This is a nice diversion -- I've been thinking about Ditko's art lately and this little link reminded me: sometimes, the panels are just there just to get the job done.
Wally Wood
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Edited title cos this is certainly NOT off-topic.
~ Linda
This message has been edited by lindaburns on Jan 30, 2004 10:41 AM
That Wally Wood sheet is a classic, and has been in circulation for years....but I have no idea whether or not Wood himself created it. Anyone hazard a guess?
...traditions, handed down through people, and a collection of pretty good ideas. That is Wood's work, but I would doubt whether he would've claimed that he "created" ANY of those panels.
A 2/3 page recap that gets the reader completely up to speed?? You mean they didn't restart with a new #1?? What kind of writer can't stretch that 2/3 of a page into 6 issues. They just didn't care about the trades back then.
~Bob
This message has been edited by BobS620 on Jan 30, 2004 8:34 PM
I absolutely love the work of Wally Wood, and in tandem with Steve Ditko you can't go wrong. Ditko thought very highly of Wood, and praised the Wizard King as some of the best work in comics. I would strongly recommend the new book on Wood, Against the Grain. It has a series of essays, mostly by people who worked with Wood, and is very insightful.
BTW, an article on the Destructor appeared by yours truly in Comic Book Artist #? (The Atlas Issue) some time ago.
The first work by Wally Wood that I ever saw was in the ALL-STAR COMICS revival in the mid-1970s. It was incredible, and introduced me to the JSA, my favorite super-hero team. Soon after that, I read my first JLA issues, drawn by Dick Dillin. Different style, but equally impressive. Reflecting back on it, Wood and Dillin affected me the way Kirby and Ditko must have affected so many people ten years earlier, and started me on a lifelong love of comics.
Wally Wood rocked. I checked out T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents on Daddio's recommendation, it was a lot of fun! It even had some Ditko and Kane art in there, too.
I knew Linda'd love THUNDER Agents. There is a big tradition of Ditko/Wood collaborations, at almost all of the comic companies.
Nick, yer just about everywhere! I'll go reread yer article again!
Frank, thanks for the images! Those are terrific.
The Destructor pages are, well, ok--but those Cannon pages are terrific! Whoo! Heroes, Inc. #1, is it? I remember seeing a second issue of that zine, but it was black & white. Am I anywhere in the right ballpark?
You recall correctly. the first issue of Heroes, Inc. was comic book sized and in color. This appeared in 1969. The second issue was magazine sized and came out in 1976. Both have exceptional art by the Ditko/Wood team (I really like the color comic, but seeing their work in a larger size, fairly decent paper and glorious black and white makes you really appreciate the art!)
The second HEROES, INC. is only tenuously connected to the first -- it's really more of a fanzine project, from Bob Layton's gang, like CHARLTON BULLSEYE. It's clearly a product of the same minds & printer as CB and the issue of WITZEND Layton co-published. I'm guessin' that the first issue's publisher of record never even heard about the second one....
The Mike Vosburg story in that issue -- can't recall the character's name -- is a reworked Nightshade story. Captain Atom even appears in one panel. I'd guess that it, too, was intended for the fanzine version of BULLSEYE.
This message has been edited by PierceAskegren on Feb 26, 2004 12:35 PM
Both Heroes, Inc. books had Cannon and Misfits stories by Wood and Ditko and the first book was edited by Wood so I guess they just have a "slight" connection.
I was commenting more from the business end than anything else -- it's pretty clear that someone else entirely is calling the shots on that second issue, as opposed to it being a direct continuation.
Editorially, you're right, at least about the Ditko/Wood story, which was probably a leftover from what would have been the "real" #2.
