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Back in 1986, I bought WORLD Of WOOD #s 2-4. It was quite a few years afterwards (mid-'90s, maybe later) that I managed to track down the first issue, but to my surprise, #s 5 & 6 were also listed in the back issue catalogue I was ordering #1 from. (Surprise, because it was originally intended to be a four ish series.) On a whim, I ordered the fifth issue, which, unlike the previous ones, was in black and white, and published a whopping three years after its predecessors.
I wish now I'd got #6 - but, here's the thing. Whenever I see this series mentioned anywhere, it's always described as having only five issues, so was #6 a misprint in the catalogue, or was it a limited print run that most people just don't know about? If you know the answer, let me know, will you? I hate it when a mystery remains unsolved. Even better, if it really exists and you've got it, contact me if you want to sell it.
In the meantime, enjoy Crivens' brief cover gallery of this interesting micro-series on one of the all-time greats of comicbook art - the one and only, legendary WALLY WOOD!
6 comments:
Nice to see these again, I managed to pick up 4 of these issue (1-4) in various £1 grab bags about 9 years ago (in Arthurs) so as they were so good I started looking for issue 5 to complete the set. On searching for this issue I remember reading (online) that a 6th issue was planned but was never published - but like you I have seen issue 6 mentioned a few times since on comic lists but never seen a cover or contents mentioned. I never got issue 5 and eventually gave issues 1,2 and 3 away (I liked issue 4 and kept it) during my first great comic purge. Wood was a brilliant artist and cartoonist his art was one of the first I recognised as a kid (usually his THUNDER Agents work reprinted in Alan Class comics or in those old comic bubble gum cards) such a shame the way it ended for him he was such a talented guy.
You gave 1-3 away? Gasp! Number 5 was a three years later 'addendum', so I regard 1-4 as the set they were intended to be. Some great art in them, but I don't think I've ever really read them, The Mummy story apart. The Thunder Agents stuff looked great, but the tales would've benefitted from some Stan Lee style scripting. Scary to think that he was only 54 when he killed himself, and that it was over 35 years ago.
Yeah I’m downsizing my comic collection big time - I just gave someone a box of about 500 US comics from the 70s - to date. I have to many and need to clear out my loft (same with CDs, books etc) that way I can concentrate on my favourite comics from the mid 60s to early 70s . I rarely read a comic now in the way I used to, I’ve regressed to my childhood way of reading a comic by only look at the pretty artwork (which I probably did for the Wally Wood comics).
In a few years time, PM, you'll see an issue that you used to have and gave away, and all the memories associated with it will come flooding back, along with an overwhelming compulsion to own it again. Then you'll spend the rest of your life trying to track down all the comics that you gave away. That's the way it happens. Just to be nosey, PM, is it completely your decision to get rid of them, or has your other half been bending your ear about it? The cheek of me, eh?)
There may be the odd issue that I gave away that I may regret getting rid of but to be honest, I wasn’t even aware that I had most of them in the first place. My nostalgia for comics ended about 1975 (with the odd exception) so I am concentrating on those comics in my collection (I didn’t get rid of many pre 1975 comics) and I will be picking up collected editions for some comics I want to or have gotten rid of. I’ve been collecting (or maybe hoarding) and keeping comics since I was in my mid-teens (and now have about 95% of what I want). I had thousands and have given away at least 200 every year for at least 6 years (and about 500 a year for the last 3 years) and am only now making a dent in the collection. I did an experiment at the end of 2016 and put all new comics I bought in a box for 2 months, I had over 40 comics (ok about 15 were “5 for a £1”) I only read about a 6 of them and scanned through another dozen– the cost alone of these comics was over £100 (although 3 were comics from 1969 – 1972 I wanted) what a waste of money and most ended up in my box of 500 comics that I gave away.
Apart from Friday – Sunday I don’t live with my “other half” Kid (we’ve both been there before and we are taking our time this time around - and were both happy with that for the time being). The wee cutie got me 4 books (inc: the Ditko Dr Strange collection – just brilliant) for Christmas she thinks (so far) it’s cute that I like comics (she loves the Marvel films).
Funnily enough, I've got boxes of comics up in the loft that I'd be hard-pressed to tell you the contents of. However, whenever I look through them on occasion, the memories come flooding back and I feel like I'd be giving part of my life away if I got rid of those issues. The comics prompt the memories, and without them the memories would lie dormant. Having said that, I do really need to clear out some stuff because I've got far too much of it - maybe one day.
A girlfriend that bought you the Dr. Strange Omnibus? Where can I find one like that, PM? (She got a sister?)
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