Comic Book Artist #22 Preview by TwoMorrows Publishing

CBA Interview

The Phantom Painter Perhaps Western’s finest cover artist—George Wilson—speaks Conducted by Ed Rhoades

Above: Pete Klaus (left) and Ed Rhoades (middle) pose with Gold Key cover painter George Wilson. Courtesy of Ed Rhoades.

George Wilson’s work is ubiquitous, but most of his comic book art was unsigned, so the general public never knew the man behind those beautifully painted illustrations. When I was young, comic covers of pen, brush and ink were the usual, so when I saw the incredible stuff George was doing for Classics Illustrated and Gold Key, it really caught my attention. Initially, my favorite cover was the one he did for The Time Machine. A few years later, he continued to blow everyone away with all that he did for Gold Key. My friend, Pete Klaus, did a little detective work that finally led us to the artist and I got to know him a little through phone conversations and mail correspondence. My eagerness to meet him resulted in arranging a get-together with George, Pete and I for dinner near the artist’s home in Yonkers, New York, on November 16, 1999. Sadly, the visit with this warm and friendly man was to be our only chance ever to meet with this legendary artist. (He died shortly thereafter, on December 7.) As the editor of Friends of the Phantom, I was particularly interested in the paintings which graced the covers of Western Publishing’s Gold Key and the illustrations for the Avon Phantom novels. His work received more world-wide acclaim and the few pieces of which found their way to eBay commanded some hefty sums, but until I met him, nothing had been published about him. He mentioned that shortly before our dinner, one researcher recently did ask him about his involvement in the Hardy Boys mysteries for which he created pen-and-ink drawings, but nothing about him ever found its way to print.. Through a mix-up, Pete and I waited at the restaurant where we were going to eat while George watched for us at the lobby of his apartment. We kept calling getting George’s answering machine while the artist remained vigilant in anticipating our arrival. Fortunately, he drove to the restaurant and we encountered him in the street outside as he walked up carrying a large manila folder with an illustration he created for Pete to use in our publication. After selecting a suitable table, we finally had our opportunity to become acquainted with the legendary artist. Pete and I had seen his original art on the wall at King Features where we felt like we were in a museum looking at something we had only seen in print. But now, we were about to see something entirely new, that no other Phantom fans had ever laid eyes upon and the excitement was overwhelming. Unable to contain our eagerness, we opened the envelope and were confronted with a stunning example of why his popularity was so enduring. His naturalistic portrayal of the Ghost Who Walks in a classic pose had that glowing aura that Wilson McCoy often signified with black ink feathering… only this time done in fiery yellows and reds. The figure itself was naturalistic… powerful yet unlike the exaggerated super-hero features of today’s comic illustration. It was a comic strip character brought alive but maintaining the mystery and grace of the original genre. It had all the

strength and charm of the Avon and Gold Key illustrations with the understated elegance of an artist who has mastered the medium. For a moment for us, time stood still and we were in the 1970s seeing a new Phantom illustration for the first time done with the conventions and technique that thrilled fans everywhere. It was a moment we will never forget. Our dinner began with him inspecting our pile of Gold Key Phantom comics to determine which ones he had done. Initially, in a phone conversation, he told me that he thought he only did the first few then worked on novels instead, but upon closer examination he recalled doing the cover art for all but three. Some he recalled immediately, but others required him to examine the art for details to jar his memory. Gold Key’s The Phantom #8 which shows the Phantom fighting villains on a tile roof, contains a self portrait of George as a bad guy emerging from a window. One of the surprises was how much of George’s work I had encountered and enjoyed without realizing who the artist was, like all those Classics Illustrated comics from my childhood and even the covers to those romance novels my wife reads. (George did the Silhouette novel coverlets from 1983-92.) The following is the interview that resulted from out dinner. Ed Rhoades: Were you interested in art as a young man? George Wilson: Oh, yeah. I knew what I wanted to be when I was 16. You know most kids don’t know what they want to be when they’re 21 and graduating from college. Even when I was a little kid, I used to get up on a Saturday morning and sit on the couch and draw on the back of the dust jackets the rental library gave out. Ed: You showed the talent early? George: Well, I had the desire anyway. Ed: Did you read comics and pulps? George: At that time when I was growing up the best ones were the Big Little Books and my favorite was Alex Raymond (who did) Flash Gordon. Ed: Did you ever work in pen-and-ink? George: Oh yeah. Ed: Did you do interiors of books? George: As a matter of fact… a woman called me from California. She said her husband is writing a couple of books on the Hardy Boys. She said “I understand you did some. Can you get me the names of them?” And I said I’ll have to consult my workbook. I’ll get back to you; I’ll mail you the list. And son of a gun… I’d done twenty-two. I was surprised… one after another… I did this one… I did that one. They were all pen-and-ink on the inside. Ed: What other mediums have you worked with? George: Well acrylic or oil or a combination. Sometimes when you’ve got a large area you want it to be smooth… acrylic will leave brush strokes, so you go over it with oils. Ed: You were in the armed forces… which branch? George: Engineer… camouflage. We went into Normandy. Ed: Besides Alex Raymond, which artists influenced you? George: Oh gosh, there are so many of them… Noel Sickles…. Ed: Did you like fine art, too? George: Oh, yeah. I was strictly a realist… never went in for avant garde stuff. Ed: Did you work on other comics besides the Gold Keys for Western? George: Well when I first started with Western, the comic books were being done for Dell and then after awhile I think Dell wanted to do their own or something like that, so Western Publishing struck out COMIC BOOK ARTIST 22

October 2002