Semi-prosaic reality intrudes on free-wheeling fantasy now, as Wally Wood goes back to his MAD roots, while giving his then apprentice Ralph Reese a chance to shine in Creepy.
Warmonger Of Mars really does feel like a lost MAD strip ( though without the layers of 'chicken fat' background gags Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder would've snuck in there ), and while it's obvious that at least some panels were laid out by Woody, Reese's patented beautiful grotesqueries are really the stars.
And Kurtzman would've loved that ending.
Funny!
ReplyDeleteNot what one would expect in Creepy, but nicely done.
- Neil
This was in Creepy #87! I remember buying it new.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a Bhob Stewart's 2015 volume THE LIFE & LEGEND OF WALLACE WOOD (excerptd are on Google), Larry Hama did a lot of uncredited assists on Reese's art.
The book also states that Wood wanted to do an adult humour book, not unlike National Lampoon, & this story was a pitch for one. Since it went nowhere, he sold it to Warren.
Regards,
Chris A.
I bet that stung - I don't think Woody was that keen on Jim Warren even before the whole 1984 falling out.
ReplyDeleteCreepy 87 was a great issue! Only later did I learn that Wrightson's cover panels were recolored. In A Look Back some of the original earth tones are shown. His frontispiece and "A Martian Saga" story was also great.
ReplyDeleteBruce Jones did a revulsion/attraction story in "They Come Out at Night" with a beautiful woman who is inundated with cockroaches. Martin Salvador drew it, but I don't know his work.
Carmine Infantino and John Severin drew two other tales, and then there's the Wood/Reese story which was a perfect fit.
A great issue from 1977.
Gene Poole
Martin Salvador got lost in the rush at Warren, because he wasn't flashy like most of the Spanish artists, but he produced good, solid stuff, a little like Russ Heath. I'll put up some more of him.
ReplyDeleteSince Russ Heath was one of my favourite artists, I'd buy any Warren mag with his artwork and many times confused it with Salvador's. Salvador also did much work for the British comics, and for Warren kept with them right until the end. Unlike his Spanish colleagues, he had a style closer to the Alex Raymond/Dan Barry school of classic, realistic artists.
DeleteMartin Salvador was boring. A comic point equivalent ofvwayching paint dry. No Russ Heath he.
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