Wally Wood is in the pantheon of the greatest and most influential comic book artists. He came into the field in time to make his mark at EC Comics and other assorted publishers, but then came the great comic scare of the 50's and EC mostly went out of business after trying in vain to replace their immensely popular horror comics. Wood continued to work for EC on MAD magazine but eventually that too came to an end. With comic book work hard to find, Wood sought out work in magazine illustration, but found that field crowded as well.
Galaxy Science Fiction was a creation of the 50's. Most of the other venerated magazines were created in the 20's and 30's and had long pulp traditions. But with the pulps dying out, other formats were sought and entering that race was one Horace Gold. Gold had worked in lots of jobs and even had written comics for DC and Fawcett, as well as radio. Then he got the idea for a new more literate kind of science fiction magazine for a more adult, more discerning fan and so was born Galaxy and its companion If. The magazine paid more and so was able to get the big names. Eventually Gold had a hit on his hands and he found he needed good quality artwork.
Wally Wood began contributing to the magazine and was winning accolades from fans and even from other pros. He was nominated for two Hugos but alas was beaten out both times by the likes of Kelly Freas and Ernie Emshwiller. With the help of his studio mates such as Dan Adkins, he produced gorgeous interior black and white illustrations for stories as well some of Galaxy's more memorable covers, both for the magazine and a line of novels they published. Sadly, Gold was stricken ill and passed away. His place at the successful Galaxy magazine was taken by Frederick Pohl. Wally Wood for his part returned to his first love comic books and proceeded to give his fans great work on comics such as Daredevil, the Man Without Fear for Marvel as well as his own creation for Tower Comics the THUNDER Agents.
Wally Wood - Galaxy Art and Beyond from IDW Publishing gathers together ALL of his work for the magazine as well as some scrumptious material from some other sources. Roger Hill, who put together this tome tried to get access to as much original art as he could to present the most beautiful rendition of this sometimes, forgotten Wood work. This is a delightful addition to any Wood collection.
Here are just a few examples of what is here.
Rip Off
That Wally Wood fella sure could draw (and paint), couldn't he! I think the second last cover was reused for one of a four issue (a 5th was added later) series called World Of Wood around the mid-'80s. Thanks for giving me Wood. (Er, perhaps I should rephrase that.)
ReplyDeletePlease do. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. -- Jerry Seinfeld )
Delete"When better drawrings are drawrn, they're drawrn by WOOD. He's real good!" —From MAD Magazine No. 4 "Superduperman" (Apr–May 1953)
ReplyDeleteI concur.
DeleteThose old sci-fi mags and novels always had fantastic covers so unlike the mostly boring covers of modern sci-fi novels.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college I worked up a presentation about how many sci-fi mags of the time used spheres over and over again on their covers. It was amazing how many did it over and over again. Like DC and gorillas it must've been a selling point.
DeleteRead a biography of Wood. Gotta say his career was depressing.
ReplyDeleteHe was probably introverted and/or depressed; drinking didn't help -- may account for later health issues directly or indirectly resulting in his death.
Professionally, he burned every bridge behind him.
That said, none of the above is meant to take anything away from his talent when he didn't cut corners or hack it out.
Did I say sad? It's sad AF.
No doubt that Wood had a self-destructive quality. But most of the work he left is so distinctive.
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