Wayne Howard Self-Portrait

I'm told this is a self-portrait of sometime Woodworker Wayne Howard, best known for his channeling of Woody on Charlton's MIDNIGHT TALES run of the 1970's.

Came the Dawn

We may have linked to an earlier re-presentation of this story but here it is again from GRANTBRIDGE STREET. It's a beautifully drawn and well written EC tale from SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES. Enjoy CAME THE DAWN!

http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2010/05/came-dawn-by-al-feldstein-and-wally.html

One of a Kind Wood Anniversary Gift

Marsha from Washington State wrote me this morning to thank me for this site. Always good to hear, of course, but in her case, it was because she was able to use the site a little more specifically recently. With her permission, I'll let her tell it:

Hello! My husband and I recently celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary and I  couldn't have made my gift to him without your site. We have self imposed  guidelines and budget constraints for gift giving, every gift has to be  home-made and we can spend no more than $10 each on materials. I first saw Wally  Woods 22 panels on your site awhile back and bookmarked the image for future  use. I've attached a pic of the final result. All of the images came from your site or from links you provided. The frame and  board (approx. 32.5" x 56.5") were purchased at the Goodwill for 5.99 plus tax,  and the rest of my budget went to black spray paint. I printed out the back  ground images on my inkjet, took them to work and ran them through the  photocopier so I could mod-podge(matte finish) them to the board. After the  background was complete I printed out Wally's 22 panels on thin photo-paper and  used spray adhesive to attach them to the background. 

Thank you again, 

 Marsha in Washington State=

Thanks so much for writing, Marsha! May you have many more great years and great anniversary gifts to come!
 

When Al Met Wally

A. L. Sirois, a successful artist (as well as a writer and musician) himself for many years now, started out as a Woodworker in the seventies during Woody's last peak period. Here, on his always interesting blog, he tells of his first meetings with his mentor.

Apologies to Al for borrowing an image of him from Facebook.

http://www.alsirois.com/2009/wordpress/?p=134

DD & the Fellowship of Fear

From the other side of the pond, Joe Bloke shares with us an early--pre-red costume--DAREDEVIL story by Stan Lee and Wally Wood!

http://grantbridgestreet.blogspot.com/2010/05/daredevil-trapped-by-fellowship-of-fear.html

Jungle Jim Revisited

The Internet being a vast and mighty place, today we find the same JUNGLE JIM stories from yesterday along with the third story from the same issue over at Pappy's! The difference here is that Pappy gives the ever-helpful Bhob Stewart space to explain the creation of the stories in this issue! Seems they are by Wood...sorta......with the help of about a dozen or so diverse hands including Bhob himself on scripts and Steve Ditko on pencils for the cover story as seen here.

http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.com/2010/05/number-741-stewart-and-woods-jungle-jim.html

Jungle Jim

Woody is given credit for these two stories from a 1969 Charlton issue of JUNGLE JIM but the first one especially looks like his inks over layouts/pencils from lesser hands. With Charlton's less than stellar printing, however, it's hard to say. Where does that girl's nose keep disappearing to??

http://www.thecharltonstory.com/2010/05/witch-doctor-of-borges-island-and.html

Mr Max Meets Mr Wood

Peter Max. without whose psychedelic art the sixties could not have really been the sixties, had his own magazine at one point. The first issue featured a little-seen strip drawn by Wood with an odd, underground feel. You can see for yourself here:

http://hairygreeneyeball2.blogspot.com/2010/05/mr-mouse-meets-peter-max.html

The Wally Wood Letters

Not certain how I have missed linking to this before now and I'm sure that most Wood fans have seen this already but over at TV PARTY (of all places) there is a fascinating section by John Hitchcock that details late in life correspondence with Wood. I exchanged a couple of letters myself (oddly long gone. I save everything but NOT those!!??) during the FOO period and he was cordial and optimistic. Read some of these yourself.

http://www.tvparty.com/comics/wood.html

Menthor Original Art

The late and much lamented DIAL B FOR BLOG credited this page of original art of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS to John Giunta and "Wood's studio."

Butcher-Topps

Woody's Classic Covers # 38

Here's the more recent reprint of ODKIN, SON OF ODKIN. Sadly this cover is much better than anything in the book itself as Wood's art was in severe decline and lesser hands finished the project with him.

RIP Frank Frazetta

Wally Wood's contemporary, Frank Frazetta, went on to become the most respected fantasy artist of the latter half of the twentieth century. News comes today that Frazetta has passed. Here's a Buck Rogers cover he did for FAMOUS FUNNIES that has been said to be a tribute to Woody's style...at least as far as the machinery goes.

Flying Devil

Found this mid-sixties Topps airplane art online and it SAYS it's Woody's but I don't really see it. What's your opinion?

Wood's Self-Publishing Announcement-1978

Wally Wood Should Have Beaten Them All

I'm not at all certain how I missed this extremely perceptive essay on Wood published back in February by author and comics historian, Dan Nadel. I see quite of few names of readers of this blog in the comments so undoubtedly many of you did NOT miss it. For those like myself that did, here's a link, courtesy of Wood superfan Greg Firmin over on Facebook. Thanks, Greg!

http://comicscomicsmag.com/2010/02/wally-wood-should-have-beaten-them-all.html

Menthor

It may seem somewhat heavy-handed now but T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent Menthor was named "John Janus." Janus--as in two faced. Thus it was planned from the very beginning that he should be a traitor and leading to one of comics' most memorable death scenes...as well as redemptions. Here's an early full page pin-up of the character with his Atom-like costume.