Witzend

witzend, edited and published by Bill Pearson on an irregular schedule spanning decades, is an alternative comic book showcasing contributions by comic book professionals, leading illustrators and new artists. The title was printed in lower-case. With the emphasis on graphic stories, the magazine is generally regarded as a forerunner of the underground comics movement of the late 1960s. It was launched in 1966 by the writer-artist Wallace Wood shortly after Richard Kyle coined the term "graphic story" (1964-65) and Bhob Stewart, during a panel discussion at the second New York comic book convention, coined the term "underground comics."

Origin

In 1965, when the illustrator Dan Adkins began working at the Wood Studio, he showed Wood pages he had been creating for his planned comics-oriented publication, "Outlet". This inspired Wood to become an editor-publisher, and he began assembling art and stories for a magazine he titled "et cetera". A front cover paste-up with the "et cetera" logo was prepared, but when Wood learned of another magazine with a similar title, there was a last-minute title change. [ [http://www.twomorrows.com/alterego/articles/08adkins.html Thomas, Roy. "Alter Ego", Vol. 3, No. 8: "A Dream Come True! A Candid Conversation with Dan Adkins."] ]

Early issues

Wood launched "witzend" in the summer of 1966, with a statement of "no policy" and a desire to give his friends in the comics field a creative detour from the formulaic industry mainstream. The contents included Wood's "Animan" and "Bucky Ruckus," and another highlight was Al Williamson's science fiction adventure, "Savage World." Reed Crandall illustrated Edgar Rice Burroughs, along with a mixed bag of contributions by Steve Ditko, Jack Gaughan, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Ralph Reese, Roy G. Krenkel and Angelo Torres. The issue wrapped with Frank Frazetta's back cover portrait of Buster Crabbe.

The second issue has a front cover by Wood and a back cover by Ralph Reese. Gray Morrow takes the lead with his scifi fantasy story "Orion", featuring some of his best work; it was not completed in "witzend" but was eventually in "Heavy Metal" in 1979. Next is two pages of "Hey, Look!" by Harvey Kurtzman; then "a feeble fable," "If You Can't Join 'em... Beat 'em" by Warren Sattler. The next five pages feature Reed Crandall at his best with more illustrations from ERB's John Carter series. The center spread has poems by Wood, Reese and Pearson plus art by Frazetta for Burroughs' Pellucidar series. Bill Elder has a cartoon. There's "Midnight Special" by Steve Ditko and "By the Fountain in the Park" by Don Martin. The issue concludes with another installment of Wood's "Animan."

The third issue has a Wood front cover with an Al Williamson back cover. It opens with Ditko's first "Mr. A" by Steve Ditko and another Reed Crandall installment. "The Invaders" was illustrated by Richard Bassford. Following Wood's "Pipsqueak Papers" came more "Hey Look!" by Kurtzman and "Last Chance," a previously unpublished EC New Direction story from the 1950s, drawn by Frank Frazetta and rewritten and edited by Bill Pearson. The issue also featured work by Roger Brand, Will Eisner, Richard "Grass" Green, Art Spiegelman and Bhob Stewart.

With "witzend" 4, Wood began a serialization of his epic fantasy, "The World of the Wizard King." These installments of illustrated prose fiction were co-authored with Pearson. Shifting from illustrated text to a comics format, Wood continued the storyline in his later graphic novel, published in two editions (one b&w, one color) -- "The Wizard King" (1978) and "The King of the World" (Les Editions du Triton, 1978).

After the fourth issue, Wood sold "witzend" to Pearson "for the sum of $1.00," and the Pearson-edited issues continued to explore new avenues with contributions from Vaughn Bode, Eisner, Jeff Jones, Wood, Bernie Wrightson and others. Pearson also assembled theme issues -- "Good Girls" (diverse drawings of women in issue 13) and a non-comics issue profiling W.C. Fields (issue 9).

Acclaim

A critical survey of the magazine, "Wood at His witzend" by Rick Spanier, appears in Bhob Stewart's biographical anthology, "Against the Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood" (TwoMorrows, 2003). Designer-typographer Spanier once edited a similar graphic story publication, "Picture Story Magazine", requested by the Museum of Modern Art for its collection. After analyzing all 13 issues of "witzend" and fitting it into the context of alternative publishing of the period, Spanier concluded that "witzend"'s "salient point, that comic artists were entitled to more control and ownership of their own work, would eventually be recognized by the publishers of comic books, but it is hard to argue that "witzend" itself was a key factor in that development. Like so many other visionary endeavors, it may simply have been ahead of its time." [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=D3Up5Fqyc6MC&pg=PA187&dq=SPANIER+%22against+the+grain%22&num=100&as_brr=0&sig=xGrHjeJ678tT0-wTMFYDrzuqDOc Spanier, Rick. "Against the Grain", TwoMorrows, 2003.] ]

References