The Twilight Zone Magazine and a book critic for Realms of Fantasy magazine.
His comic strip Nuts, which appeared in National Lampoon, was a reaction against what he saw as the saccharine view of childhood in strips like Peanuts. His hero The Kid sees the world as a dark, dangerous and unfair place, but just occasionally a fun one too.
Wilson also wrote and illustrated a short story for Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions. The "title" is a black blob, and the story is about an ominous black blob that appears on the page, growing at an alarming rate, until... He has contributed short stories to other publications as well; "M1" and "The Zombie Butler" both appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and were reprinted in Gahan Wilson's Cracked Cosmos.
Additionally, Gahan Wilson created a computer game titled Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House, in conjunction with Byron Preiss. The goal is to collect 13 keys in 13 hours from the 13 rooms of a house, by interacting in various ways with characters (such as a two-headed monster, a mad scientist, and a vampiress), objects, and the house itself.
He received the World Fantasy Convention Award in 1981, and the National Cartoonist Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Gahan Wilson is the subject of a feature length documentary film, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe.
Wilson's cartoons and illustrations are drawn in a playfully grotesque style, and have a dark humor that is often compared to the work of The New Yorker cartoonist and Addams Family creator Charles Addams. But while both men sometimes feature vampires, graveyards and other traditional horror elements in their work, Addams's cartoons tended to be more gothic, reserved and old-fashioned, while Wilson's work is more contemporary, gross, and confrontational, featuring atomic mutants, subway monsters, and serial killers. It could be argued that Addams's work was probably meant to be funny without a lot of satirical intent, while Wilson often has a very specific point to make.
His cartoons and prose fiction have appeared regularly in Playboy, Collier's Weekly, The New Yorker and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. For the last he also wrote some movie and book reviews. He has been a movie review columnist for The Twilight Zone Magazine and a book critic for Realms of Fantasy magazine.
His comic strip Nuts, which appeared in National Lampoon, was a reaction against what he saw as the saccharine view of childhood in strips like Peanuts. His hero The Kid sees the world as a dark, dangerous and unfair place, but just occasionally a fun one too.
Wilson also wrote and illustrated a short story for Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions. The "title" is a black blob, and the story is about an ominous black blob that appears on the page, growing at an alarming rate, until... He has contributed short stories to other publications as well; "M1" and "The Zombie Butler" both appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and were reprinted in Gahan Wilson's Cracked Cosmos.
Additionally, Gahan Wilson created a computer game titled Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House, in conjunction with Byron Preiss. The goal is to collect 13 keys in 13 hours from the 13 rooms of a house, by interacting in various ways with characters (such as a two-headed monster, a mad scientist, and a vampiress), objects, and the house itself.
He received the World Fantasy Convention Award in 1981, and the National Cartoonist Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Gahan Wilson is the subject of a feature length documentary film, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 6, 2021
A tiny Don Quixote sits on a tiny charging horse, tiny Sancho loyally at his side, his sword extended towards the electric fan on the other side of the desktop. A wistfully smiling Sherlock Holmes examines a butterfly with his magnifying glass, "Ah well-- back to business." A man slipping into bed pulls back the sheet and is horrified to see that the smiling lady on the pillow is only a severed head; "Surprise!" she shouts. My favorite is the sweet little old lady watching a Cthulhu-like octopoidal beast in her kitchen mangling a pair of plumbers, who are telling her, "Well, we found out what's been clogging up your drains!" Gahan Wilson was an absolute genius cartoonist, the master of the amusingly bizarre, hilariously macabre, and ironically odd. This book collects well over a hundred on his classic cartoons from diverse sources such as Playboy, Audubon, The New Yorker, National Lampoon, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I always smile, no matter how many times I read them.
July 16, 2017
Gahan Wilson’s -and then we we-ll get him- is for me a funny walk down memory lane. I can remember some of these cartoon when they were first published, usually but not always in Playboy. His comic twist on the dark side draws on a long tradition of dark humor and drawn uniquely by Gahan Wilson.
Just how big is that bug that has been going around? What does a deposed Adolph Hitler do if he had made it to South America? What can an honest fortune teller offer a shriveled elderly man who asks about his future? Is there a funny exit line to offer up at your own firing squad? Likely these are not the kinds of questions many of us ponder. In the hands of cartoonist Gahan Wilson Not only will the answers give you cause to let your inner daemon smile, the art work will have you smiling before you read the captions.
Just how big is that bug that has been going around? What does a deposed Adolph Hitler do if he had made it to South America? What can an honest fortune teller offer a shriveled elderly man who asks about his future? Is there a funny exit line to offer up at your own firing squad? Likely these are not the kinds of questions many of us ponder. In the hands of cartoonist Gahan Wilson Not only will the answers give you cause to let your inner daemon smile, the art work will have you smiling before you read the captions.
July 22, 2016
3.5 stars. Rounding up because some are so timeless that I can use them in a presentation for work.
Black humor, New Yorker magazine style cartoons, in the vein of Charles Addams although with a unique style. Happy to add it to my collection. Excellent art work for the genre.
There were a lot with someone about to be murdered which were somewhat disturbing to me.
The less homicidal ones were great and I laughed out loud several times.
Definitely the best way to spend an evening after meeting with H.R. regarding a Toxic Manager.
Black humor, New Yorker magazine style cartoons, in the vein of Charles Addams although with a unique style. Happy to add it to my collection. Excellent art work for the genre.
There were a lot with someone about to be murdered which were somewhat disturbing to me.
The less homicidal ones were great and I laughed out loud several times.
Definitely the best way to spend an evening after meeting with H.R. regarding a Toxic Manager.
September 22, 2016
Wonderful collection of macabre, hilarious Gahan Wilson cartoons. Not to be missed.
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July 2, 2019Great, if you like gahan Wilson
July 23, 2019
More than a few absolutely morbid and amusing cartoons.
March 30, 2020
I know that a number of these were done in color, and they don’t translate as effectively to black and white pieces. Still, delightfully Gahan.
January 24, 2024
Like hilarious horror movies in single panels.
January 7, 2017
A few repeats from the Playboy collection of Wilson's work, but enough comics that I hadn't seen to make this a worthwhile read. I wish that today's comics had more tentacle monsters.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews