Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons

I recently found 'Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons' for $49 on Amazon. Published in January of 2010, the collection was originally priced at $125. Hardback with slipcover case, beautiful.

As prolific as Gahan Wilson has been, one must admire that he is both writer and illustrator. The last volume of the Playboy collection contains a biography/appreciation and a 32 page interview with Gahan Wilson, along with several of his short stories. The interview goes into a lot of detail about Wilson's process, his relationship with Hugh Hefner, and there are notes about how specific cartoons develop or change and why.

In the interview, Wilson mentions Steven-Charles Jaffe's biographical film documentary, 'Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird', which I have been seeking out since it's debut in 2007.

I own nearly every Gahan Wilson collection, and the Playboy collection includes plenty of his brilliant classics that I've seen and many I have not. Granted, this is a complete collection compiled by date, and not a compilation of selected works, so we are reading at once what was originally intended as an experience separated over time, created for a particular market and publisher. However, thinking about the counterbalance between the New Yorker and Playboy, Wilson has enjoyed a range of freedom to toggle between that allows the working cartoonist to represent himself unapologetically and without fear of being pigeon holed. Although some cartoons are clearly aimed at Playboy, it would be interesting to know how many if any of his cartoons were created regardless of the magazines, given his unique brand of humor. Further, I would love to hear a similar interview discussing his approach and editing parameters at the New Yorker.

The Playboy collection is divided into three volumes:
Vol. 1('57-'73) Vol. 2('74-'93) Vol. 3('94-'08)

The first volume contains probably the most celebrated of Wilson's cartoons and is characterized by a lighter, almost painterly illustrative style. While the second volume includes many strong cartoons, it is in my opinion the least consistent of the three volumes, employing redundant themes that get a bit shticky and the artwork also seems a bit more crude. I might say that, for example, he belabors the cross hatching at times, that the cartoons are heavy or busy, and the drawings less solid. The third volume reflects imaginative and hilarious writing in a mature voice, accompanied by really fun, playful and confident artwork that seems very 'clean' and orderly, and perhaps simplified.

The images in the collection are full size and better print quality than in most collections, revealing details that might have been poorly represented in reproductions. Overall, Wilson let's his artwork go where it will and experiments, sometimes the water colors achieve an atmospheric vignette, with or without crosshatching, else he renders with a simple line or line and wash combo, leaving space to breathe and reducing the visual load.

I have read that Wilson has struggled with alcohol and it would be interesting to identify with certainty how that comes out in the cartoons. He is self aware about his own paranoia which is harnessed in his work, and at times I believe I am seeing extreme variation in the drawing style that might indicate an altered state - not so much the bizarre imagery as much as the actual line quality or slant of the shapes.

Wilson mentioned in an article that he would depict scenes from Edgar Allan Poe because they (Playboy) realized that people didn't really know the work - he has also cited H.P. Lovecraft. The appreciation section of Vol. 3 mentions the influence of Basil Wolverton and Chester Gould upon Wilson's work. Although it is known that Gary Larson was inspired by both Gahan Wilson and Charles Addams (and Wilson by Charles Addams), I couldn't help but wonder if Wilson was at all influenced or impacted by Gary Larson's arrival onto the scene during the 80s - a few of Wilson's captions from the second and third volumes seem to have a Larson-like ring to them, and in certain instances in the third volume the simplified visual style is more free of heavy hatching, and somewhat visually evocative of Larson.

To completely blow my speculation apart, I found a reference to cartoonist B. Kliban (January 1, 1935 – August 12, 1990) as a primary inspiration for Larson. More Kliban galleries here and here. Read more about B. Kliban on wiki. Doesn't this Kliban cartoon bear a curious resemblance to Brian from Family Guy? Some reviews online mention the influence of Shel Silverstein - looking through Kliban's cartoons, I found one in particular that fits the bill.

Regardless of style and format, ideas may stand on their own - afterall, the gag panel cartoon is itself a shared format. While stylistic borrowing threatens encroachment, it is ultimately a delivery mechanism dependent upon concept, though not entirely independent from the visual expression. A great artist may not create a body of cartoon work without great ideas, but a great writer may communicate volumes with minimal or derivative artistic vehicle. A unique, expressive and recognizable visual style is harder to quantify or protect. Having both sides of the equation, Gahan Wilson has stood on his own for over half a century, delivering funny, compelling ideas through brutally funny drawings.

Incidentally, I read the Charles Addams biography and was disappointed to learn that, unlike Gahan Wilson and Gary Larson, Addams was primarily an illustrator and relied heavily on gag writers, which was the standard arrangement with the NYer at that time. While Addams enjoyed the celebrity, unique identity, and prosperity, he also suffered from the pressure to maintain because he was not the source of the writing.

I'm glad to see and consider Gahan Wilson's body of work in Playboy as a whole. I'm reluctant to say that my favorite collections are 'Still Weird' and 'Even Weirder'. I would like to cull together Wilson's contributions from the Complete Cartoons of the New Yorker collection and consider those works relative to the Playboy collection.

Note that Gary Larson was invited to draw a cover for the New Yorker in 2003, 'an offer that was too prestigious to refuse'. Published in 2003 and originally priced at $135, 'The Complete Farside 1980-1994' collection is available on Amazon for $75).