As a teenager, he took particular note of comic books drawn by
Wally Wood, who became a major influence. In Manhattan, Bassford studied at the
School of Industrial Art (which later became the
High School of Art and Design), and he entered the
commercial art field in the early 1950s with
magazine gag
cartoons and packaging art for
toy boxes. His pen-and-ink illustrations were published in the magazine
Amateur Art & Camera in 1954. Bassford's first work in comics came in 1957 with "What Happened on the Mountain!" for
Atlas Comics'
World of Mystery, reprinted in Atlas'
World of Fantasy #13 (August 1958). At the Wally Wood Studio, Bassford was an artist on
Tower Comics'
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents almost from the start. Beginning with the second issue, he assisted Wood on the penciling of "Dynamo Battles Dynavac" (reprinted in Tower's
The Terrific Trio paperback). Bassford, Wood and
Dan Adkins teamed on
The Munsters, a comic book adaptation of the 1964-66
CBS television series. Bassford also worked with
Gil Kane on
Undersea Agent. '' 11 (May 1971) An interview with Bassford about Wally Wood in CFA-APA #40 noted the educational aspect of the Wood Studio: "His later black-and-white work using Craftint doubletone board was truly amazing. I learned to use the valuable tones available with
Zip-A-Tone Benday shading sheets simply by studying Woody's application." After
James Warren recruited Bassford for
Warren Publishing in the early 1970s, beginning with an illustration in
Vampirella #11 (May, 1971), he contributed to both
Creepy and
Eerie. For
Creepy #39 he drew "The Dragon Prow" from a
Steve Skeates script, and in issue #41, he executed "The Hangman of London" for "Creepy's Loathsome Lore." For
Eerie #39, he illustrated
Doug Moench's "The Mysterious Men in Black!" for "Eerie's Monster Gallery." His work as an illustrator spans a wide range of subjects from
science fiction and
fantasy interiors to color cartoons and the poems of
Nick Kenny. His
airbrushed informational-card illustrations for International Masters Publishers have covered military aircraft; mermaids and creatures for IMP's
Myths and Monsters series; and
Sports Heroes, Feats & Facts. Bassford's drawings have appeared in a variety of publications, including
Screw and
Bill Pearson's
Sata. For the magazine
Fantastic he illustrated two stories: "The Forest of Unreason" by Robert F. Young (July 1961) and
The Trekkers by
Daniel F. Galouye (September 1961). ==Ad art==