96-440: Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics 's titles such as Weird Science , Weird Fantasy , and MAD Magazine from its inception in 1952 until 1964, as well as for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents , and work for Warren Publishing 's Creepy . He drew a few early issues of Marvel 's Daredevil and established
192-468: A Powers -themed update/homage to "22 Panels," making it available for distribution. In July 2012, Cerebus TV producer Max Southall brought together materials and released a documentary that featured Dave Sim 's homage to Wallace Wood and a focus on his 22 Panels, including a tribute that features a creation using the motif of one of them, depicting Daredevil and Wood himself, in Wallace Wood style – and
288-411: A " film noir -ish bag of effects" in his visuals, while characters and themes found in the crime stories often showed the strong influence of writers associated with film noir , notably James M. Cain . Craig excelled in drawing stories of domestic scheming and conflict, leading David Hajdu to observe: To young people of the postwar years, when the mainstream culture glorified suburban domesticity as
384-505: A Manhattan studio at West 64th Street and Columbus Avenue, Wood began to attract attention in 1950 with his science-fiction artwork for EC and Avon Comics , some in collaboration with Joe Orlando . During this period, he drew in a wide variety of subjects and genres, including adventure, romance, war and horror ; message stories (for EC's Shock SuspenStories ); and eventually satirical humor for writer/editor Harvey Kurtzman in Mad including
480-810: A century, due to reprints that have kept them in the public eye. In 1964–1966, Ballantine Books published five black-and-white paperbacks of EC stories: Tales of the Incredible showcased EC science fiction, while the paperbacks Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror reprinted EC horror tales. EC's Ray Bradbury adaptations were collected in The Autumn People (horror and crime) and Tomorrow Midnight (science fiction). The EC Horror Library (Nostalgia Press, 1971) featured 23 EC stories selected by Bhob Stewart and Bill Gaines, with an introduction by Stewart and an essay by theater critic Larry Stark . One of
576-648: A chemistry teacher. He never taught but instead took over the family business. In 1949 and 1950, Bill Gaines began a line of new titles featuring horror , suspense , science fiction , military fiction and crime fiction . His editors, Al Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman , who also drew covers and stories, gave assignments to such prominent and highly accomplished freelance artists as Johnny Craig , Reed Crandall , Jack Davis , Will Elder , George Evans , Frank Frazetta , Graham Ingels , Jack Kamen , Bernard Krigstein , Joe Orlando , John Severin , Al Williamson , Basil Wolverton , and Wally Wood . With input from Gaines,
672-548: A copy by Larry Hama at the DC office in 1978 light-boxed the pages, incorporating a non-linear dialogue, and asked Par Holman to ink it. Holman inked and lettered the piece, and the completed art was distributed through Clay Geerdes ' Comics World Co-Op, whose members produced mini- and digest-sized comics. In 2006, writer/artist Joel Johnson bought the Larry Hama paste-up of photocopies at auction and made it available for wide distribution on
768-420: A detailed examination of his life and career. It was Stewart's last publishing project, but he did not live to see it in print. EC Comics E.C. Publications, Inc. , ( doing business as EC Comics ) is an American comic book publisher . It specialized in horror fiction , crime fiction , satire , military fiction , dark fantasy , and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably
864-606: A faculty of more than 1,100 and a student body of over 3,000. It offers 11 undergraduate and 22 graduate degree programs, and is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design . Its second president, David Rhodes (appointed in 1978), is the son of founder Silas Rhodes. The interior design BFA
960-712: A financial scandal involving price fixing in its parking operations, Kinney Services spun off its non-entertainment assets as National Kinney Corporation in September 1971, and it changed names to Warner Communications on February 10, 1972. The Tales from the Crypt title was licensed for a movie of that name in 1972. This was followed by another film, The Vault of Horror , in 1973. The omnibus movies Creepshow (1982) and Creepshow 2 , while using original scripts written by Stephen King and George A. Romero , were inspired by EC's horror comics. Creepshow 2 included animated interstitial material between vignettes, featuring
1056-545: A loss of vision in one eye. Faced with declining health and career prospects, he shot and killed himself in Los Angeles on November 2, 1981. 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." Wally's World: The Brilliant Life & Tragic Death of Wally Wood, the World's 2nd Best Comic Book Artist by Steve Starger & J. David Spurlock ,
SECTION 10
#17328698541451152-499: A magic pencil that could draw anything, foretold his future as an artist. Wood graduated from high school in 1944, signed on with the United States Merchant Marine at the close of World War II and enlisted in the U.S. Army 's 11th Airborne Division in 1946. He went from training at Fort Benning , Georgia , to occupied Japan , where he was assigned to the island of Hokkaidō . In 1947, at age 20, Wood enrolled in
