Friday, September 06, 2013

Number 1432: Savage World!

The story, “Savage World!”, although drawn by Al Williamson years earlier, was rewritten by Wallace Wood and used in the first issue of Wood’s prozine, Witzend, in 1966. Apparently readers were confused about the genesis of the story, about Al Williamson’s friends (like Roy Krenkel, Angelo Torres, Frank Frazetta), who would chip in to help on a job. Wood included this paragraph in Witzend #2:
The “long since defunct” comic book Wood refers to is Buster Crabbe.

I couldn’t find my copy of Witzend #1 (someday I’ve just got to get organized) so I scanned it from its appearance in Marvel’s black and white magazine, Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1 in 1974.









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7 comments:

  1. Booksteve8:23 AM

    I'm drawing a blank as to where but it seems like it was printed somewhere else later on with a completely different script!

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  2. Brian Barnes11:45 AM

    Wood seems very defensive when talking about the Fleagle gang, or at least that's my read. He might have taken the questioning as a hit on Williamson's art, which I don't think any fan would have done.

    This story, though, whew, it's a mess and a half. The art is, obviously, beautiful. The story in the art (underground civilizations, advanced science) is very 50s, but Wood's rewrite is very 60s (with the "but who is evil" theme.) It doesn't hang together, some bits are bizarre -- like the one panel escape on page 4.

    Still, Al Williamson? Like all EC guys, always a treat.

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  3. Pappy5:33 PM

    Steven, I thought so, too, but didn't mention it because I couldn't trust my memory. I think, but am not sure, it might have been the original script that was done for Buster Crabbe comics.

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  4. Pappy5:35 PM

    Brian, to me it's obvious that Williamson had major help despite what Wood claimed. Al may have done the initial pencils, but other artists pitched in, including Krenkel on backgrounds and Frazetta in several places, especially on faces.

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  5. Booksteve5:49 PM

    http://swords-and-veeblefetzers.blogspot.com/2010/11/alien-worlds-4-land-of-fhre.html

    It was Bruce Jones who re-scripted it entirely for Eclipse in the eighties.

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  6. Britt Reid10:39 PM

    The story was reprinted (from the original version, not the modified UWoSF version) in DeathRattle V2 N10, which included this page breaking-down the art credits...
    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wqsZhCWEyhM/UD_VPR8SnjI/AAAAAAAAW7w/meSAhz39biA/s0/DeathRattleV2N10-26.jpg
    and
    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XNVKwGb1yIk/UD_Vl_z9TPI/AAAAAAAAW8A/u7oc_AFAYNA/s0/DeathRattleV2N10-35.jpg
    The story was retitled "Land of the Fhre", rescripted (by Bruce Jones), and published in color in Alien Worlds #4.
    http://atocom.blogspot.com/2012/09/reading-room-land-of-fhre-aka-savage.html

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  7. Pappy4:22 PM

    Steve and Britt, thanks for all that good information. Actually, I own those comics! I just need to dig them out of the boxes they're in.

    ReplyDelete

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