I liked DC's ANTHRO which began in 1968 but it was an odd mix of drama and comedy, similar in a prehistoric way to its contemporary BAT LASH. The art, however, by Howie Post, was not a hit with me. In 20 years, Post had gone from his delightful Walt Kellyesque art style in JIMINY AND THE MAGIC BOOK to a hard to love, extremely scratchy, scrawl that many readers, myself among them, just couldn't appreciate. ANTHRO had been pretty much a one man show for Post for the first few issues but I can see it now. As the mail came in and the art was getting dissed, DC said, "Who can we get to make his art smoother and more palatable?" The answer, of course, was Wally Wood! Here's the MUCH smoother splash from Woody's inking debut over Post in mid-1969.
Well, I thought Post's scratchy style was perfect for that type of material.
ReplyDeleteI happened to visit the Wood Studio when Wood and Ralph Reese were working on that issue. The pages were not penciled. They were just roughs. Wood was inking directly on them, actually drawing with the brush! He had a Walt Kelly comic book on his drawing table, and every so often he would glance at it.
Despite Post's comment in the Cooke interview ("Joe felt maybe that kind of inking would be better"), I recall being told by Wood that Post had just sold his comic strip, which explained why Post had never gone beyond roughs and why Wood had stepped in as inker. Which version is true? I don't know. Am I misremembering? I don't know.
Thanks for the info, sir!
ReplyDeleteActually, as with many comics artists I didn't appreciate the first time around, Post has become a bit of a favorite in recent years and his ANTHRO work definitely stands out. Funny how we learn to admire different things in people's work over time.