1248-649: A meeting of his fellow publishers and suggested that the comic book industry gather to fight outside censorship and help repair the industry's damaged reputation. They formed the Comics Magazine Association of America and its Comics Code Authority . The CCA code expanded on the ACMP's restrictions. Unlike its predecessor, the CCA code was rigorously enforced, with all comics requiring code approval before their publication. This not being what Gaines intended, he refused to join
1344-662: A name he claimed to dislike. Within the comics community, he was also known as Woody , a name he sometimes used as a signature. In addition to Wood's hundreds of comic book pages, he illustrated for books and magazines while also working in a variety of other areas – advertising; packaging and product illustrations; gag cartoons ; record album covers; posters ; syndicated comic strips ; and trading cards , including work on Topps 's landmark Mars Attacks set. EC publisher William Gaines once stated, "Wally may have been our most troubled artist ... I'm not suggesting any connection, but he may have been our most brilliant". He
1440-557: A reprint series called The EC Artists' Library featuring the comics published by EC, releasing each book by artist. This collection is printed in black and white . In 2013, Dark Horse Comics began reprinting the EC Archives in hardcover volumes, picking up where Gemstone left off, and using the same hardcover full-color format. The first volume to be reprinted was Tales From the Crypt : Volume 4 , with an essay by Cochran. In February 2024, Oni Press announced that it will revive
1536-671: A satire of the lawsuit Superman 's publisher DC filed against Captain Marvel 's publisher Fawcett called " Superduperman! " battling Captain Marbles. Wood was instrumental in convincing EC publisher William Gaines to start a line of science fiction comics, Weird Science and Weird Fantasy (later combined under the single title Weird Science-Fantasy ). Wood penciled and inked several dozen EC science fiction stories. Wood also had frequent entries in Two-Fisted Tales and Tales from
1632-432: A second Flash Gordon sendup titled Flesh Fucker Meets Women's Lib! ; and The Wizard of Oz , titled The Blizzard of Ooze . Wood struggled to be as efficient as possible in the often low-paying comics industry. Over time he created a series of layout techniques sketched on pieces of paper which he taped up near his drawing table. These "visual notes," collected on three pages, reminded Wood (and select assistants he showed
1728-449: A series of Artist's Editions books in 15" × 22" format, which consist of scans of the original inked comic book art, including pasted lettering and other editorial artifacts that remain on the original pages. Subsequent EC books in the series included a collection of Wally Wood 's EC comic stories, a collection of stories from Mad , and books collecting the work of Jack Davis and Graham Ingels . In 2012, Fantagraphics Books began
1824-638: A set of two hardcover books ( ISBN 978-1-60699-815-1 , ISBN 978-1-68396-068-3 ), mainly compiled by his former assistant Bhob Stewart over a 30-year period. It is a revised, expanded, and uncensored version of his previous Wood book Against the Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood ( TwoMorrows , 2003). It features personal recollections of Wood's friends, colleagues, and assistants, including John Severin , Al Williamson , Paul Krassner , Trina Robbins , Larry Hama , and Paul Levitz ; previously unpublished artwork and photographs; and
1920-477: A single page, which Hama titled "Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work!!" (It was subtitled, "Or some interesting ways to get some variety into those boring panels where some dumb writer has a bunch of lame characters sitting around and talking for page after page!") Hama left out two of the original 24 panels as his photocopies were too faint to make out some of the lightest sketches. Hama distributed Wood's "elegantly simple primer to basic storytelling" to artists in
2016-600: A sister title, Panic , edited by Al Feldstein and using the regular Mad artists plus Joe Orlando . EC shifted its focus to a line of more realistic comic book titles, including M.D. and Psychoanalysis (known as the New Direction line). It also renamed its remaining science-fiction comic. Since the initial issues did not carry the Comics Code seal, the wholesalers refused to carry them. After consulting with his staff, Gaines reluctantly started submitting his comics to
SECTION 20
#17328698541452112-878: A small library called Library West which houses books specifically on animation, comics, illustration and art therapy. The buildings at 132 and 136 West 21st Street have offices, classrooms and studios for art criticism , art education , art therapy , cartooning , computer art , design , illustration and writing . The building at 132 West 21st Street houses the Visible Futures Lab, a workshop featuring traditional and emerging fabrication technology, which regularly hosts artists in residence. There are several residence halls available for students at SVA, including: SVA maintains three permanent gallery locations across its campus—SVA Gramercy Gallery, SVA Flatiron Gallery, and SVA Chelsea Gallery—which exhibit work from both students and established creative professionals. Every year,
2208-471: A small publisher. After the two shared their experiences attempting to find work, Severin invited Wood to visit his studio, the Charles William Harvey Studio, where Wood met Charlie Stern, Harvey Kurtzman (who was working for Timely/Marvel) and Will Elder . At this studio Wood learned that Will Eisner was looking for a Spirit background artist. He immediately visited Eisner and was hired on
