Finally At witzend!

I'm wrapping up my month-long focus on Wally Wood with arguably his most significant contribution to comics, the prozine witzend. Wood was an artist constantly on the prowl for opportunities and in retrospect his career has a real gypsy aspect to it as he bounced from one project and company to yet another and yet another. He was in many ways like others of his generation of artists such as Steve Ditko and Gil Kane who were not necessarily content with the corporate approach to comics and the limitations on expression that imposed. 

So he decided to create witzend (at one time called et cetera) and gave a space for his fellow pros to see their work published for no fee but also no pay, the difference being they kept the rights. witzend was black and white version of what Image Comics would do decades later but on a much, much larger scale and with a keener interest in profit. In these pages readers found stories unlike what the "Big Two" were producing but they were stories written and drawn by that same talent. Wood introduced such features as Animan, the Pipsqueak Papers, Bucky Ruckus, The Rejects and perhaps most importantly the early installments of his unfinished fantasy epic The World of the Wizard King. 

After the first four issues, all of which sported Wally Wood covers, the control and ownership was shifted over to Bill Pearson for a buck and the publication carried on for a total of thirteen issues before folding in 1985. Wood remained a contributor. He generated one more cover, a delightful color wraparound illustration. See it below with the rest of the covers for the run. 

witzend was a notable milestone in the changing of the way comics were made. Famously or perhaps infamously comic book shops were factories with talented and competent craftsmen producing product owned by the company in all respects with the "creator" getting paid merely for his time and effort and not able really in most cases to realized any share specifically of the profits his work generated. That of course has changed over the decades for a host of reasons. But artists like Wally Wood waking up to the notion that he was an artist and not just a field hand and taking steps to find outlets for his expression was not a small marker along the road of that change. 

I have had a blast taking a closer look at Wally Wood and I have learned a bunch I didn't know. There are several things I anticipated getting to that I didn't and that means that it might be time again some time in the future to take yet another close look at one of the finest comic book artists of any time.

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Weird Sex-Fantasy!

One aspect of Wally Wood's career which I've not really spent too much time on is his bent for pornography. Back when comics were squeaky clean vehicles meant only to entertain the teeming and impressionable youth of America and little beyond it was perhaps sensible by and large to keep things like raw unbridled sex at arms length. But that didn't mean that artists didn't dabble in that greatest of all human endeavors, and one of the first I ever knew about who drew stuff like this was Wally Wood. You'd find him on the latest issue of DC's Justice Society of America rendering a sexy new character like Power Girl, rendered strikingly but still within the confines of the weakening but not yet extinct Comics Code Authority. At the same time you could look higher in the racks where the little kids couldn't reach or perhaps behind the counter and find more raucous and frank presentations of sex from a master like Wood. One example I remember seeing back in the day is the Weird Sex-Fantasy Portfolio. He did a bunch of others such as his Gang Bang Comics and this Malice in Wonderland and Wizard of Ooze for men's magazines but those I never encountered until much more recently.  Here is that portfolio in all its NSFW glory!

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The Blind Man Sees Red!

As important as fine talents the likes of Gene Colan and Frank Miller have been to the development of the Daredevil comic book, it's easily arguable to me that the single most important artist in the history of the was Wally Wood. What Wood did was simply transform Daredevil from a musty looking superhero who might've dropped in out of the Golden Age into a sleek modern hero literally suited for the Silver Age. He did it with a single color -- red.

From his inception the design of Daredevil had played off his name by adorning his cowl with little horns. What Wally Wood did was to take that notion and give the character named "Devil" a deep rich color which evoked his name in all its glory. Soon after taking the helm Wood started diddling with the look and along with Stan Lee even made sure the hero got some high profile exposure in the Fantastic Four of all places and by fighting one of the greatest of all Marvel battles ever against the indomitable Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner. "The Man Without Fear" earned his nickname when he put it all on the line against the Sea King and there was no going back.

Despite small-ball but visually spectacular villains like the Stilt-Man, the comic was secure because watching DD in battle was exciting in itself.

Not all the stories made sense, but getting there was nearly all the fun. Daredevil was establishing himself as a hero who took on all comers and looked good doing it.

