Profile of Wally Wood on Famous Like Me

Wallace "Wally" Wood (June 17, 1927–November 2, 1981), was an imaginative American writer-illustrator who freelanced to a wide variety of markets but is best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. In addition to Wood's hundreds of comic book pages, he also did magazine illustrations, advertising art, commercial products, gag cartoons, LP covers, product packaging, subway posters, syndicated comic strips and trading cards. EC publisher Bill Gaines once stated, "He was just the greatest science-fiction artist there ever was."

Born in Menahga, Minnesota, Wood began reading and drawing comics at an early age, strongly influenced by the comic strip artwork of Roy Crane. He graduated from high school in 1944, signed on with the Merchant Marine near the end of World War II and then enlisted in the Paratroopers in 1946. A member of the 11th Airborne, he went from training in Fort Benning, Georgia, to occupied Japan where he was assigned to the island of Hokkaido. Arriving in New York City in the summer of 1948, he labored as a Bickford's busboy but managed to land his first comic book jobs before the end of the year.

Working from a studio at West 64th Street and Columbus Avenue, Wood began to attract attention in 1950 with his highly detailed and imaginative science-fiction artwork for EC Comics and Avon Comics, some in collaboration with Joe Orlando.

Wood was a prolific workaholic who rarely took a vacation. There were few other comic book professionals who delivered work in such a variety of subjects, from humor and horror to war stories, romantic fiction, superheroes and even "message" dramas for EC's Shock SuspenStories.

Between 1957 and 1967, he produced both covers and interiors for more than 60 Galaxy Science Fiction stories, illustrating Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Jack Finney, C.M. Kornbluth, Frederik Pohl, Robert Silverberg, Robert Sheckley, Clifford D. Simak, Jack Vance and others. He also did six covers for Galaxy Science Fiction Novels between 1952 and 1958.

In 1966, Wood launched an independent magazine witzend. Featuring the work of his fellow professionals, the publication offered an alternative to the mainstream comics industry and is recognized as a precursor to the underground comics movement. After the fourth issue, however, he turned the magazine over to Bill Pearson, who continued as editor and publisher through the 1970s and into the 1980s.

Wood worked on art and stories for both major comic book companies and smaller publishers, including Atlas (Mystic), Avon (Strange Worlds), Charlton (War and Attack, Jungle Jim), DC (House of Mystery, Plop, Stalker, JSA), EC (Weird Science), Fox Feature Syndicate (Martin Kane, Private Eye), Gold Key (MARS Patrol/Total War, Fantastic Voyage), Harvey (Unearthly Spectaculars), King (Jungle Jim), Seaboard (The Destructor), Wham-O (Wham-O Giant Comics) and Warren Publishing (Creepy). For Marvel Comics his work in early issues of Daredevil established the title character's distinctive red costume. In 1965, he created T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Tower Comics. In circles concerned with copyright and intellectual property issues, he is well known as the creator of the satirical Disneyland Memorial Orgy poster, which first appeared in Paul Krassner's The Realist.

Over several decades, numerous artists worked at the Wood Studio, executing work under Wood's direction. The various Wood associates included Dan Adkins, Richard Bassford, Tony Coleman, Nick Cuti, Leo and Diane Dillon, Larry Hama, Russ Jones, Paul Kirchner, Joe Orlando, Bill Pearson, Al Sirois, Ralph Reese, Bhob Stewart, Tatjana Wood and Mike Zeck.

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 on November 2, 1981. EC and Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman, who had worked closely with Wood during the 1950s, once commented, "Wally had a tension in him, an intensity that he locked away in an internal steam boiler. I think it ate away his insides, and the work really used him up. I think he delivered some of the finest work that was ever drawn, and I think it's to his credit that he put so much intensity into his work at great sacrifice to himself."

Wallace Wood received three citations from the National Cartoonists Society (1957, 1959, 1965), and two Best Professional Artist nominations for the Science Fiction Achievement Hugo Award (1959, 1960). In Angouleme, France, in 1978, Wood received the Best Foreign Cartoonist Award. In 1989, he was named to the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame, followed by the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1992.

Wood's art was hugely influential from the early 1950s until the present day. Traces of his style are evident in the work of numerous cartoonists and illustrators, including Kyle Baker, Hilary Barta, Richard Bassford, Sid Check, Larry Hama, Rand Holmes, Wayne Howard, Howard Nostrand, Ralph Reese, Mark Schultz, William Stout, Tom Sutton, Bruce Timm, Bill Wray and Bernie Wrightson.

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