2304-424: A story. At EC's peak, Feldstein edited seven titles while Kurtzman handled three. Artists were assigned stories specific to their styles; for example, Davis and Ingels often drew gruesome, supernatural-themed stories, while Kamen and Evans did tamer material. With hundreds of stories written, common themes surfaced. Some of EC's more well-known themes include: The three horror titles featured stories introduced by
2400-490: A trio of horror hosts : The Crypt Keeper introduced Tales from the Crypt ; The Vault-Keeper welcomed readers to The Vault of Horror ; and the Old Witch cackled over The Haunt of Fear . Besides gleefully recounting the unpleasant details of the stories, the characters squabbled with one another, unleashed an arsenal of puns, and even insulted and taunted the readers: "Greetings, boils and ghouls..." This irreverent mockery of
2496-427: A year. I also started doing backgrounds, then inking . Most of it was the romance stuff. For complete pages, it was $ 5 a page ... Twice a week, I would ink ten pages in one day". Artists' representative Renaldo Epworth helped Wood land his early comic-book assignments, making it unclear if that connection led to Wood's lettering or to his comics-art debut, the ten-page story "The Tip Off Woman" [ sic ] in
2592-464: A young protagonist who goes to great length to acquire and keep possession of an issue of the comic book Creepshow . In 1989, Tales from the Crypt began airing on the U.S. cable-TV network HBO . The series ran through 1996, comprising 93 episodes and seven seasons. Tales from the Crypt spawned two children's television series on broadcast TV , Tales from the Cryptkeeper and Secrets of
2688-571: Is a comprehensive biography. It was published in 2006 by Vanguard , which also publishes collections of Wood's comic book work, including Wally Wood: Strange Worlds of Science Fiction , Wally Wood: Eerie Tales of Crime & Horror , Wally Wood: Dare-Devil Aces , Wally Wood: Jungle Adventures , Wally Wood: Torrid Tales of Romance , new editions of The Wizard King books, and the Wally Wood Sketchbook . In 2017 and 2018, Fantagraphics Books published The Life and Legend of Wallace Wood ,
2784-666: Is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation, the art therapy MPS is approved by the American Art Therapy Association , and the art education MA is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation . The current school logo was created in 1997 by George Tscherny for its 50th anniversary, and redesigned in 2013. In 2019 the school began the process of converting to nonprofit, with
2880-519: Is known as the artist of the unsigned satirical Disneyland Memorial Orgy poster, which first appeared in Paul Krassner 's magazine The Realist . The poster depicts a number of copyrighted Disney characters in various unsavory activities (including sex acts and drug use), with huge dollar signs radiating from Cinderella's Castle . Wood himself, as late as 1981, when asked who did that drawing, said only, "I'd rather not say anything about that! It
2976-640: The Captain Action comic book series in 1968. The following year, Wood briefly served as inker of the Superboy series. Discovering from Roy Thomas that Jack Kirby had returned to DC in 1970, Wood called editor Joe Orlando in an attempt to get the assignment to ink Kirby's new work, but that role was already filled by Vince Colletta . That same year, Wood was a ghost artist for an episode of Prince Valiant . Wood worked on various series for DC between 1975 and 1977, producing several covers for Plop! and inking
Wally Wood - Misplaced Pages Continue
3072-706: The Tales from the Crypt series. Initially, EC was founded as Educational Comics by Maxwell Gaines and specialized in educational and child-oriented stories. After Max Gaines died in a boating accident in 1947, his son William Gaines took over the company and renamed it Entertaining Comics . He printed more mature stories, delving into horror, war, fantasy, science-fiction, adventure, and other genres. Noted for their high quality and shock endings, these stories were also unique in their socially conscious, progressive themes (including racial equality , anti-war advocacy , nuclear disarmament , and environmentalism ) that anticipated
3168-467: The Civil Rights Movement and the dawn of the 1960s counterculture . In 1954–55, censorship pressures prompted it to concentrate on the humor magazine Mad , leading to the company's greatest and most enduring success. Consequently, by 1956, the company ceased publishing all its comic lines except Mad . The firm, first known as Educational Comics, was founded by Max Gaines , former editor of
3264-584: The Fox Comics Western Women Outlaws No. 4 (cover-dated January 1949, on sale late 1948). Wood's next known comic-book art did not appear until Fox's My Confession No. 7 (August 1949), at which time he began working almost continuously on the company's similar My Experience , My Secret Life , My Love Story and My True Love: Thrilling Confession Stories . His first signed work is believed to be in My Confession #8 (October 1949), with
3360-684: The Gramercy Park neighborhood, on Manhattan's east side, and in the Chelsea neighborhood, on the west side. There is a residence hall on Ludlow Street, in the Lower East Side. From 1994 to 1997, it had a branch campus in Savannah, Georgia ; this was closed following a lawsuit from the Savannah College of Art and Design . The library holds books, periodicals, audio recordings, films and other media;
3456-558: The Hogarth School of Art but dropped out after one semester. In 1948, he enrolled in the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (now known as the School of Visual Arts), staying less than one year (although he made a number of professional contacts which helped him later). By October, after being rejected by every company he visited, Wood met fellow artist John Severin in the waiting room of