Wally Wood's tenure was brief though and ended when Bob Powell was brought aboard to finish Wood's layouts in the terrific two-parter featuring the debut of the villains who would be called the Ani-Men. These guys are all Wood, who wrote the first half of the two-part adventure. With that Wood left the book and a fellow named John Romita took the helm, no slouch himself.

Wally Wood stepped aboard the Daredevil comic book one more time, inking Frank Miller in a story from his epic run. It was a hearty reminder of the early days when Wally Wood had saved the comic from the dustbin of history.

It was then that Daredevil was established as the comic without fear.

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The Daredevil In Yellow!

Daredevil was the comic without fear. Marvel was on a dandy run, creating new heroes every month and growing in response to fan demand. Stan Lee had found a formula for success which leaned heavily on artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko for the hits which changed the face of comics and made the Silver Age profoundly different and profoundly modern. 

Taking the approach which had worked on Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Lee turned to Bill Everett, the Golden Age creator of the Sub-Mariner. That lasted exactly one issue. Everett was a master in his time but his Daredevil look positively antique, well-crafted but of a different era.

Lee turned to EC veteran Joe Orlando to take up the slack and inked by Vince Colletta the comics looked more like what Marvel was doing elsewhere. 

Despite battling the borrowed Spidey villain Electro and running up against new foes like The Owl and The Purple Man, Daredevil seemed to be a comic which was sputtering. 

Even the soon-to-be-obligatory crossover with Spider-Man himself under the penciling hand of Steve Ditko himself only showed what might be missing from the Daredevil comic itself. The stories were good, but felt like stories which might've been produced a decade before. 

And then Joe Orlando's old partner Wally Wood took the helm of the book and brought a true-blue big name feel to a book which in truth had been put together by many qualified veterans. Wood brought something which had been missing despite all the good intentions -- excitement. Admittedly the Matador was an opponent inspired by Daredevil's little horns, but he did look good. Mr. Fear and his partners the Ox and the Eel were a blend of old and new but looked fresh nonetheless. 

But most importantly Wally Wood identified the problem with Daredevil pretty quickly -- the costume. The yellow and black and red fighting togs which DD had put together were right out of the Golden Age of comics, something you'd see someone on the Justice Society of America wear maybe.. Quickly  Wood added a bit of dash with another "D" to the chest symbol. Now Daredevil was "DD" formally for all the world to see. But Wally Wood wasn't done yet. More tomorrow.

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DD And Dynamo!

Two of Wally Wood's most famous creations collide atop a vintage spare Wood skyscraper. Dynamo is the highest profile hero for the THUNDER Agents and while Daredevil was not Wood's creation, the amazingly effective red costume was (with the addition of the missing double-d emblem). Now for the fans who bought The Rocket's Blast Comics Collector the two heroes clash and Dynamo gets the short end, but that's perhaps to be expected since Wood pitted DD against the Sub-Mariner of all people, and he survived. Daredevil is the ultimate underdog superhero and it's likely Wood identified with that. More Daredevil this weekend amigos.

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Neither Man Nor Beast!

One of Wally Wood's most personal creations is the ferocious Animan. That's shown by the fact that Wood saved Animan for his independent publication witzend!

Animan appears in the first two issues of witzend. The splash above is clearly inspired by this Hal Foster panel from the earliest adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes. 

(This is my favorite Tarzan image and arguably my favorite book cover.)

It's possible that Frazetta was inspired by it for Tarzan and The Lost Empire and then Wood by him. 

It was a pose which clearly made a powerful impact on Wood, as he used it in other places as well. Here it's the cover of a volume of Sally Forth comic strips. 

Animan even appears here as part of the advertisement for issues one and two of witzend. The drama of this panel is potent indeed. 

There are sketches of a figures much like Animan found on pages from Wood's earliest days . Clearly this was a figure he felt  deeply about.

To read the both parts of the Animan story from witzend #1 and #2 go here. 

Last year I picked up the full saga in this tome from Vanguard. The Animan stories are easily the most impressive pages in the book.

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