Customer Reviews

Wally's World: The Brilliant Life and Tragic Death of Wally Wood, the World's 2nd Best Comic Book Artist

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As with all Vanguard books, this production is an uncertain mix of intriguing material and immature editorial judgment. You will find more information on Wallace Wood's life here than in any other text, and on that account the book is worth the money. But while much interesting original art is reproduced - mostly with excellent reproduction, though a few low-resolution files made it into print - there's very little technical information about Wood's working methods. And then there are those routine Vanguard lapses in taste: pedestrian and occasionally awful journalese prose, colourless and interminable asides or capsule biographies on popular culture icons remotely associated with Wood (to legitimize him), and those dumb labels: everyone and everything is "noted", "award-winning", "prize-winning", "a major film" (meaning "Daredevil"), and so on. The layout is awkward: a two-column format reinforces the impression that the creators got lost half-way between making a real book and a long popular-culture magazine feature (which goes for the text, too, of course). Read along with Bhob Stewarts "Against the Grain" interview anthology this is still a fairly interesting and not too bad book.

While I find the life of Wally Wood an interesting and worthy subject, this particular book is not the easiest thing to read. I'm speaking of the paperback version. Perhaps the hardcover book is better. But the text in this book runs right into the gutter and it wraps around endless photos and pull-quotes. Although the photos are noteworthy, they shouldn't be smack in the middle of the page, shoving the text into different shapes. It looks like someone designed this on a very tight deadline. Also, someone forgot to proof this book carefully. There are numerous type errors and paragraphs that begin in the middle of sentences. Oh well. It's still a good read, you just have to work the book a little.

Who doesn't love Wally Wood? His MAD parodies are among the best things Western Civilization can point to as a justification for itself (along with Milk Duds and comfortable footwear). So this is a welcome look at "Wally's World," but it's sadly conceived and seemingly unedited. At one point the authors go into a disquisition on Scandinavian mythology for a few pages-- I thought I was in the wrong book. Any editor worth his or her salt would have ripped out at least a quarter of this thing and included more content from those who worked with and knew Wood-- instead we get little snippets from interviews taken out of context. Ah well, it's good to know more about Wood's (mostly sad) life and brilliant work, but this half-hearted effort doesn't do him justice.

It always amazes me that two authors and a publisher would go to all the trouble of producing a book, and then neglect to do even the most basic proofreading and editing. There are countless typos in this book. In addition, as the other reviewers have pointed out, the layout makes it difficult to read at times. And finally, someone really needed to go through Starger and Spurlock's prose and remove some of it, or at least get them to make clear why they felt it necessary, for example, to give us pages of Nordic mythology to introduce us to Wood's family history.

That said, it is clear that the authors did their research, and have a lot to say about Mr. Wood's professional and personal life. Anyone interested in this master illustrator will learn a lot about the man, and his extraordinary, if troubled, career.

I gave the book four stars because it contains so many fascinating details about Mr. Wood.

This well-written and entertaining biography offers an excellent overview of the life of Wallace "Wally" Wood. Including dozens of reproductions of Wally's art (comic books, illustrations, ads, animation and more), the book focuses mostly on Wood's early years, and the later-life circumstances which drove him to suicide. A greater emphasis on Wally's prime creative years (for EC, THUNDER Agents, Daredevil, Witzend, etc.) would have been welcome. A fascinating read, but it left me saddened. Why does genius often go hand-in-hand with despair?

Wally's World: The Brilliant Life and Death of Wally Wood, the World's 2nd-Best Comic Book Artist is a pick for any interested in cartooning history. His life reads like drama - and he was shot in 1981 on Halloween night in a rough neighborhood, ending his life and career - but in his time he was a rebel genius whose works and approach inspired a generation of underground comic artists such as Robert Crumb and Art Spiegelman. Pack color cartoon examples throughout a biography which covers his politics, cartooning skills and influences and you have an essential pick no collection strong in graphic novel history should be without.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch