Gahan Wilson
Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.
Also recorded as Gahan Allen Wilson
Gahan Wilson

Jeff · Gahan Wilson and me · CC BY 2.0
- Name
- Gahan Wilson
- Birth Name
- Gahan Allen Wilson
- Born
- 18 February 1930
- Birthplace
- Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
- Died
- 21 November 2019
- Place of death
- Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
- Field
- Cartoonist
- Full name
- Gahan Allen Wilson.
- Nationality
- United States.
- Occupation
- cartoonist, comics artist, writer and illustrator.
- Fields
- cartoonist.
- Education
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q5516907 · wikipedia · Gahan Wilson
In this article
Biography
Biography
Gahan Wilson studied at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is cartoonist. Francisco Goya, Charles Addams and Chester Gould are recorded as an influence. Distinctions recorded are Inkpot Award and Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.

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Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Gahan Wilson • Birth Name — Gahan Allen Wilson • Born — 18 February 1930 • Birthplace — Evanston, Illinois, U.S. • Died — 21 November 2019 • Place of death — Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. • Field — Cartoonist
Biography
Biography
Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by the work of the satiric Mad and Punch cartoonists, and 1950s science fiction films. His cartoons and prose fiction appeared regularly in Playboy, Collier's and The New Yorker for nearly 50 years. He was a regular contributor to the National Lampoon humor magazine. He published cartoons and film reviews for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. From 1992 through end of publication, he prepared all the front covers for the annual book Passport to World Band Radio. Wilson was a movie review columnist for The Twilight Zone Magazine and a book critic for Realms of Fantasy magazine. Wilson wrote and illustrated a short story for Harlan Ellison's anthology Again, Dangerous Visions (1972). He also contributed short stories to other publications; including "M1" and "The Zombie Butler" both of which appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and were reprinted in Gahan Wilson's Cracked Cosmos (1975). In 1975 he designed a small trophy, a bust of H. P. Lovecraft, to be given to winners of the World Fantasy Award; the bust was retired following the 2015 awards amid complaints about Lovecraft's history of racism. A new statuette designed by Vincent Villafranca depicting a tree in front of a full moon was released in 2017. Wilson created a computer game, Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House, with Byron Preiss. He wrote the 1992 animated short Diner.[1] In 2009, Fantagraphics Books released Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons, a slipcased, three-volume collection of Wilson's cartoons and short stories for that magazine. A collection of his work, Fifty Years of Gahan Wilson, was published in 2010.
Personal life
Personal life
Wilson was married to author Nancy Winters (née Nancy Dee Midyette) from 1966 until her death in March 2019.[7] In 2019, Wilson's stepson Paul Winters announced that Wilson was suffering from advanced dementia. Wilson died from complications of dementia on November 21, 2019, in Scottsdale, Arizona.[9][10]
Children's fantasy
Children's fantasy
• Matthew Looney series written by Jerome Beatty Jr., illustrated by Gahan Wilson: • Matthew Looney's Voyage to the Earth (1961) • Matthew Looney's Invasion of the Earth (1965) • Matthew Looney in the Outback (1969) • Matthew Looney and the Space Pirates (1972) • Maria Looney on the Red Planet (1977) • Maria Looney and the Cosmic Circus (1978) • Maria Looney and the Remarkable Robot (1978) • Bob Fulton's Amazing Soda-pop Stretcher: An International Spy Story (1963) written by Jerome Beatty Jr., illustrated by Gahan Wilson[11] • Harry, the Fat Bear Spy (1973) • Harry and the Sea Serpent (1976) • Granny's Fish Story (1975) • The Bang Bang Family (1974) • Spooky Stories for a Dark and Stormy Night (1994) • Didn't Didn't Do It (2007) written by Bradford Morrow, illustrated by Gahan Wilson
Identity
Identity
Autumn is dated c. Recorded as cartoonist, comics artist, writer and illustrator. Recorded at birth as Gahan Allen Wilson.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1930–2019
The full dated record · 16 entries
1930
Gahan Wilson born at Evanston.
1972
Again, Dangerous Visions is dated 1972.
1974
The Bang Bang family is dated 1974.
1975
The Cracked Cosmos of Gahan Wilson is dated 1975.
1975
The Cracked Cosmos of Gahan Wilson (1975) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1975
The Weird World of Gahan Wilson (1975) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1977
Gahan Wilson's Favorite Tales of Horror is dated 1977.
1978
"... and then we'll get him!" is dated 1978.
1985
Gahan Wilson's America (1985) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
1988
Everybody Duck Ltd is dated 1988.
1988
Modern Masters of Horror is dated 1988.
1994
Murder for Halloween is dated 1994.
1996
The big book of freaks is dated 1996.
1997
Great Writer's and Kids Write Spooky Stories (Great Writers & Kids Anthology) is dated 1997.
