Before the trade paperback became a universal currency, with the reading public's access limited to what a few superhero publishers spotlit every week, one or two reprinted fragments of skilled artists’ work were often forced into representing their entire careers in the popular imagination. In the pulp-birthed, self-censoring, comic shop-bound, fundamentally stagnant mainstream comics industry of the late 20th century, cosmetic innovations such as Wood's were enough to garner seemingly permanent regard - especially, crucially, when works by any artist who wasn't currently employed on a monthly periodical were rarely in print. The "22 Panels" guide also points up the repetitive sameness of the stories Wood yoked his skill to, and the emphasis his working environment placed on production over innovation. He elevated the pedestrian content of his work by diligently streamlining form, at his best creating imagery that seems to speak to a stylistic core of American comics in sum (1). Wood's (in)famous "22 Panels that Always Work" guide is an ultimate expression of a search for grace in utility. His later career locks in on finding a simple solution for comics, a pictorial lingua franca suited for as wide a use as possible. It goes beyond mere drafting Wood understood his form, treating panel breakdowns like architects treat joists and beams. Seeing a style the comic book industry was literally built on shitty imitations of both skillfully echoed and cannily refined can feel revelatory, like the crude oil that "comic books" as a popular image runs on turned to jet fuel. Wood evoked Prince Valiant's Hal Foster with greater understanding and brilliance than any of that strip’s countless imitators, but also went beyond mere homage, sanding down and sleekening Foster's baroque ornateness into something lean and nearly mod. Wood was an all-time draftsman with a telegraphing individual style that reads as the culmination of an idiom that a huge number of early comic books derived their visual identity from. Once regarded as a pantheon figure whose importance was self-evident, his iconic status has diminished over the current century. Matt Seneca | MaThe following article features explicit pornographic images.Īs his era recedes from the present, Wally Wood occupies a precarious position. Features An Erection Four Decades Long: The Pornography of Wally Wood
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