Greetings to you, comic art lover!
I am
THE
APOCOLYTE!
Today you are privileged to see one of the greatest examples of black and white sequential graphic storytelling ever published!
Short and sweet of it -- Wally Wood is probably my # 1 favorite comic artist of all time. Even though he is famous for his regular four-color comics, Wood was undoubtably a master at using light and shadow to create his 3D like drawings. The heart and soul of his style is based on this manipulation of white and black spaces on the comic book page. That is why any work Wood did can generally stand on it's own, in black and white, sans color.
This story, done for VAMPIRELLA #9 in 1971, was specifically drawn for black and white reproduction. I have always loved this story, since the first time I read it. It is one of Wood's all-time best.
Here then is Wally Wood's -
THE CURSE!
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THE CURSE!
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Apocolyte: I read this through twice. What a powerful and terribly touching story. I know Wood primarily from his EC work, which was magnificent, but he never got a tale like this one at EC. Where to start with all that is right with this? The art speaks for itself, I suppose. You can tell a Wood page at 100 paces. Light and shadow - yes, my friend, well said. That last panel, or next to last, where he changes back to his true self - that really needs to be on my wall, or in a fine ats museum. Damn.
ReplyDeleteAnd the story is perfect - just perfect.
Everytime I see Wood's work it makes me a little sad because of what happened to him. he doubted his own talent. Can you imagine?
Thanks for sharing this. I can already tell I won't be forgetting this one anytime soon. -- Mykal
Mykal -
ReplyDeleteThanks. I gree with everything you said -- that transformation panel(s) are a thing of beauty as only Wood could create, and the tragic tale suddenly ends on the one happy note in the whole gripping symphony, where the lizard happily scampers off to join his family! I could talk for days about this story...the wonderful art design for the sequence going through the tunnel - the only other artist to do something that creative and pull it off , Eisner comes to mind...
The sad issues leading his his suicide are documented elsewhere better than I could say here. Sad.
But his body of work remains to ultimately present him as a giant among midgets, so to speak, as comic artists go.
Til next we meet, Mykal!
I also love that ending, Zorg at least has his life back. The scene with the skeletal warrior on the mountain top; WOA, talk about brilliant use of contrasting black and white. I need to read more Wood. My few encounters with his art came from Tower Superhero comics.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this story Apocolyte.
r/e
r/e - Thanks for the feedback, and the pleasure is all mine. It is always gratifying when someone lets me know they enjoyed a post...and I also singled out the skeleton warrior as a great shot that I considered for the 'opening panel' on this post, but Wood is so good every panel is a work of art! There is some great stuff in the Tower comic books, but he really hit his stride at EC in the 50's...anyway, come on back again, because I will definately be posting as much Wood as I can!
ReplyDeleteWhile we appreciate your genuine enthusiasm for Wood's work, we just feel like you must know that, it is illegal to post full length comics stories that are still under copyright protection. As long as there is some academic discussion accompanying it, it is legal to post a few example pages from any story but, not more that 15 to 20% of a complete copyrighted story.
ReplyDeleteBest regards,
www.WallaceWoodEstate.com