3552-646: The Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives, which comprises the collections of Chermayeff & Geismar , Seymour Chwast , Heinz Edelmann , Milton Glaser , Steven Heller , Ed McCabe , James McMullan , Tony Palladino , George Tscherny and Henry Wolf ; and the SVA Archives, a repository for materials pertaining to the college's history. The building at 133 to 141 West 21st Street, between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue in Chelsea , has studios for drawing and painting classes, and
3648-565: The Minneapolis School of Art but only lasted one term. Arriving in New York City with his brother Glenn and mother Alma (of Finnish descent), after his military discharge in July 1948, Wood found employment at Bickford's restaurant as a busboy. During his time off he carried his thick portfolio of drawings all over midtown Manhattan, visiting every publisher he could find. He briefly attended
3744-729: The men's magazines Dude , Gent and Nugget . He inked the first eight months of the 1958–1961 syndicated comic strip Sky Masters of the Space Force , penciled by Jack Kirby . Wood expanded into book illustrations, including for the picture-cover editions (though not the dust-jacket editions) of titles in the 1959 Aladdin Books reissues of Bobbs Merrill's 1947 "Childhood of Famous Americans" series. Wood additionally did art and stories for comic-book companies large and small – from Marvel (and its 1950s iteration Atlas Comics ), DC (including House of Mystery and Jack Kirby 's Challengers of
3840-542: The 2011 Fox animated comedy Allen Gregory ; and the 2012 film The Hunger Games . In 2013, Beyoncé held a release party and screening for her record-setting, self-titled visual album at the theatre. Community partners that have used the theatre include the Tribeca and GenArt film festivals, Mayor Michael Bloomberg 's PlaNYC environmental initiative, and the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting . The theater
3936-520: The ACMP seals placed on comics were meaningless. In 1954, the publication of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and a highly publicized Congressional hearing on juvenile delinquency cast comic books in an especially poor light. At the same time, a federal investigation led to a shakeup in the distribution companies that delivered comic books and pulp magazines across America. Sales plummeted, and several companies went out of business. Gaines called
Wally Wood - Misplaced Pages Continue
4032-509: The American way of life. EC always claimed to be "proudest of our science fiction titles", with Weird Science and Weird Fantasy publishing stories unlike the space opera found in such titles as Fiction House 's Planet Comics . Crime SuspenStories had many parallels with film noir . As noted by Max Allan Collins in his story annotations for Russ Cochran 's 1983 hardcover reprint of Crime SuspenStories , Johnny Craig had developed
4128-624: The Comics Code Administrator, with a lawsuit when Murphy ordered EC to alter the science-fiction story "Judgment Day", in Incredible Science Fiction #33 (February 1956). The story, by the writer Al Feldstein and artist Joe Orlando , was a reprint from the pre-Code Weird Fantasy #18 (April 1953), inserted when the Code Authority had rejected an initial, original story, "An Eye for an Eye", drawn by Angelo Torres, but
4224-402: The Comics Code. East Coast Comix reprinted several of EC's New Trend comics in comic form between 1973 and 1975. The first reprint was the final issue of Tales from the Crypt , with the title revised to state The Crypt of Terror . This issue was originally meant to be the first issue of a fourth horror comic which was changed to the final issue of Tales from the Crypt at the last minute when
4320-476: The Comics Code; all the New Direction titles carried the seal starting with the second issue. This attempted revamp failed commercially and after the fifth issue, all the New Direction titles were canceled. Incredible Science Fiction #33 was the last EC comic book published. Gaines switched focus to EC's Picto-Fiction titles, a line of typeset black-and-white magazines with heavily illustrated stories. Fiction
4416-454: The Crypt , The Vault of Horror , and The Haunt of Fear . These titles reveled in a gruesome joie de vivre , with grimly ironic fates meted out to many of the stories' protagonists. The company's war comics, Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales , often featured weary-eyed, unheroic stories out of step with the jingoistic times. Shock SuspenStories tackled weighty political and social issues such as racism , sex , drug use , and
4512-495: The Crypt , as well as the later EC titles Valor , Piracy , and Aces High . Working over scripts and pencil breakdowns by Jules Feiffer , the 25-year-old Wood drew two months of Will Eisner 's Sunday-supplement newspaper comic book The Spirit , on the 1952 story arc "The Spirit in Outer Space". Eisner, Wood recalled, paid him "about $ 30 a week for lettering and backgrounds on The Spirit . Sometimes he paid $ 40 when I did
4608-481: The Cryptkeeper's Haunted House . It also spawned three "Tales from the Crypt"-branded movies, Demon Knight , Bordello of Blood , and Ritual . In 1997, HBO followed the TV series with the similar Perversions of Science (comprising 10 episodes), the episodes of which were based on stories from EC's Weird Science . Although the last non- Mad EC publication came out in 1956, EC Comics have remained popular for half
