It's being reported on Facebook that Fantagraphics' new volume, CAME THE DAWN, has seen advance copies arrive at their offices today. The book, due to hit stores in October, is the latest of a number of Wood collections this year, offering all 26 horror and crime stories Woody did for EC in the 1950's. Although justly revered for his sci-fi and humor stories, the young artist had an intensity in the best of these stories that he rarely showed anywhere else.
You can get a 23 page preview PDF over at Fantagraphics' page: http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/came-the-dawn-and-other-stories-the-ec-comics-library.html?vmcchk=1
"Wood's work seemed like snapshots of a lush and vibrant reality where even madmen, monsters and mayhem possessed a stately grace. There might be pandemonium but, oddly, the panic never seemed to reach the eyes of Wood's regal heroes." - Geoff Boucher, The Los Angeles Times
"Legendary artist [Wally] Wood mastered every comic-book genre — humor (he was one of Mad's first artists), horror, superheroes, war — but is best known for the 1950s science-fiction stories he drew for EC Comics, in which, one commentator noted, he 'began drawing things into panels that no human being seemed capable of before.' His heroic spacemen, intricate rocket ships, and frightening aliens embodied classic space opera, and his influence remains visible in the work of many leading comics artists today." - Gordon Flagg, Booklist
Are any of stories in CAME THE DAWN Pre-Trend?
ReplyDeleteMichael Draine
I saw this at the comic con. of course it's great to have Wood published, but sadly fantagraphcis must be having budget issues; this book is small, perhaps the size of a comic book and it feels very uncomfortable to read. I'm used to the larger EC reprints. However, maybe booksteve can educate me: what were the size of the original EC comics? At any rate, I much prefer the oversized EC reprints in b&w from the 1980s over any others.
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