House of Mystery No. 231 Cover by Bernie Wrightson

Bernie Wrightson had just come off his groundbreaking run with writer Len Wein on Swamp Thing. He would move onto other projects, like the shared working space with Michael Wm Kaluta, Barry Windsor Smith and Jeff Jones which would be documented in the book The Studio and his illustrated Frankenstein.

As well as this Wolfman cover for the House of Mystery, 1974 would also see publication of The Monsters Color-the-Creature Book, which anticipated the adult colouring book market by more than a few decades.

Here’s the cover to House of Mystery No. 231, art restored and recoloured.


House Of Mystery 231 0

As published

House Of Mystery 231 1

Original art scan from Heritage Auctions. It was a fad in the 1970s for artists to hand colour originals for sale to collectors. Thankfully, the colours have faded, making it possible to return the scan to black and white.

House Of Mystery 231 2

Restored art. Some Photoshop manipulation combined with hand-painting out the remaining evidence of the previous colouring.

House Of Mystery 231 3

New colour

House Of Mystery 231 Detail

New colour detail

House Of Mystery 231 4

Re-created trade dress applied


Catspaw Dynamics Comic Book Art Production Services