4704-673: The Galactic Republic should not admit the planet until these problems are resolved. In the final panel, he removes his helmet, revealing he is a Black man. Murphy demanded, without any authority in the Code, that the Black astronaut had to be removed. As Diehl recounted in Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives : This really made 'em go bananas in the Code czar's office. "Judge Murphy
4800-619: The Internet. In 2010 Anne Lukeman of Kill Vampire Lincoln Productions produced a short film adapting the "22 Panels That Always Work" into a film noir -style experimental piece called 22 Frames That Always Work . Artist Rafael Kayanan created a revised version of "22 Panels" that used actual art from published Wood comics to illustrate each frame. In 2006, cartoonist and publisher Cheese Hasselberger created "Cheese's 22 Panels That Never Work," featuring bizarre situations and generally poor storytelling techniques. In 2012, Michael Avon Oeming created
4896-538: The Marvel bullpen, who in turn passed them on to their friends and associates. Eventually, "22 Panels" made the rounds of just about every cartoonist or aspiring comic book artist in the industry and achieved its own iconic status. Wood's "Panels That Always Work" is copyright Wallace Wood Properties, LLC as listed by the United States Copyright Office which assigned the work Registration Number VA0001814764. In 1986, Tom Christopher, who had been given
SECTION 50
#17328698541454992-638: The Nursery" (in Collier's ) and "The Psychopathology of Comic Books" (in the American Journal of Psychotherapy ). As a result, an industry trade group , the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers , was formed in 1948 but proved ineffective. EC left the association in 1950 after Gaines argued with its executive director, Henry Schultz. By 1954 only three comic publishers were still members, and Schultz admitted that
5088-594: The SVA Chelsea Gallery stages an exhibition for its Masters Series recipient, who are honored with both an award and retrospective exhibition. The 2022 Masters Series Recipient was photographer, MacArthur Genius Grant -, and Pulitzer Prize -winner Lynsey Addario for her documentation of civilian life in conflict zones; the retrospective was covered by publications such as the New York Times , The Guardian , and Vanity Fair . The Theatre, also known as
5184-731: The SVA Theatre, is at 333 West 23rd Street, between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue, in Chelsea. The site was formerly called the 23rd Street Theatre, and served as the home of the Roundabout Theatre Company , from 1972 until 1984; when their lease expired, the venue was converted into a movie theatre, the Clearview Chelsea West Cinema. It was purchased in 2008, renovated, and reopened in January 2009. Milton Glaser designed
5280-472: The SVA alumni organization (which is already an IRS tax-exempt entity) planning to purchase the school from its owners, who are retiring. Commencement speakers have included Susan Sontag , Carrie Mae Weems , Gloria Steinem , Roxane Gay , and John Waters . In 2024, the school received an honorary "SVA Way" co-naming at the intersection of 23rd St. and 3rd Ave. in recognition of its institutional presence in
5376-720: The Seven Dwarfs , titled So White and the Six Dorks ; Terry and The Pirates , titled Perry and the Privates ; Prince Valiant , titled Prince Violate ; Superman and Wonder Woman , titled Stuporman Meets Blunder Woman ; Flash Gordon , titled Flasher Gordon ; and Tarzan titled Starzan . A third volume, published in 1983, contained three more sexually explicit parodies of Alice in Wonderland , titled Malice in Blunderland ;
5472-561: The Unknown ), and Warren ( Creepy , Eerie , 1984 ), to such smaller firms as Avon ( Eerie , Strange Worlds ), Charlton ( War and Attack , Jungle Jim ), Fox ( Martin Kane, Private Eye ), Gold Key ( M.A.R.S. Patrol Total War , Fantastic Voyage ), Harvey ( Unearthly Spectaculars ), King Comics ( Jungle Jim ), Atlas/Seaboard ( The Destructor ), Youthful ( Captain Science ) and
5568-531: The Wallace Wood Estate's official print of the panels. Wood was married three times. His first marriage was to artist Tatjana Wood , who later did extensive work as a comic-book colorist . Their marriage ended in the late 1960s. His second marriage, to Marilyn Silver, also ended in divorce. For much of his adult life, Wood had chronic, unexplainable headaches. In the 1970s, following bouts with alcoholism , Wood had kidney failure . A stroke in 1978 caused
5664-702: The annual ACBA Sketchbook . In one of his final assignments, Wood returned to a character he helped define, inking Frank Miller 's cover of Daredevil #164 (May 1980). His last known mainstream credit was inking Wonder Woman #269 (July 1980). Over several decades, numerous artists worked at the Wood Studio. Associates and assistants included Dan Adkins , Richard Bassford , Howard Chaykin , Tony Coleman, Nick Cuti , Leo and Diane Dillon , Larry Hama , Russ Jones , Wayne Howard , Paul Kirchner , Joe Orlando, Bill Pearson , Al Sirois, Ralph Reese , Bhob Stewart , Tatjana Wood , and Mike Zeck . In 1966, Wood launched
5760-572: The association. Among the Code's new rules were that no comic book title could use the words "horror" or "terror" or "weird" on its cover. When distributors refused to handle many of his comics, Gaines ended publication of his three horror and the two SuspenStory titles on September 14, 1954. Gaines waged several battles with the Comics Code Authority to keep his magazines free from censorship. In one particular example noted by comics historian Digby Diehl, Gaines threatened Judge Charles Murphy,
