Wallace "Wally" Wood

Wally Wood was probably one of my favorite MAD artists. Although, he did so much more work than just MAD Magazine. I had first come across his work in a compilation called The Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics. This book was really my first introduction to many other classic comics and classic comic book artists. And Plastic Man.

And the page above from MAD Magazine's Superduperman was one of the stories in that compilation.

There were several things that attracted me to Wally Wood's art... other than the way he drew women since I was going through puberty at the time... one of which was his drawing style and the way he was able to mix the slightly more realistic style of the superhero comics with a very cartoony style. Years before Todd MacFarlane did it in the pages of Spider-Man. The other was the insane and almost obsessive way he would cram so many odd images and jokes into every panel. Even something as simple as constantly changing Superduperman's logo in every single panel.

Another favorite of mine was the work he did on a parody of Walt Kelly's Pogo. Apparently, Walt Kelly himself liked it and even did parodies of his own comic in MAD on occassion. Even in his attempts to make the characters look bizarre and different in this parody, Wood does an amazing job aping Kelly's style.

Wood had also done many penciling and inking jobs for the big boys Marvel and DC, doing work on titles such as Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Challangers of the Unknown, House of Mystery as well as artwork for TOPP's classic Mars Attacks trading cards and helping to create the Earth 2's version of Supergirl called Power Girl.

I have to confess, I never read any of Wood's more adult work like Sally Forth.

Sadly, Wood's later life was not the happiest having suffered bouts of inexplicable headaches and kidney failure due alcoholism. A stroke in 1978 caused him to lose eyesight in his right eye. Faced with declining health and career prospects he committed suicide by gunshot in 1981 at the age of 54.

I was thrilled recently to see that Batman: Brave and the Bold animated his immortal Batman parody Batboy and Rubin. The animation was a terrific homage to Wood's original.

At his height he was definitely up there with the greats. And if you're just getting started out in comics and comic books I definitely recommend you check out Wally Wood's work.