Here are just a couple of the cleaner pages from Wally's stinging and raunchy indictment of the comic book industry, SUPER COSMIC COMIC CREATOR COMIX. This little known five page story (not even listed in the Stewart/Vadeboncoeur Checklist), apparently done in 1977 around the time (or just after) when Wood was finishing up his final DC run, is actually among the best of his later works. It turned up with little fanfare in 1992's SLOW DEATH # 11, the last (to date) issue of that venerable underground comic. Filled with genuinely amusing gags, inside jokes and quite good art, this was a nice surprise when one thought one was aware of all of Woody's work. The art is interesting and I find myself wondering just who assisted with it. Quite frankl
y, it looks to me like Tom Sutton but that strikes me as unlikely. I see what seems like a bit of Ralph Reese, too, but Ralph was long gone from Wood's employ by that point. I do not see the smoother work of Al Sirois who had been assisting the artist during that last boom period. Were you in on this, Al? Know who was? Does anyone have the definitive story on this and why it sat on the shelf so long? It looks like it would have been perfect for the WOODWORK GAZETTE with its vitriloic treatment of the industry.
y, it looks to me like Tom Sutton but that strikes me as unlikely. I see what seems like a bit of Ralph Reese, too, but Ralph was long gone from Wood's employ by that point. I do not see the smoother work of Al Sirois who had been assisting the artist during that last boom period. Were you in on this, Al? Know who was? Does anyone have the definitive story on this and why it sat on the shelf so long? It looks like it would have been perfect for the WOODWORK GAZETTE with its vitriloic treatment of the industry.
There are at least three different versions of this strip, I believe. The most unusual version was lettered as "Super Kozmik Kripple Skreen Playriter Komix" and credited to: writer Ron Whyte, drawn by R.U. Taylor and inked by W. Wood. The script was unbelievably verbose and includes over 160 words in the second panel alone. Whyte had interned at Marvel and Warren in the 1960s and later wrote a few movie screenplays (Valentine Eve (1967); The Happiness Cage and Pigeons (Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker) (1970)), before becoming a successful playwright.
ReplyDeleteFor " Super Cosmic Comic Creator Comix" version, Whyte script was chopped down and the story rewritten, allowing more of the artwork to be seen. I believe there's two different versions of that story with slight variations in script. It was published in SLOW DEATH #11 (Last Gasp 1972). Offhand I'm not sure where it originally appeared but the Ron Whyte version is reprinted in NAUGHTY KNOTTY WOODY (Fantagraphics 1998).
I don't have the album nearby, but I read this story as a kid in the early '80s. It was in a french edition published in the late seventies by Édition du Fromage. Most stories were originally published in l'Écho des Savanes between 1975 and 1978. I think Wood was friend with Fred (?) Barusha, the editor.
ReplyDeleteA quick search tell me that the album might be called "Cons de Fées" (Faeries Pussies). It contain many things like the Walt Disney Parody, some porn humour comic, Flash Gordon parodies, Alice in wonderland, etc.