Norman Rockwell's Evil Twin

For lack of a better metaphor, suffice it to say that visits from my UPS driver and his delivery brethren make almost every day like Christmas at my address. But the recent arrival of Fantagraphics’s Gahan Wilson’sFifty Years of Playboy Cartoons (three volumes, slip-cased, 942 pages), containing over a thousand of Wilson’s singular comics, was akin to winning the lottery, or the Cubs winning the World Series. Or something like that.

Wilson, whose work has also in appearedin The New Yorker, Punch, and The National Lampoon, has been referred to as “Norman Rockwell’s evil twin” (New York Times), and has been embellishing magazines for over half a century. The Playboy compendium contains all the work that has appeared in every issue of the magazine from his first appearance in the December 1957 issue to today. This includes Wilson’s short fiction, such as  “Horror Trio” and  “Dracula Country,” and his text /art creations, such as his take on Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

Neil Gaiman, who has on a few occasions  collaborated with Wilson, introduces the collection (Hugh Hefner also has some choice remarks):

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