5856-478: The audience also became the trademark attitude of Mad , and such glib give-and-take was later mimicked by many, including Stan Lee at Marvel Comics . EC's most enduring legacy came with Mad , which started as a side project for Kurtzman before buoying the company's fortunes and becoming one of the country's most notable and long-running humor publications. When satire became an industry rage in 1954, and other publishers created imitations of Mad , EC introduced
SECTION 60
#17328698541455952-497: The brand, starting with horror title Epitaphs from the Abyss and the science fiction title Cruel Universe . The Gaines family licenses the titles. Beginning in the late 1940s, the comic book industry became the target of mounting public criticism for the content of comic books and their potentially harmful effects on children. The problem came to a head in 1948 with the publication by Dr. Fredric Wertham of two articles: "Horror in
6048-662: The comic-book company All-American Publications , and it was initially a shell company of All-American. When that company merged with DC Comics in June 1945, Gaines retained rights to the comic book Picture Stories from the Bible , and began his new company using the EC name with a plan to market comics about science, history, and the Bible to schools and churches, and soon expanded to produce children's humor titles. A decade earlier, Max Gaines had been one of
6144-659: The company in the 1960s as E.C. Publications, Inc., and was eventually absorbed into the same corporation that later purchased National Periodical Publications (later known as DC Comics ). During the 1960s, Gaines granted Bob Barrett, Roger Hill, and Jerry Norton Weist (1949–2011), the co-founder of Million Year Picnic , permission to produce a EC Comics fanzine "Squa Tront" (1967 - 1983) that would last for several years. In June 1967, Kinney National Company (it formed on August 12, 1966, after Kinney Parking/National Cleaning merge) bought National Periodical and E.C., then it purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in early 1969. Due to
6240-440: The company published one-page biographies of them in comic books. This was in contrast to the industry's common practice, in which credits were often missing, although some artists at other companies, such as the Jack Kirby – Joe Simon team, Jack Cole and Bob Kane had been prominently promoted. EC published distinct lines of titles under its Entertaining Comics umbrella. Most notorious were its horror books, Tales from
6336-408: The covers and throughout the interior. Wood penciled and inked the first four 10-page installments of the company's " Dr. Doom " feature in Astonishing Tales #1–4 (Aug. 1970-Feb. 1971), and both wrote and drew anthological horror/suspense tales in Tower of Shadows #5–8 (May–Nov. 1970), as well as sporadic other work. In circles concerned with copyright and intellectual property issues, Wood
6432-413: The drawings, too". Feiffer, in 2010, recalled Wood's studio, "which was at that time in the very slummy Upper West Side [of Manhattan] in the [West] 60s, years before it was [the] Lincoln Center [area]. It was a cartoonist and science-fiction writers' ghetto – just a huge room where the walls were knocked down, dark, smelly, roach-infested, and all these cartoonists and writers bent over their tables. One
6528-465: The final art by Bob Powell and Norman Saunders . For Marvel during the Silver Age of Comic Books , Wood's work as penciler-inker of Daredevil #5–8 and inker over Bob Powell of issues #9-11 established the title character's distinctive red costume (in issue #7). Wood and Stan Lee introduced the Stilt-Man in Daredevil #8 (June 1965). When Daredevil guest-starred in Fantastic Four #39–40, Wood inked that character, over Jack Kirby pencils, on
6624-419: The first books to reprint comic book stories in color throughout, it followed the original color guides by Marie Severin . In addition to the stories from EC's horror titles, the book also included Bernard Krigstein 's famous "Master Race" story from Impact and the first publication of Angelo Torres ' "An Eye for an Eye", originally slated for the final issue of Incredible Science Fiction but rejected by
6720-441: The horror comics were cancelled in 1954. A dozen issues ended up being reprinted. Russ Cochran reprints include EC Portfolios , The Complete EC Library , EC Classics , RCP Reprints (Russ Cochran) , EC Annuals , and EC Archives (hardcover books). The EC full-color hardcovers were under the Gemstone imprint. Dark Horse continued this series in the same format. In February 2010, IDW Publishing began publishing
6816-472: The independent magazine witzend (originally to be titled et cetera , a name which had to be withdrawn when Wood was told another magazine had already used this) one of the first alternative comics , a decade before Mike Friedrich 's Star Reach or Flo Steinberg 's Big Apple Comix for which Wood drew the cover and contributed a story. Wood offered his fellow professionals the opportunity to contribute illustrations and graphic stories that detoured from
6912-750: The modern American ideal – the life that made the Cold War worth fighting – nothing else in the panels of EC comics, not the giant alien cockroach that ate earthlings, not the baseball game played with human body parts, was so subversive as the idea that the exits of the Long Island Expressway emptied onto levels of Hell. Superior illustrations of stories with surprise endings became EC's trademark. Gaines would generally stay up late and read large amounts of material while seeking "springboards" for story concepts. The next day he would present each premise until Feldstein found one that he thought he could develop into
