Wally Wood

Wallace Allan Wood was born on June 17, 1927, and over the course of a career spanning decades became one of the most technically accomplished artists American comics ever produced. He died by suicide on November 2, 1981.

Wood came up through the industry in the late 1940s and found his footing at EC Comics, where he contributed extensively to science fiction titles Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, as well as to MAD Magazine from its 1952 launch through 1964. EC publisher William Gaines memorably called him possibly "our most troubled artist" and, in the same breath, possibly "our most brilliant." That tension — between personal difficulty and remarkable output — defined much of his life.

His range extended well beyond EC. He drew early issues of Marvel's Daredevil and designed the character's enduring red costume, contributed horror work to Warren Publishing's Creepy, and created the superhero series T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. He also owned the long-running adult comic strip characters Sally Forth and Cannon. Outside comics, Wood worked across advertising, packaging, posters, record covers, and trading cards, including Topps's Mars Attacks set.

Late in life he poured his energies into The Wizard King trilogy — writing, drawing, and self-publishing two of the three planned volumes before his death. He was the inaugural inductee into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1989 and entered the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992.