Walter Simonson and Lee Weeks

Walter Simonson and Lee Weeks Collaboration, “Tarzan vs Predator”, 1996, Dark Horse Comics

In the center of the earth lies Pellucidar, the last bastion of primeval forest in the world. To Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, this is sacred ground. But to the Predators, it is hunting ground. Dark Horse Comics presented Tarzan vs. Predator at the Earth’s Core, by Walter Simonson and Lee Weeks, on January 1, 1996. When Tarzan receives word that Pellucidar’s greatest warriors and strongest beasts are being killed, and his friend David Innes, ruler of Pellucidar, has gone missing, there is no question that he must travel to the earth’s core to investigate. The people of Pellucidar rest a little easier, knowing that their protector is coming. And in this land of eternal noonday sun, the Predators rest up for their greatest challenge yet!

Bernie Wrightson

Bernie Wrightson, “Frankenstein” Illustrations

Frankenstein was a comics adaptation of the novel of the same name, first published in 1983 by American company Marvel Comics, with script and art by Bernie Wrightson.

This edition reprints the full novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley published in 1831, with illustrations by Wrightson. It includes an introduction by Stephen King and from Wrightson himself. The illustrations themselves are not based upon the Boris Karloff or Lee films, but on the actual book’s descriptions of characters and objects. Wrightson also used a period style, saying “I wanted the book to look like an antique; to have the feeling of woodcuts or steel engravings, something of that era” and basing the feel on artists like Franklin Booth, J.C. Coll and Edwin Austin Abbey.

“I’ve always had a thing for Frankenstein, and it was a labor of love. It was not an assignment, it was not a job. I would do the drawings in between paying gigs, when I had enough to be caught up with bills and groceries and what-not. I would take three days here, a week there, to work on the Frankenstein volume. It took about seven years.” -Bernie Wrightson

For the 25th anniversary of the first edition in October 2008, a new edition was prepared and released in 1994 by Dark Horse Comics in an oversized (9″ x 12″), hardcover format scanned from the original artwork. It is still available through Amazon books.

Hiroaki Samura

Hiroaki Samura, “Blade of the Immortal”

“Blade of the Immortal” is a Japanese manga series by Hiroaki Samura. The series is set in Japan during the mid-Tokugawa Shogunate period and follows the cursed samurai Manji, who has to kill 1000 evil men in order to regain his mortality.

The manga was originally published in Afternoon from June 25, 1993, to December 25, 2012. A 2008 anime adaption was produced Bee Train and Production I.G. Also in 2008, the novel “Blade of the Immortal: Legend of the Sword Demon” was released in Japan by Kodansha, and two years later in the United States by Dark Horse Comics. A live action film adaptation is scheduled for release in 2017.