7008-497: The name "Woody" half-hidden on a theater marquee . He penciled and inked two stories in that issue: "I Was Unwanted" (nine pages) and "My Tarnished Reputation" (ten pages). Wood began at EC co-penciling and co-inking with Harry Harrison the story "Too Busy For Love" ( Modern Love #5), and fully penciling the lead story, "I Was Just a Playtime Cowgirl", in Saddle Romances No. 11 (April 1950), inked by Harrison. Working from
7104-512: The neighborhood since 1960. The continuing education division offers noncredit courses from most departments; a selection of advertising , branding , cartooning , copywriting , illustration and marketing courses taught in Spanish ; professional development and corporate training courses; and summer residency programs. The school offers short-term study abroad programs in various creative fields. The school has several buildings in
7200-678: The pages to) of various layouts and compositional techniques to keep his pages dynamic and interesting. (In the same vein, Wood also taped up another note to himself: "Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up.") In 1980, Wood's original, three-page, 24-panel (not 22) version of "Panels" was published with the proper copyright notice in The Wallace Wood Sketchbook (Crouch/Wood 1980). Around 1981, Wood's ex-assistant Larry Hama , by then an editor at Marvel Comics , pasted up photocopies of Wood's copyrighted drawings on
7296-501: The pencil artwork of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby on Stalker and The Sandman respectively. He worked on the Hercules Unbound series as well, providing inks for José Luis García-López and Walt Simonson . Wood penciled and inked All Star Comics and contributed to the creation of Power Girl by exaggerating the size of her breasts. Active with the 1970s Academy of Comic Book Arts , Wood contributed to several editions of
7392-543: The pioneers of the comic book form, with Eastern Color Printing 's proto-comic book Funnies on Parade , and with Dell Publishing 's Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , considered by historians the first true American comic book . When Max Gaines died in 1947 in a boating accident, his son William inherited the comics company. After four years (1942–1946) in the Army Air Corps , Gaines had returned home to finish school at New York University , planning to work as
7488-455: The results of his audience with the czar to Gaines, who was furious [and] immediately picked up the phone and called Murphy. "This is ridiculous!" he bellowed. "I'm going to call a press conference on this. You have no grounds, no basis, to do this. I'll sue you". Murphy made what he surely thought was a gracious concession. "All right. Just take off the beads of sweat". At that, Gaines and Feldstein both went ballistic. "Fuck you!" they shouted into
7584-514: The roof, and finally they said, "Well, you gotta take the perspiration off". I had the stars glistening in the perspiration on his Black skin. Bill said, "Fuck you", and he hung up. Cartoonists and Illustrators School The School of Visual Arts New York City ( SVA NYC ) is a private for-profit art school in New York City . It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design . This school
7680-545: The spot. Over the next year, Wood also became an assistant to George Wunder , who had taken over the Milton Caniff strip Terry and the Pirates . Wood cited his "first job on my own" as Chief Ob-stacle , a continuing series of strips for a 1949 political newsletter. He entered the comic book field by lettering , as he recalled in 1981: "The first professional job was lettering for Fox romance comics in 1948. This lasted about
7776-542: The stories were written by Kurtzman, Feldstein, and Craig. Other writers, including Carl Wessler , Jack Oleck , and Otto Binder , were later brought on board. EC succeeded with its fresh approach and pioneered forming relationships with its readers through its letters to the editor and fan organization, the National EC Fan-Addict Club. EC Comics promoted its stable of illustrators, allowing each to sign his art and encouraging them to develop distinctive styles;
7872-542: The strips into a series of comics published by Eros Comix , an imprint of Fantagraphics Books , which in 1998 collected the entire run into a single 160-page volume. In 1969, Wood created another independent comic, Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon , intended for his "Sally Forth" military readership as indicated in the ads and indicia. Artists Steve Ditko and Ralph Reese and writer Ron Whyte are credited with primary writer-artist Wood on three features: "Cannon", "The Misfits", and "Dragonella". A second magazine-format issue
7968-494: The telephone in unison. Murphy hung up on them, but the story ran in its original form. Feldstein, interviewed for the book Tales of Terror: The EC Companion , reiterated his recollection of Murphy making the request: So he said it can't be a Black [person]. So I said, "For God's sakes, Judge Murphy, that's the whole point of the Goddamn story!" So he said, "No, it can't be a Black". Bill [Gaines] just called him up [later] and raised
8064-481: The theatre's renovated interior and exterior, including the sculpture situated atop its marquee. The 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m ) facility houses two separate auditoriums, one with 265 seats and one with 480, and hosts class meetings, lectures, screenings and other public events. It has also hosted the red-carpet New York première of Ethan Hawke's The Daybreakers and a diverse list of world premières, ranging from Lucy Liu 's 2010 feature documentary Redlight , to
