I don't know why, but to this day I'm an unconditional fan of Gahan Wilson's work, and for some weird reason I seem to be the only one in Amazon. But no matter, that'll be my own private secret.
I've been an avid reader of Playboy, and have been collecting the magazine since 1969. The reason I liked it so much, was due to the cartoons. Playboy had the best cartoonists, and among all those talented artists, my favorite was always Gahan Wilson. Contrary to the other Playboy cartoonists, Mr. Wilson at no time relied on a naked chick, and his cartoons were never sexy (unless you find a grotesque monster sexy). I never understood what he was doing in Playboy, but then I didn't care. His humor was constantly dark, his drawings done with a trembling line -- as if he had an abominable creature peering over his shoulder, and he had get the drawing done hastily--, and he used some of the most sickening (or boring) colors ever: pastel yellows, lime greens and washed-out reds. Nevertheless, there's always something unnerving about his drawings, though in the end you'll laugh yourself silly.
I must say Mr. Wilson paved the way to artists like Gary Larson and Dan Piraro. He said he was influenced by Charles Addams, but I always get a feeling Gahan Wilson went way beyond whatever Addams could've done.
That said, let's talk about this excellent book that the kind folks at Fantagraphics did especially for me. During the mid 70's Gahan Wilson thought of doing a strip for the newspapers, and came up with this idea for the Sunday papers: a strip that isn't a strip! Named "Gahan Wilson's Sunday comics", it features a series of one panel gags -- that don't seem to follow any particular idea or theme, but rather seem disparate gags, one following the other in a succesion of weird drawings. In other words, it doesn't belong to any particular comic strip format (remember what I mentioned earlier about him being the only non-sex cartoonist working for Playboy?). However, that's Gahan Wilson. Actually, I don't know whether this strip appeared anywhere else aside of the Boston Globe, to whom he sold it to, but who cares. I had already seen some of these gags reprinted in black and white, but never knew they came from a Sunday strip. So, now we get to see them (may I say for the first time?) reprinted in their full, glorious Sunday color.
The humor is absurd, silly, but always hilarious. Nobody draws monsters like Gahan Wilson (or has such a twisted mind). Every now and then we get an extra gag that seems to follow a recurring theme, as are "Future Funnies" (as its name indicates, humor about the future), and "The Creep" (about a Shadow-like creature).
To say that this book is mandatory for those who like weird, black humor, goes without saying. To say that it's a hardcover collecting Wilson's Sunday strips in color for the first time, is enough to alert any serious comic book collector.
I can't stop recommending this book enough. Anyway, I thank Fantagraphics for giving me this present, and I'm eagerly awaiting the one of Charles Rodrigues, too.
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