Here's an up close look at an important publication, focusing on its driving force, Wallace / Wally Wood.  Witzend is an intriguing anomaly in comic book history.  It was a creator-driven, creator-owned, self-published, independent comics magazine series that began publishing in 1966.  And while it was a very forward thinking, new school style of publication in this respect, it was also largely old school in its approach to comics making.  Another way of looking at it is that it combines the free spirited approach to comic books that was only barely just getting underway in the world of underground comix (Witzend  was published before Zap) and the high degree of professionalism that came with artists with decades of experience in the mainstream comic book industry.  It didn't earn Wood the financial returns commensurate with the labor that it required to create, but that didn't stop him from keeping at it.  Eight issues were published between 1966 and 1971, and then five more between 1972 and 1985 (the last two posthumously, as Wood died in 1981).

Some of Wood's comics here are over the top in their sexism, and objectification of women, clearly serving his psychological needs to various degrees.  So, a certain level of detachment is required to be able to appreciate the artistry and historical significance of the work.  By all reports Wood was often difficult and/or unhappy and seems to have perhaps given himself over to comics making to a degree that proved psychologically and emotionally – as well as as financially – unsustainable in the long run.  Regardless, he produced a body of work that is widely considered one of the greatest in the storied history of American comic books.

Here's the Publisher, Vanguard's write-up:

Hall of Fame comics creator Wallace Wood's revolutionary, self-published Witzend (often spelled in all lower case) has always been hard to define — the birth of the pro-zine, underground, independent... Whatever you call it, Wood’s Witzend was a mid-'60s milestone event that represented all of the loftiest Fine Art goals of the Underground Movement including art-for-art’s-sake, freedom from censorship, and creator rights. The vast majority of the underground comix movement creators were directly inspired by the EC Comics and Mad work of Wallace Wood and Harvey Kurtzman (as well as psychedelics). Until R. Crumb’s later and eminently notable Zap Comix, no underground had the impact of witzend which combined top-flight comics pros like Wood, Frazetta, Steranko and Ditko side-by-side with up-and-coming Undergrounders like Art Spiegelman (Maus) and Vaughn Bode (Cheech Wizard). 

For the first time ever, this single volume collects all of Wood's own contributions to his groundbreaking publication including Animan, Sally Forth, The Rejects, Bucky Ruckus, Pipsqueek Papers, The Wizard King, Snorky, Lunar Tunes, and more.  All in glorious black and white like the original magazines but on quality art paper and hardbound to last a lifetime.

We've posted a selection on the Copacetic Tumblr, HERE.

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