Seeing a recent tout on the right hand side of this column with a photo of Wally Wood and a Daredevil cover made me want to click on the link.
I had heard the Marvel Bullpen recording before, but forgot how vivid and bright Wally's piece was.
It stired some memory of collecting comics in the 1980s, as the Uncanny X-men were bursting into prominence and DD was blossuming under Frank Miller again.
I was driving the expressways of Detroit, working downtown in the shadow of the Fisher Theatre building near GM world headquarters, But while helping out a friend run small bi-weekly comic-shows (swap shows, really) I got to know most of the comic shops in the region or north suburbs. There was one on the west side that I occassionally went to, and after loosing a job and having to move in with my girlfriend, I started driving to Comics Archives.
The owner must have had a thing for Wally Wood, because about mid-way through the 80s, he had a box of $1.00 per magazine publications, that I had never seen before. They had weird titles like "Witz-ends" and "The Marvel Comics Fantasy Worlds of Wally Wood" and there were several Comics Journals, Comics Interview and Fangora magazines.
How I kick myself for not buying up those books and magazines, as I didn't realize they were Wally Wood publications. There may have been a few Gang Bang and Sally Forth magazines as well, though I suspect the owner/operator pulled those out of the box when some younger kids came into the store and started flipping through the box.
I tried to spread my comic buying habits around a lot, but I could count on every comic shop not only having every Marvel printed, but also all the DC books,and the independants as well. And when the black and white boom came, thanks to Cerebus and the Teen Aged Ninja Turtles, well, they had to have them also. Unfortunately, everyone was trying to corner the market on The NEXT BIG THING, and started tieing up their capital in books (B&W fanzines) that nobody wanted. One by one, the comic shops started going under.
But the west side shop not only thrived, cause there wasn't much competition around that area, but also because they were smart at marketing and limiting their expenses. They also employed someone who was a talk-show host on the local "hour for rent" talk radio station and on Saturdays, launched a "talking comics" show. It varried between interviews of comic creators, national talent, and local trends. I would listen closely, as I lived about 25 miles away and could just barely pick up the station's daytime signal and call in with various soft ball questions, happy to give them some variety in topics, voices and support. Unfortunately, when the job market called me to move to Utah, I had to leave them all behind, (and the final 12th issue of Watchmen as well).
But I made my final phone call across country at the appropriate time period (adjusted for time zones) and gave them one final call/question and bid them farewell and goodbye...implying that I could still hear them (pre-internet radio station podcast days) all the way in Salt Lake City! They were impressed for a station that was barely 100 watts of power!
Chet, the radio host and assistant manager of the store, wound up going to work for Fantagraphics, as I recall, and parleyed his experience into a great career. I've lost track of him and his last name.
So my memories of Wally Wood are tied up in that time period and my passing by all those great Wood self-published independant magazines while comics sold for anywhere between 50 cents and 1.25
We were convinced that they could never get more expensive than that, or it would doom the industry.
What are your memories of Wally Wood, his art, his projects, his fascinations (tactful, eh?) and his career?
Replies
I think I have all the issues of Witzend that Wood self-published. It was a mix of genres, including mad-comic style comedy. San Diego Comic Con used to have Ink Pot Awards banquets where you would pay to eat at a table with a comics professional and several other fans. One year I found myself at a table with Wood. I was a little disappointed because he seemed very withdrawn and uncomfortable. He was pleasant but didn't really talk to anyone. I followed my instincts to let him be.
I guess there were some "PLOP" style books with bizarre humor covers as well. Didn't appeal to me at the time at all.
At what age did Wood's skills start to flag? What disease was doing him in? And when did he die?
Don't know when his skills started to flag.I've always enjoyed the work of his that I have seen. What disease? Well he was an alcoholic. He also suffered a stroke, and then committed suicide in the '80s sometime.
Kirk G said:
According to Wikipedia:
"For much of his adult life, Wood suffered from chronic, unexplainable headaches. In the 1970s, following bouts with alcoholism, Wood suffered from kidney failure. A stroke in 1978 caused a loss of vision in one eye. Faced with declining health and career prospects, he committed suicide by gunshot in Los Angeles, California three years later. Toward the end of his life, an embittered Wood would say, according to one biography, “If I had it all to do over again, I’d cut off my hands.”
Nothing like a cherry blog post!
Robin Olsen said: