The Comics Rack

Weird Wonder Tales

by Bob Gay

Part 3

NOTE: Throughout the article you can click on any of the images to see a larger view.      After the quality of issues 10-13, issue 14 is a major disappointment and, if you were to just pick this issue up at random, you probably wouldn't pick up any others. The opening story is by Don Heck from Tower of Shadows #4 and had appeared only six years before it was reprinted in WWT. Heck is known for his early horror work, but by this point in his career he had drawn too many super heroes and the story suffers as a result. The rest of the issue is fairly non-descript, although the last story, "Man in the Dark!", has a nice twist to it. There is also the odd looking story pictured at right, which looks like a DC SF story. Issue 15 is also forgettable, with another recent reprint by Tom Sutton from Chamber of Darkness #4 (again from six years previous), a Don Heck story, and a passable Kirby story. Fortunately, the editorial direction changed once again with issue 16 and, except for a few bumps in the road, issues 16-22 return to the quality of the earlier issues.
     Issue 16 opens with a story drawn by Joe Sinnott. Sinnott is best known as inker, particularly of Kirby, but he also was a very talented penciller, who contributed many stories to a variety of publishers throughout his career, particularly to Treasure Chest Magazine. Outside of a couple of reprinted stories, the only other examples of his pencilling can be found in a couple of issues of Fantastic Four and in various fanzines. Kirby is also featured in this issue, in a nearly autobiographical tale of an artist and a pencil that makes all drawings real. The real treat of the issue, however, is the appearance of the first of three Venus stories by Bill Everett (continuing through issue 18).
     As I have mentioned before, I feel that Everett is vastly underrated as an artist who is practically ignored by current comic fans. Compare the sequence on the right with the example on the left. The panels on the right are not only anatomically correct, but show a range of emotion. The example on the left is in a totally different style, yet again, the figures, buildings, jeep and backgrounds are all drawn correctly and give the feel of the location. This is what makes Everett (along with Kirby, Ditko, et al.) a great artist:  the ability to draw to fit the story, rather than make the story fit his drawing style; a concept that most comic artists of today can only dream about. It is a shame that outside of WWT, the other Marvel reprint books and the Golden Age of Marvel paperbacks that the bulk of Everett's work is unavailable to the reader of today.
     Issues 17 and 18 both are up to the quality of issue 16. Issue 17 features a Kirby story, another Venus story by Everett and a very early story by Gene Colan. Issue 18 is odd in that it only has two stories. The first, "Krang!", is by Kirby and is one of the pulp style stories that I mentioned in an earlier part of this article. The story reads quite well and I feel it has some importance in the history of Marvel, since it was only a year later that the enlarging formula became a shrinking formula for the story, "The Man in the Ant Hill", which was the springboard for the character of Ant-Man (DC had gorillas, but Marvel had ants). The last WWT appearance of Venus rounds out the issue and the splash page is pictured at right. Like the Kirby story in 16, this story seems to be semi-autobiographical. A cartoonist being harangued by his creations is interesting on its own, but takes on a deeper meaning because Everett was an alcoholic and eventually died from complications caused by his drinking. Just how creativity works has always been a mystery and one has to wonder if some of the images in this particular story were inspired by some outside stimulus.
     Starting with issue 19, the editorial direction of WWT changes once again and features some of the best, and worst, that the series has to offer. Marvel, and the fan press at the time, trumpeted the fact that WWT would begin to reprint the adventures of Doctor Droom (renamed Dr. Druid to avoid confusion with Dr. Doom). Dr. Droom originally appeared in the first six issues of Amazing Adventures and has the distinction of being Marvel's first continuing character of the Silver Age.
     A Dr. Strange prototype, Dr. Droom is introduced in the story from Amazing Adventures #1 that appears in issue 19, which is credited to Kirby's pencils and Ditko's inks; a long held, and I feel mistaken, credit. I would agree that the splash page on the left does look like Kirby with Ditko inks, but the page on the right is obviously a Ditko layout and the figures look more like Ditko pencils and inks. The rest of the story has the same appearance, with some panels and pages looking like Kirby and Ditko, and others looking like Ditko alone. My guess would be that Kirby and Ditko collaborated on the story (an artistic "jam", if you will) and that some of the pages are Ditko's re-working of Kirby's layouts. The rest of the issue contains another Kirby story and a rare post-EC story by Bernie Krigstein, that is, for the most part, forgettable.
