Bernie Wrightson & the Conqueror Worm

Here is a scan of Bernie Wrightson's piece "The Conqueror Worm." This drawing always kind of creeped me out. I guess it's a combination of the white eyes and the slug-like tail. It was used as the back cover of the Berni Wrightson Treasury (1975)and was the front cover of a Wrightson checklist published right around the same time. More below...



Below I've posted the last panel of the last issue of Swamp Thing Bernie drew, (#10, June 1974). Apparently, Swamp Thing's next foe was going to be "The Conqueror Worms." Since the drawing here was done around the same time, I always wondered if it was something left over from the run-up to Swamp Thing #11, which of course Wrightson never drew. I don't know if a character like this big worm guy shows up in #11, I've never read it.



The phrase "The Conqueror Worm" is from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem appears to be about the inevitability and finality of death.