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Wayne Markley
by Wayne Markley
Cannon
Over the years I have written about Wally wood a number of times. He is one of my preferred artists and, to be fair, his work would modification significantly from job to project. I believe this was identified by exactly how passionate he was about a project. At his worst, he was as great as anyone; as well as when he was influenced he was breathtaking. The reason I am composing this blog is Fantagraphics just recently released a total collection of Cannon. Cannon (along with Sally Forth) was a newspaper strip done for armed forces newspapers overseas. It was a mix of chilly war politics, action, t&a, nudity, as well as a big dose of violence thrown in.
Wood’s profession went with a number of stages over the years, from working as an assistant to will Eisner to inking Jack Kirby (in both Kirby’s newspaper strip sky Masters as well as in the Challengers of the Unknown), to doing the original styles for Topps Mars Attack’s trading cards, to his well-known humor work for mad to producing The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to composing as well as drawing M.A.R.S. Patrol to co-creating DC’s Power Girl. He was a visionary in a number of ways, possibly many famously in his wish to self-publish long before there was a direct market or independent comics. His different attempts at this were mixed, with possibly his many well-known work in this area being Witzend. (Which Fantagraphics is likewise going to gather for the very first time in a deluxe hardcover edition this summer). wood worked in a number of different genres, whatever from fantasy to science fiction to horror to superheroes to adult material (such as the long out of print as well as difficult to discover Wally Wood’s Gang Bang). as well as as discussed before, he likewise did newspaper strips, pulp illustrations, as well as marketing design.
Getting back to Cannon. Cannon was the Borne identity before there was a Jason Borne. He was a us spy who was brain washed by the Russians to be a chilly killing device however he escaped as well as the Americans re-brainwashed him as well as utilized his killing skills for their own devices. Throughout the two as well as a half year run of the strip, Cannon would satisfy as well as seduce a broad range of women, from the farmer’s child to evil Russian as well as Chinese female spies to his boss’s wife. What I truly delighted in about this collection was the speed of the storytelling. wood never squandered a panel in his storytelling as well as each panel moved the story along. like his predecessors, Hal Foster as well as Roy Crane (who his work looks nothing like), he was a master at telling a story as well as keeping it moving at a break-neck pace. Fantagraphics collected Cannon before, numerous years ago, however I believe this hardcover collection is far exceptional in production as well as quality. now I cannot wait to see Wood’s Sally Forth get the exact same deluxe treatment.
Wally Wood’s Eerie Tales of criminal offense as well as Horror
As I mentioned, wood did a number of different genres throughout the years as well as there are other collections of his work that gather these stories. two collections come from Vanguard publishing as well as are called Wally Wood’s Eerie Tales of criminal offense as well as horror as well as Wally Wood’s unusual Worlds of science Fiction. While Vanguard might not reprint any type of of Wally Woods’s great EC stories, Fantagraphics has that covered in a good hardcover called Came the Dawn as well as other Stories. one more collection of his work is the Spirit Archive Vol. 24 which collects a few of his many gorgeous work, the Spirit in Space. Well, the Spirit was truly on the moon however nonetheless it had gorgeous art.
Wally Wood’s unusual Worlds of science Fiction
Wally Wood’s Eerie Tales of criminal offense as well as horror is a collection of Wood’s work, mainly from the 1950s, with mainly horror as well as criminal offense stories. These are short stories with twist endings in the custom of Tales From the Crypt, however there are likewise longer stories such as The Mask of Fu Manchu. This is a fantastic checked out in you see exactly how wildly his art might vary. at times it looks extremely much like everybody else doing horror comics of the time, as well as at other times it is amazingly beautiful. One grievance about this book as well as the unusual Worlds collection is the reproduction as well as the colors leave something to be desired. With Cannon, Came the Dawn, as well as Witzend all of the art is black as well as white so color is not an issue. I believe that unusual Worlds is a much better collection in only that it is all science fiction as well as fantasy stories which wood excelled at. His style was radically different than Frazetta as well as Al Williamson, however it wasjust as beautiful. Both unusual Worlds as well as Eerie were published in softcover as well as hardcover as well as both are worth tracking down.
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
I would be remiss if I did not mention Wood’s superhero comics work. In addition to producing as well as drawing a number of problems of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents as well as Dynamo, he likewise produced M.A.R.S. Patrol, a short lived Gold essential comic in the 1960s. possibly his many well-known superhero work was on Daredevil where he drew as well as devised the early looks (the all red customized for example) as well as style of the character, together with expense Everett. He likewise would do a short however unforgettable run on physician Doom in the pages of Astonishing Tales. (Soon to be collected in marvel Masterworks Rarities). He would relocation over to DC in the mid-1970s where he dealt with the revived All star Comics with the Justice society as well as introduced the busty Power Girl. Alas, busty women were the one thing wood seemed to in shape into all of his stories.
Wally wood died far as well early as the age of 54 by his own hand. He was well-known for his drinking as well as for his capability to tell a story. He had a number of shortcuts on exactly how to tell a story since, for many of his career, he was doing work for hire as well as he was always searching for methods to speed up the process. one of his many well-known non-story arts pieces is 22 Panels That always Work, a three page showcase of exactly how to tell a comic book story. It is really a pity wood never was as well-known as a number of his contemporaries, however I am delighted his work is slowly coming back into print for all of us to enjoy.
As always, whatever written in this blog is my viewpoint as well as I will protect it to the death. Well, not really, however I do not mind a great argument. nothing right here shows the opinions of Westfield Comics or their employees. I welcome feedback, both pro as well as con at MFBWAY@aol.com. I do hope you take the time to inspect out a few of Wally Wood’s work as he was a true master of the comic art form.
Thank you.