Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jun 17, 2025 | 6 comments

The celebrated Mr. K pays a BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE to one of the all-time best…

By PAUL KUPPERBERG

One of the most memorable experiences I ever had with comic book art was the time I got to flip (carefully, each page in its own archival quality protective sleeve) through the original art for “The Mad Comic Opera” (Mad Magazine #56, July 1960). All six pages of the story were owned by a friend, just one of many extraordinary pieces in his collection. And while a lot of the art he owned was framed behind UV resistant glass and displayed throughout his house, “The Mad Comic Opera” was kept in a flat file, for its own safety and the preservation of its delicate Duo-Tone shading and aging Zip-a-Tone.

I think it’s the best single story Wally Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) ever drew. The draftsmanship is breathtaking, his storytelling and panel construction dead on, and, as written by MADman Frank Jacobs, “The Mad Comic Opera” features more than 50 newspaper comic-strip characters, all drawn in Wood’s realistic style but recognizable as the work of their original creators, all caught up in the kidnapping of Little Orphan Annie by Rex Morgan, M.D. and told in the style of a Broadway musical, including:

Dick Tracy, Mickey, Tarzan, Dondi, Wimpy, Junior, Mandrake the Magician, Alley Oop, Dagwood Bumstead, the Little King, the Phantom, Henry, Sandy, Flash Gordon, Superman/Clark Kent, Steve Canyon, Daddy Warbucks, Smilin’ Jack, Penny, Snuffy Smith, Lowizee Smith, Prince Valiant, Jiggs, Maggie, Pogo, Joe Palooka, Li’l Abner, Daisy Mae, Shmoos, Mark Trail, Andy Gump, Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, Hans Katzenjammer, Fritz Katzenjammer, Moon Mullins, Linus Van Pelt, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Mary Worth, the Spirit, Pluto, the Jeep, Red Ryder, Mr. Dithers, Blondie, Dennis the Menace, Cheeta, and Smokey Stover.

Breathtaking!

But “breathtaking” was Wood’s middle name. He was born in Minnesota in 1927, just in time for a Golden Age of newspaper comic strips, including Roy Crane’s Wash Tubbs, Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates, and others. Young Wallace was hooked, drawing from an early age, and, after an enlistment in the Army and a post-World War II assignment to Japan, he spent a year in art school before making the move to New York in 1948.

Through Wood’s chance encounter with another struggling young artist, John Severin, he learned that Will Eisner was looking for an assistant on The Spirit Sunday Section. After that he assisted George Wunder on Terry and the Pirates before getting work on his own from Fox, Fiction House, and, of course, his landmark stint for EC Comics’ science fiction and horror titles, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and Haunt of Fear, where he became known for his meticulously detailed and dynamic compositions.

He went where the work was. Penciler, inker, writer, comic books, newspaper strips, science fiction magazine illustration, whatever. Wood was a masterful storyteller and the 1950s was when he honed those chops, including amazing humor work in Mad, in both its comic-book and magazine format, and his brilliant inking over Jack Kirby on the syndicated Sky Master and DC’s Challengers of the Unknown.

In the 1960s, Wood worked with Marvel Comics, contributing to early issues of Daredevil, creating the character’s distinctive red costume. He also created the cult favorite T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents for Tower Comics; contributed to Warren Publishing’s black-and-white magazines; self-published witzend, an underground anthology that gave artists freedom from editorial constraints and influenced alternative comics; and produced the sword-and-sorcery fantasy adventure, The Wizard King.

In the early 1970s, he created the comic strips Cannon and Sally Forth for The Overseas Weekly, a newspaper for American servicemen. His prodigious output required a steady stream of young assistants whom he also mentored to careers of their own, including Larry Hama, Dan Adkins, Ralph Reese, Wayne Howard, Bill Pearson, and my brother Alan Kupperberg.

Wally Wood’s struggles with personal and health issues are well known and he left us far too soon, but his influence and legacy endures, in no small part through the legendary “Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work!!” This assemblage by Wood’s assistant Larry Hama of the master’s surefire storytelling shortcuts is to this day pinned over many an artist’s drawing board… as is, I’m sure, his equally famous adage, “Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up.”

Here then, MY 13 FAVORITE WALLY WOOD COMIC BOOK STORIES:

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Weird Fantasy #13 (May/June 1952), EC. The poignant “Home to Stay,” written by Al Feldstein, as a little boy wishes on a falling star for his spacefaring dad to return home. Spoiler: The ending is (choke!) ironic!

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Weird Science #22 (November–December 1953), EC. Another Feldstein script, “My World” showcases Wood’s versatility.

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Aces High #3 (July/August 1955), EC. World War I aerial action as you like it, Wally Wood style.

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Mad Magazine #56 (July 1960), EC. See above!

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Daredevil #5 (December 1964), Marvel. Wally Wood begins his regrettably short run on the Man Without Fear, introducing the hero’s iconic red costume two issues later.

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T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1 (November 1965), Tower. One of the unpolished gems of the 1960s, created by Wood and writer/editor (and Dynamo namesake) Len Brown.

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Blazing Combat #4 (July 1966), Warren. Wally Wood and Archie Goodwin? Yes, please!

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Captain Action #1 (October/November 1968), DC. I love the six issues of DC’s Captain Action! Read all about it here!

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Tower of Shadows #5 (May 1970), Marvel. Wood loved his cameos. He was the Hitchcock of comics.

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Astonishing Tales #1 (August 1970), Marvel. An unforgettable splash!

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Vampirella #10 (March 1971), Warren. And wizards. Wally Wood loved wizards!

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Plop! #23 (September/October 1976), DC. Really loved wizards! Also parodies of wizards.

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1984 #2 (August 1978), Warren. Some later Wood, proving he hadn’t lost a step.

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MORE

— When BART SIMPSON Met WALLY WOOD… Sort of. Click here.

— The TOP 13 WALLY WOOD EC Stories — RANKED. Click here.

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PAUL KUPPERBERG was a Silver Age fan who grew up to become a Bronze Age comic book creator, writer of Superman, the Doom Patrol, and Green Lantern, creator of Arion Lord of Atlantis, Checkmate, and Takion, and slayer of Aquababy, Archie, and Vigilante. He is the Harvey and Eisner Award nominated writer of Archie Comics’ Life with Archie, and his YA novel Kevin was nominated for a GLAAD media award and won a Scribe Award from the IAMTW. He also wrote an essay for DC’s Aquaman: 80 Years of the King of the Seven Seas. Check out his new memoir, Panel by Panel: My Comic Book Life. 

Website: https://www.paulkupperberg.net/

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