But how different it looks compared with Sky Masters, done 17 years after. In this piece Wood was more respectful with Kirby's work. And if you enlarge it, you can see that Wood was not in too good shape, because strokes lack of Wood's usual precision and beauty.
This is chapter XIII in Wood biografy by Michael T. Gilbert, covering his work in DC:
III. "Marking Time"
"And then it was back to DC and marking time. His frustrations were killing him, but what could he do? He had to make a living.
He continued working for DC, but his heart wasn't in it. It was just another job. In 1975 and '76 he inked his old friend Steve Ditko in four issues of The Stalker, and a single issue of Sandman over Jack Kirby. Six issues inking Ric Estrada on Richard Dragon, Kung-fu Fighter followed, then nine of Hercules Unbound over young Walt Simonson and others.
The work was slick and handsome, but empty. In that same period he drew covers and stories for DC's humor comic, Plop!, as well as some very handsome issues of All-Star Comics over Ric Estrada and Keith Giffen. Now in his fifties, it looked as if Wood would spend the rest of his life as a hired hand, never again in control of his own destiny. There seemed no way out."
Thanks for the comprehensive post. It give more dimension to the page and explains why the style is so different. I have one more page, a panel page from this issue. It has much heavier blacks and a little more similar the the earlier style but again follows Kirby's pencils more closely and isn't as tight as Skymasters. I'll post it soon.
Is curious the change of the title of the story, and that Kirby thought that Royer would be the inker.
As I thought, Wally was very faithfull to the original pencils, although you can recognize his polished style from miles away. And he couldn't help to add some subtle details, like to add nails to the hand of the main image.
How strange to see this art again after so many years. About all I did on this book was to rule lines and fill in blacks. I was pretty green... had never used a brush to draw and Woody wouldn't trust me with one at that early point. A quick look through my file copy of the book prompts me to say that on the 2 pages here, 1 and 6, I inked some of the machinery and did the blacks. Just a job for Woody, of course, but boy was I nervous! I look at that book now and cringe. My suckage is evident on every page... :-) He was a very patient guy. And, in the words of Monty Python, "I got better."
You hear so little about the assistants and other artists who helped out inkers and pencilers in the past. Thank you Al for your post and background information.
Did you work full-time assisting Wally and did he engage more assistants later in his career? Tom
Wood
I didn't know this one, thanks for sharing!
But how different it looks compared with Sky Masters, done 17 years after. In this piece Wood was more respectful with Kirby's work. And if you enlarge it, you can see that Wood was not in too good shape, because strokes lack of Wood's usual precision and beauty.
This is chapter XIII in Wood biografy by Michael T. Gilbert, covering his work in DC:
III. "Marking Time"
"And then it was back to DC and marking time. His frustrations were killing him, but what could he do? He had to make a living.
He continued working for DC, but his heart wasn't in it. It was just another job. In 1975 and '76 he inked his old friend Steve Ditko in four issues of The Stalker, and a single issue of Sandman over Jack Kirby. Six issues inking Ric Estrada on Richard Dragon, Kung-fu Fighter followed, then nine of Hercules Unbound over young Walt Simonson and others.
The work was slick and handsome, but empty. In that same period he drew covers and stories for DC's humor comic, Plop!, as well as some very handsome issues of All-Star Comics over Ric Estrada and Keith Giffen. Now in his fifties, it looked as if Wood would spend the rest of his life as a hired hand, never again in control of his own destiny. There seemed no way out."
You can read the rest of the biography here:
http://twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/08wood.html
Great comment
Thanks for the comprehensive post. It give more dimension to the page and explains why the style is so different. I have one more page, a panel page from this issue. It has much heavier blacks and a little more similar the the earlier style but again follows Kirby's pencils more closely and isn't as tight as Skymasters. I'll post it soon.
Just added Pencil Photocopy
Enjoy!
Great addition!
Thanks, Rand!
Is curious the change of the title of the story, and that Kirby thought that Royer would be the inker.
As I thought, Wally was very faithfull to the original pencils, although you can recognize his polished style from miles away. And he couldn't help to add some subtle details, like to add nails to the hand of the main image.
Here you'll find a comparation side-to-side of both images:
http://tinyurl.com/2wnw55m
This was my first job with Woody
How strange to see this art again after so many years. About all I did on this book was to rule lines and fill in blacks. I was pretty green... had never used a brush to draw and Woody wouldn't trust me with one at that early point. A quick look through my file copy of the book prompts me to say that on the 2 pages here, 1 and 6, I inked some of the machinery and did the blacks. Just a job for Woody, of course, but boy was I nervous! I look at that book now and cringe. My suckage is evident on every page... :-) He was a very patient guy. And, in the words of Monty Python, "I got better."
Al Sirois
http://www.alsirois.com
It's weird--
Wood didn't change things that much--but every subtle change sucked the life and energy out of this page. It's gorgeous--but lifeless.
Thanks
You hear so little about the assistants and other artists who helped out inkers and pencilers in the past. Thank you Al for your post and background information.
Did you work full-time assisting Wally and did he engage more assistants later in his career? Tom
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