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Gahan Wilson

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Artist

The Resume

    (February 18, 1930-November 21, 2019)
    Born in Evanston, Illinois
    Cartoonist and illustrator
    Regular contributor to The New Yorker and Playboy
    Wrote the comic strip 'Nuts,' which appeared in the National Lampoon
    Received the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cartoonists Society (2005)
    First name pronounced ‘GAY-un’

Why he might be annoying:

    His cartoons were often morbid.
    His nicknames included ‘the Wizard of Weird’ and ‘the Michelangelo of the macabre.’
    He said that he occasionally read gothic novels for inspiration, but ‘The daily papers and television news are a much better source of grotesque humor.’
    He said the cartoon that drew the most angry mail showed a worker and a woman looking at a bearded skeleton in a Santa suit lying in a fireplace, with the caption, ‘Well, we found out what’s been clogging your chimney since last December.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He almost died at birth (‘My mother had been given too heavy an anesthetic and I had turned blue.’), but the family physician revived him with hot water.
    He was left-handed.
    He was married to Nancy Winters for 52 years.
    His influences included the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, the movies of W.C. Fields, and fellow cartoonists Charles Addams and Chester Gould.
    Fellow New Yorker cartoonist Michael Maslin said, ‘Wilson’s art is both the heart-thumping you feel when you dare look under the bed and the relieved inner laugh you let loose after he’s scared the pants off of you.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 51 Votes: 47.06% Annoying