Wolverton Artwork.pdf - Friends of the Sabbath Australia

such as Spacehawk, Powerhouse Pepper, Rockman, Disk-Eyes the Detective,
Scoop Scuttle, and Mystic Moot and His Magic Snoot.
When Armstrong moved his growing operation to Pasadena, California in 1946,
he relied on Wolverton to pastor a small congregation in the Portland area. That
same year, Wolverton achieved national fame outside of comics as winner of Al
Capp's Lena the Hyena contest. This led to his grotesque drawings and
caricatures being featured in Life and Pageant magazines. In the early 1950s,
Wolverton also produced his finest comic book work -- 17 horror and science
fiction features, including "Brain -Bats of Venus" and "The Eye of Doom." The
early MAD magazine utilized Wolverton's unique talents -- and they continue to
use his art today.
Meanwhile, Armstrong's Radio Church of God (later renamed Worldwide Church
of God), and Ambassador College were growing, as were his broadcasting and
publishing efforts. In the early 1950s, he commissioned Wolverton to begin work
on two projects. One was writing and illustrating a story of the Old Testament,
which began serial publication in The Plain Truth magazine in 1958 -- later to be
published in six volumes. The other was this series of spectacular illustrations
depicting shocking scenes from the Book of Revelation, to accompany a series of
articles on that subject in The Plain Truth. -- later reprinted in two booklets, 1975
in Prophecy and The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last.
During the 60s and 70s, Wolverton continued to be active in local ministry,
while continuing to work on his story of the Old Testament, while continuing to
create increasingly bizarre humorous work for a variety of publications and
clients: Plop magazine, Barker greeting cards, Topps, and others.
Basil Wolverton died in 1978. Herbert Armstrong died in 1986. Shortly thereafter,
a reformed Worldwide Church of God abandoned Armstrong's unorthodox
doctrinal constructs, including Anglo-Israelism, an emphasis on prophecy, and
ecclesiastical exclusivism. Plain Truth magazine continues publication, albeit by
a different organization (Plain Truth Ministries) and with very different content.
Wolverton's apocalyptic drawings are an important historical record, not only of a
fanatically (albeit well-intentioned) literal view of biblical prophecy, but of the
mindset of the mid-1950s. The bomb -- the threat of disorder and the breakdown
of society -- radioactivity -- disease epidemics -- cataclysms -- things which
caused the 1950s citizen to break out in perspiration. These are things (perhaps
no less impending -- who knows?) at which we yawn today. But as you gaze
upon Wolverton's images of the ultimate cataclysm, you just might find a few
beads of sweat breaking out on your forehead.