     Issue 20 presents a bit of a mystery, in that all the stories have reprint credits, except for the Dr. Druid (Droom) story. The art looks to be retouched in spots, so it may, or may not have been part of the original run from Amazing Adventures (more on that in a moment). It is preceded by an excellent time travel story by Kirby and followed by a passable Ditko story. Then, a small gem:  a pre-Mad Mort Drucker story. Drucker worked for a couple of companies before going to Mad (some of his stories were for the DC war books), and his art style, like this example, is immediately recognizable.
     With issue 21, the letter's page reveals that the introduction of Dr. Druid into WWT was not limited to just reprints of his early stories. Rather, someone decided that the good doctor should serve as the host and continuing character of the book. While that may not seem like a bad idea on the surface, the way that Marvel went about this was pretty atrocious. The first story in issue 21 has a new Gene Colan splash page featuring Dr. Druid, but the story that follows the splash has nothing to do with the doctor and the reprinted story is by someone other than Colan. The Kirby story, "I Discovered Gorgilla!", has the faces of the main scientist all redrawn to look like Dr. Druid (see right), which is what I suspect was also case with the Dr. Druid story in issue 20. Lastly, the Ditko story for the issue has no re-drawing or reference to Dr. Druid at all.
     Granted, the concept of a "host" in comic books was not new when Marvel used it in WWT, but the earlier hosts didn't cut up or alter the stories they were "hosting". They were also consistent, popping up in all of the stories. I'm sure that the editorial hands at Marvel saw this as great fun, but why they had to alter the stories to make it work has always been a mystery to me. Even at this late date, I still question why, if Marvel wanted Dr. Druid as a regular character, they just didn't reprint his adventures as they originally appeared. After all, it's not like everybody had the early issues of Amazing Adventures lying about for easy reference.
     The final issue of WWT has some real gems in it, along with the insertion (intrusion?) of the Dr. Druid host. First, is the second appearance of Dr. Droom from Amazing Adventures #2, with the unfortunate addition of the new splash page pictured at left. Why it was thought that Byrne could produce a better splash page than the original Kirby, I will never know, but the story that follows is pure Kirby and a joy to behold. The credit box at the bottom of the page makes it look like the story is brand new, which might have been a ploy to attract more readers, but since the book was already cancelled at this point, it seems a rather moot point. I also believe the story is re-lettered in spots.
     The second story of issue 22, "When a Planet Dies!", is the finest Kirby story of the entire series. It reads like a pulp SF story, with no giant monsters to clutter up the landscape. I suspect that Kirby wrote the story himself, since it deals with the innate goodness of man in a science fictional way. Kirby was a fan of science fiction stories and the style he uses in this story hearkens back to the earlier years of the genre. What is rather disheartening, however, is the insertion, yet again, of Dr. Druid. In this case, the Dr. Druid figure was taken from the cover of issue 20, reversed, and then inserted onto the splash page. The opening page of the story also has the Dr. Druid head from the upper corner of the cover inserted into the first panel of the page with added dialogue. Again, a bit of editorial intrusion that is not appreciated. The issue closes with a Joe Kubert story that, if not for the Kubert signature credit, I would not recognize as Kubert.
     Hopefully, this series of articles has piqued your interest in Weird Wonder Tales and you will take some time to search out some, or all, of the issues. Unfortunately, the market for comics has changed over the years and where a reprint series like WWT was once considered undesirable, today it often commands high prices because these issues are the only place to obtain this material outside of the original, and much higher priced, comics. Although many of the stories are predictable, the art that illustrates them more than makes up for this failing and I think you will find that, even with its occasional failings, Weird Wonder Tales is an artists' book that is worth seeking out.