Please collect all the random and misc. (and typically GREAT) stories from the legendary Wallace Wood in one place — omnibus, compendium, DC Finest, whatever. I’m constantly discovering “new” storiesI’ve missed like this one, aptly titled “The Collector.” (Pencils and inks by Woody, blueline breakdowns by Al Sirois.) Reprinted only once, 40 years ago, in a cheapie digest.
Woody deserves better treatment.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Yr. Pal,
Greg
PS That middle panel page is such a great throwback to Woody’s classic EC days, isn’t it? The coloring doesn’t quite do it justice.
Witching Hour #5, November 1969, “The Sole Survivor”
Today we launch a two-week series celebrating Halloween with the best in monsters, mystery and mayhem.
It’s difficult to attend Baltimore Comic Con without thinking about Bernie Wrightson, who hailed from here, and made his final convention appearance here six months prior to his death in 2017.
Wrightson’s professional comics career began in DC’s mystery anthology titles just six months before this art was published, 50 years ago this month.
This page, therefore, is very early Wrightson, and although it’s still a few years away from his artistic peak, the talent, and signature detail, is already unmistakably there. His art hooked me early on, and I remain hooked.
Those DC mystery and horror comics, many edited by EC legend Joe Orlando, often showcased star artists like Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, and others, including occasionally Orlando himself.
Of course, like other anthology comics, you never knew what the line-up was going to be from title to title, issue to issue. These series were indeed like Forrest Gump’s proverbial box of chocolates: You never know what you’re going to get.
So of course they were always the titles I tried to skim through urgently on the candy store spinner racks, before that crusty proprietor Mr. Wurman would inevitably glance my way and say: “You gonna buy those? This is not a library.”
Bernie painted this beautiful cover for the short-lived Web of Horror magazine in the same timeframe as his early DC work — He was 21 years old.
