The Brilliant Life and Tragic Death OF Wally Wood, the World’s 2nd-Best Comic Book Artist

Introduction by Pop-Art icon, PETER MAX

Somerset, NJ. — Wally’s World opens Halloween night, 1981, in a seedy world of pornographers and addicts, with a death by .44 magnum gunshot… This is no mystery club thriller but the true, dramatic illustrated biography of legendary cartoonist Wallace Wood. But his death, in semi-squalid surroundings and the wretched state of his body belie the glory that came before. Within the world of pop-art, Wood was revered as a rebel genius who inspired a generation, including "underground" artists Robert Crumb, Robert Williams and Pulitzer Prize winner Art Spiegelman. Wood rose to the pinnacle of pop-culture stardom as one of America’s top humorists at MAD magazine. Surviving McCarthy-era politics, Wood excelled as a cutting-edge science-fiction illustrator and mainstream regaler of daring superhero deeds. The award-winning artist was sought out to collaborate with pop-art maestro Peter Max; noted filmmaker Ralph Bakshi; Harry Harrison, the Nebula Award winning author of the Charlton Heston sci-fi thriller, Soylent Green; Marvel comics creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; and Pulitzer Prize winner Jules Feiffer. But the star of the illustrated page was haunted by demons that tore him from his creative peaks to die an early death on the outskirts of Hollywood.

Journalist Steve Starger and historian J. David Spurlock tell a concise but sweeping tale of Wood’s life and times and offer a brisk, colorful history of the comic book industry and the American century from the Depression through the early 1980s.

Highlights:

-200 illustrations and photos spanning Wally Wood's career.

-Packed with insightful quotes from a stellar list of creators.

-The 1st & only full-length biography on this legendary talent.

-Cover by NY Times Bestseller designer Chip Kidd &

Academy Award nominee, Dan Clowes.

Steve Starger: Earned his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Connecticut. He has worked as a reporter, editor, columnist, and writer, contributing to The San Francisco Oracle, The Advocate Newspapers, and Cashbox Magazine. He is a review editor for and contributor to Art New England and teaches at Manchester Community College, in Connecticut.

J. David Spurlock: Known for his 25 years of commercial illustration, art direction, and editing, Spurlock is a recognized pop-culture historian who has served as President of the Dallas Society of Illustrators. In addition to teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York, Spurlock’s career includes work for Disney, Sony, Vanguard Productions and MTV.