Two renowned masters of Science Fiction art, Al Williamson and Wally Wood, join forces in their early days in comics. The story is "DEATH IN DEEP SPACE!", and stars the hero Space Ace. This particular Space Ace story comes from JET POWERS #4, published by Magazine Enterprises in 1951.
Both artists were young men, in the early stages of their careers. After World War II, young Wood came to New York to seek his fortune as a comic book artist. While he was knocking on doors with his portfolio, he met another ex-Airborne paratrooper-cum-artist named John Severin, and the two became friends. Severin introduced Wood to the other artists he worked with at the Charles William Harvey Studio, notably Will Elder and Harvey Kurtzman. Impressed with Wood's talent, they referred him to Will Eisner. Eisner quickly hired Wood, and one of the first jobs Wood did for Eisner-Iger Studios was doing lettering on Eisner's THE SPIRIT.
Wood continued to soak in the environment and hone his craft, and soon began attending Burne Hogath's Cartoonist's and Illustrator's School. Among the people he met there were Roy Krenkel, Jack Abel, Ross Andru, Harry Harrison, and Al Williamson. It was 1948.
When they worked on this Space Ace tale, it was actually one of the first sci-fi comics Williamson had done (his first being Space Ace in JET POWERS #3), while Wood had already had success doing sci-fi in Captain Science(Youthful Comics), and also An Earthman On Venus, and Flying Saucers for AVON.
The result is a gorgeous little story where the pictures overshadow the words. What sticks in the memory is the imagery that signaled great things that were to come.
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It's interesting to realize that the kinkiness of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon created an expectation that there'd be some beautiful-but-problematic woman using a whip in all these various space-travel science-fiction comics.
ReplyDeleteI feel a certain amount of despair looking at this story. I'm working on my own retro science-fiction comic (with a non-whip-wielding but still beautiful and problematic female adversary), but a worsening familial tremor ensures that I will never be capable of drawings half as skilled as these.
Dan'l,
DeleteYou and the rest of us! But that's just fine, there's room for all kinds of creative genius in this big ol' world, so you and I can keep producing our unique projects. I look forward to enjoying it when you finish, whips notwithstanding.