8160-407: The title character's distinctive red costume. Wood created and owned the long-running characters Sally Forth and Cannon . He wrote, drew, and self-published two of the three graphic novels of his magnum opus , The Wizard King trilogy, about Odkin son of Odkin before his death by suicide. Much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood ; some people call him Wally Wood ,
8256-417: The toy company Wham-O ( Wham-O Giant Comics ). In 1965, Wood, Len Brown, and possibly Larry Ivie created T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Tower Comics . He wrote and drew the 1967 syndicated Christmas comic strip Bucky's Christmas Caper . During the 1960s, Wood did many trading cards and humor products for Topps Chewing Gum, including concept roughs for Topps' famed 1962 Mars Attacks cards prior to
8352-432: The usual conventions of the comics industry. After the fourth issue, Wood turned witzend over to Bill Pearson , who continued as editor and publisher through the 1970s and into the 1980s. Wood additionally collected his feature Sally Forth , published in the U.S. servicemen's periodicals Military News and Overseas Weekly in 1968–1974, in a series of four oversize (10"x12") magazines. Pearson, in 1993–95, reformatted
8448-496: Was [science-fiction writer] Harry Harrison ." Between 1957 and 1967, Wood produced both covers and interiors for more than 60 issues of the science-fiction digest Galaxy Science Fiction , illustrating such authors as Isaac Asimov , Philip K. Dick , Jack Finney , C. M. Kornbluth , Frederik Pohl , Robert Silverberg , Robert Sheckley , Clifford D. Simak and Jack Vance . He painted six covers for Galaxy Science Fiction Novels between 1952 and 1958. His gag cartoons appeared in
8544-471: Was formatted to alternate illustrations with blocks of typeset text, and some of the contents were rewrites of stories previously published in EC's comic books. This experimental line lost money from the start and only lasted two issues per title. When EC's national distributor went bankrupt, Gaines dropped all of his titles except Mad . Mad sold well throughout the company's troubles, and Gaines focused exclusively on publishing it in magazine form. This move
8640-411: Was itself also "objected to" because of "the central character being Black ". The story depicted a human astronaut, a representative of the Galactic Republic, visiting the planet Cybrinia, inhabited by robots. He finds the robots divided into functionally identical orange and blue races, with one having fewer rights and privileges than the other. The astronaut determines that due to the robots' bigotry,
8736-487: Was off his nut. He was really out to get us", recalls [EC editor] Feldstein. "I went in there with this story and Murphy says, 'It can't be a Black man'. But ... but that's the whole point of the story!" Feldstein sputtered. When Murphy continued to insist that the Black man had to go, Feldstein put it on the line. "Listen", he told Murphy, "you've been riding us and making it impossible to put out anything at all because you guys just want us out of business". [Feldstein] reported
8832-655: Was published in 1976 by Wood and CPL Gang Publications . Larry Hama , one of Wood's assistants, said, "I did script about three Sally Forth stories and a few of the Cannon' s. I wrote the main Sally Forth story in the first reprint book, which is actually dedicated to me, mostly because I lent Woody the money to publish it". In 1980 and 1981, Wood did two issues of a completely pornographic comic book, titled Gang Bang . It featured two sexually explicit Sally Forth stories, and sexually explicit versions of Disney 's Snow White and
8928-475: Was started by Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth in 1947 as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School ; it had three teachers and 35 students, most of whom were World War II veterans who had a large part of their tuition underwritten by the U.S. government's G.I. Bill . It was renamed the School of Visual Arts in 1956 and offered its first degrees in 1972. In 1983, it introduced a Master of Fine Arts in painting , drawing and sculpture . The school has
9024-715: Was the inaugural inductee into the comic book industry's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1989, and was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992. Wallace Wood was born June 17, 1927, in Menahga, Minnesota . He began reading and drawing comics at an early age. He was strongly influenced by the art styles of Alex Raymond 's Flash Gordon , Milton Caniff 's Terry and the Pirates , Hal Foster 's Prince Valiant , Will Eisner 's The Spirit and especially Roy Crane 's Wash Tubbs . Recalling his childhood, Wood said that his dream at age six, about finding
9120-467: Was the most pirated drawing in history! Everyone was printing copies of that. I understand some people got busted for selling it. I always thought Disney stuff was pretty sexy ... Snow White , etc." Disney took no legal action against either Krassner or The Realist but did sue a publisher of a " blacklight " version of the poster, who used the image without Krassner's permission. The case was settled out of court. At DC Comics, he and Jim Shooter launched
9216-533: Was to reconcile its editor Harvey Kurtzman , who had received an offer to join the magazine Pageant , but preferred to remain in charge of his magazine. The switch also removed Mad from the auspices of the Comics Code . Kurtzman, regardless, left Mad soon afterward when Gaines would not give him 51 percent control of the magazine, and Gaines brought back Al Feldstein as Kurtzman's successor. The magazine enjoyed great success for decades afterward. Gaines sold
#144855