2003
Gahan Wilson's Monsters' Party is dated 2003.
2019
Gahan Wilson died at Scottsdale.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Evanston.
Birth place
Scottsdale.
Death place
Books edited by Gahan Wilson
• Gahan Wilson's Favorite Tales of Horror (1976) • The First World Fantasy Awards (1977)
Context
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Gahan Wilson stands. Recorded as having received Inkpot Award and Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Holdings and surviving copies
Where the work is held
Holdings and surviving copies
Where material relating to Gahan Wilson is held. Formation and teaching. Wilson studied at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His recorded influences include Francisco Goya, Charles Addams, Chester Gould, Hieronymus Bosch and Toonerville Folks.
Awards
Wilson was honored with three different lifetime achievement awards. He received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991.[2] In 2005, he was recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the World Fantasy Awards.[3] He also received the National Cartoonists Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.[4] Wilson received additional awards for his work. In 1981 he won the World Fantasy Convention Award; the trophy was the Lovecraft bust he designed in 1975. In 1996 he received the Convention award for Artist. In 1989 he was honored with the Inkpot Award.[5] Wilson is the subject of a feature-length documentary film, Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird, directed by Steven-Charles Jaffe.[6] He was an influence on later alternative cartoonists, including Gary Larson, John Callahan and Bill Plympton.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Gahan Wilson's Diner. July 31, 1992.
- 2.Bram Stoker Awards. Lifetime Achievement Award.
- 3.World Fantasy Awards. Winners.
- 4.National Cartoonists Society. Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement.
- 5.Comic Con International. Inkpot Awards.
- 6.IMDB. Gahan Wilson: Born Dead, Still Weird.
- 7.Gehr, Richard. The Comics Journal, April 27, 2011.
- 8.Gahan Wilson is Suffering from Advanced Dementia, by D.D. Degg, at The Daily Cartoonist; published March 3, 2019; retrieved March 3, 2019
- 9.Genzlinger, Neil. Gahan Wilson, Vividly Macabre Cartoonist, Dies at 89. The New York Times. November 22, 2019.
- 10.Farrell, Paul. Gahan Wilson Dies: Famed Cartoonist Passes Away at 89. Heavy.com. November 22, 2019.
- 11.Beatty, Jerome. Bob Fulton's Amazing Soda-pop Stretcher: An International Spy Story. W.R. Scott. 1963. 2291036.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 31
- Gahan Wilson's Graveside Manner (1965)
- The Man in the Cannibal Pot (1967)
- I Paint What I See (1971)
- * (1972) in Harlan Ellison (Ed.), Again, Dangerous Visions 2, Signet, New York, 1972
- Playboy's Gahan Wilson (i) (1973)
- Gahan Wilson's Cracked Cosmos (1975)
- The Weird World of Gahan Wilson (1975)
- And Then We'll Get Him! (1978)
- Nuts (strip collection) (1979)
- Playboy's Gahan Wilson (ii) (1980)
- Is Nothing Sacred? (1982)
- Gahan Wilson's America (1985)
- Eddy Deco's Last Caper (1987)
- Everybody's Favorite Duck (1988)
- A Night in the Lonesome October (1993) (illustrated by Gahan Wilson; written by Roger Zelazny)
- Classics Illustrated: Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven and Other Poems (1990)
- Still Weird (1994)
- The Big Book of Weirdos (1995)
- Even Weirder (1996)
- The Big Book of Freaks (1996)
- The Cleft and Other Odd Tales (1998) (stories and illustrations by Gahan Wilson)
- Gravediggers' Party (2002)
- Monster Party (2003)
- The Best of Gahan Wilson (2004)
- Pop Art (2007) (illustrated by Gahan Wilson; written by Joe Hill. 52 hard covers signed by Mr. Hill, limited edition lettered from A to Z. Rare.)
- Gahan Wilson: 50 Years of Playboy Cartoons (2010) (slipcased three-volume set containing all of Wilson's cartoons for Playboy)
- Nuts: A Graphic Novel by Gahan Wilson (2011) (collects his entire Nuts comic strip, Fantagraphics)
- Gahan Wilson Sunday Comics (2013) (Publication Date: September 7, 2013)
- Gahan Wilson's Out There (2016) (collects material 1964–1981 from Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
- White, Dale Andrew. "Little, Wrinkled and Green": an interview with macabre cartoonist Gahan Wilson. Twin Rivers Press. April 16, 2011.
- Wiater, Stanley. "Gahan Wilson: Overheard In Appreciation". In Boston, MA: The Lovecraft Society of New England (eds). NecronomiCon: The Cthulhu Mythos Convention Aug 20–22, 1993 (convention souvenir book), pp. 13–16.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q5516907: Gahan WilsonWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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