The 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

Few artists have so widened the possibilities for how to create graphical narratives than DAVE MCKEAN (1963– ). And even fewer artists have the ability to pack so much storytelling into single images. Yet McKean, known for his work illustrating writers ranging from Neil Gaiman to Jonathan Carroll to Tori Amos, possesses something rarer still: the uncanny ability to create images that spark an instant visceral reaction in the viewer. Powerful tools for a wielder of weird, these. We thank our lucky stars for his breathtaking body of work.

The Weird Tales team was delighted this weekend to present author Neil Gaiman and animator Bill Plympton — both guests at the New York Comic Con — with plaques commemorating their place in our list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” Neil graciously accepted his award from editorial director Stephen Segal during a VIP reception for donors to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, while Bill received his at an exciting showcase of his latest films.

“85 Weirdest” honoree Grant Morrison was a guest at the con too, but proved elusive — so before passing along his plaque through proper channels, our assistant Renee Farrah did her best to convince the writer’s most famous fictional colleague to accept on his behalf.

(Neil Gaiman photo by Katie Thomson)

The March/April 85th anniversary issue of Weird Tales features our big list of “The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.” We’re breaking it down online, too: one honoree per day, in no particular order, for 85 days!

Among the great invented mythologies of the 20th century — the Cthulhu mythos, Middle-Earth, the Star Wars galaxy — must also be numbered NEIL GAIMAN‘s (1960– ) spooky “Endless” cosmology of the landmark graphic novel series The Sandman. From there, Neil has gone on to become the most beloved weird storyteller of a generation, the Bradbury of the multimedia age, spinning tales like American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Coraline. To top it all off, he seems to have personally actualized the life of Jubal Harshaw. Sir, we salute you.

Neil Gaiman will appear tonight at the New York Comic Con‘s fundraiser for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Also, tomorrow at the NYCC: the Weird Tales 85th anniversary panel discussion, featuring Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, WT editorial director Stephen H. Segal, artist Molly Crabapple, pulp historian and horror editor Stefan Dziemianowicz, and more!

Readers wrote us in record numbers when we asked you who, in your book, are the weirdest of the weird: the most influentially strange authors and artists and talespinners of all kinds to work their magic on the world in the 85 years since 1923, when Weird Tales was born. We asked that you not limit your suggestions to just fiction writers, and you responded enthusiastically, naming hordes of filmmakers, songwriters, cartoonists, and more. We took your ideas, added a few of our own, called some top fantasy professionals to put in their two cents, and then dove into the long and arduous process of winnowing the list down to a mere 85 names.

Our 85th anniversary issue — featuring fiction by Michael Moorcock, Sarah Monette, and Tanith Lee, nonfiction by Cherie Priest, and Jeff VanderMeer’s interview with China Míeville, and is still available for purchase online — introduced the 85 Weirdest Storytellers individually. If one of your favorite weirdos didn’t make the list, you can share your weird and let us know! Our 90th anniversary isn’t that far away…

Meanwhile:

WEIRD TALES presents: The 85 Weirdest Storytellers 1923-2005

• DOUGLAS ADAMS
• CHARLES ADDAMS
• LAURIE ANDERSON
• J.G. BALLARD
• NICK BANTOCK
• CLIVE BARKER
• ART BELL
• BJÖRK
• DAVID BOWIE
• RAY BRADBURY
• MARGARET BRUNDAGE
• WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
• TIM BURTON
• KATE BUSH
• OCTAVIA BUTLER
• ANGELA CARTER
• NICK CAVE
• LON CHANEY SR.
• CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
• JOEL & ETHAN COEN
• ALICE COOPER
• DAVID CRONENBERG
• R. CRUMB
• ROALD DAHL
• SALVADOR DALI
• SAMUEL R. DELANY
• PHILIP K. DICK
• STEVE DITKO
• HARLAN ELLISON
• M.C. ESCHER
• VIRGIL FINLAY
• CHARLES FORT
• NEIL GAIMAN
• TERRY GILLIAM
• EDWARD GOREY
• GUNTHER VON HAGENS
• JIM HENSON
• ROBERT E. HOWARD
• SHIRLEY JACKSON
• FRANZ KAFKA
• FRIDA KAHLO
• ANDY KAUFMAN
• STEPHEN KING
• STANLEY KUBRICK
• MADELEINE L’ENGLE
• GARY LARSON
• TANITH LEE
• THOMAS LIGOTTI
• H.P. LOVECRAFT
• DAVID LYNCH
• GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
• DAVE MCKEAN
• RAND & ROBYN MILLER
• MICHAEL MOORCOCK
• ALAN MOORE
• CATHERINE L. MOORE & HENRY KUTTNER
• GRANT MORRISON
• JOYCE CAROL OATES
• MERVYN PEAKE
• PENN & TELLER
• BILL PLYMPTON
• THOMAS PYNCHON
• ANNE RICE
• ROD SERLING
• DR. SEUSS
• ALICE SHELDON, a.k.a. JAMES TIPTREE JR.
• CHUCK SHEPHERD
• CLARK ASHTON SMITH
• STEPHEN SONDHEIM
• REV. IVAN STANG
• OSAMU TEZUKA
• HUNTER S. THOMPSON
• KOOL KEITH THORNTON, a.k.a. DR. OCTAGON
• KURT VONNEGUT
• TOM WAITS
• ALICE WALKER
• KARA WALKER
• ANDY WARHOL
• SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER
• JOHN WATERS
• ROGER WATERS
• WIM WENDERS
• THORNTON WILDER
• ROBERT ANTON WILSON
• WARREN ZEVON

Kudos to them all: creative geniuses whose work, in whatever form and flavor, has shown an affinity of spirit with the brilliantly freaky storytelling that’s been the hallmark of Weird Tales since the magazine was born 85 years ago this very month.

(Don’t see one of your favorites here? Help us compile more weirdness! Go to the Share the Weird page and tell your fellow readers about the weird storytellers you love the most!)