Cover illustrations for 'Tarzan' and 'Turok, Son of Stone'.
Although not a comic book illustrator himself, American illustrator George Wilson has been influential in the presentation of many non-superhero comic books as a prolific cover illustrator. He most notably painted hundreds of covers for the Dell Comics and Gold Key brands of Western Publishing from the 1950s through the 1970s.
Early life and career
Educated at both the Richmond Art School and the Pratt Institute, Wilson worked as a commercial illustrator for ad agencies and for publishing houses like Dell Publications, Bombay Boomerang, Jove, Avon and Harlequin Books from the 1940s through the 1990s. His main inspirations were the classic episodes of Alex Raymond's 'Flash Gordon' and the line work of illustrator Noel Sickles. He made illustrations for romance and wild west paperbacks, including book series like 'The Hardy Boys'. He served in Normandy during World War II.
Cover illustrations for War Stories Combat and Star Trek.
Dell Comics
Wilson began his production as a cover painter for Dell Comics in 1955. His main output was for titles about Stone Age/jungle heroes like 'Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan' (23 covers), 'Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes' (64 covers), 'Turok, Son of Stone' (53 covers) and 'Edgar Rice Burroughs Korak, Son of Tarzan' (34 covers). Among his many other credits are adventure, sci-fi and mystery comic books like 'Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom' (13 covers), 'The Phantom' (13 covers), 'The Twilight Zone' (20 covers), 'Magnus, Robot Fighter' (12 covers), 'Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery' (32 covers), 'Mighty Samson' (23 covers), 'Ripley's Believe It or Not!' (24 covers) , 'Star Trek' (32 covers), 'Dark Shadows' (22 covers), 'Space Family Robinson' (14 covers), 'Space Family Robinson Lost in Space' (23 covers), 'Space Family Robinson, Lost in Space on Space Station One' (17 covers) and many others. The interior art of these comic books was done by many Western staff artists, such as Dan Spiegle, Alex Toth, Bill Ziegler, Harry Parkhurst, Frank Thorne, Bill Lignante, Mike Arens, John Ushler, Jesse Marsh, Mo Gollub, Russ Manning and Jesse Santos.
Homonym confusion
He should not be confused with the pulp magazine illustrator George Wilson (George Homer Willson, Jr., 1902-1970).
Cover illustrations for Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery and Space Family Robinson Lost In Space.