How happy was Stan Lee to have Wally Wood drawing Daredevil? Happy enough to pen a full-page ad singing his praises.
“Soaring to new heights of glory under the inspired art work of wonderful Wally Wood!” Lee rhapsodized.
By 1964, Marvel Comics was feeling the pinch of growing pains. Daredevil was an excellent superhero concept hampered by spotty execution, and Wood’s work helped correct that deficiency.
Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four had the advantage of a single, consistent visual style, but Daredevil didn’t. Golden Age great Bill Everett left after the first issue, and Joe Orlando filled in for three issues. But beginning with the fifth issue, Wood lent his appealing sense of austere power to the feature.
“Wallace Wood’s full-fledged debut as superhero artist came in 1964, with a well-ballyhooed arrival as an artist on Daredevil, and he also found additional jobs inking The Avengers, Tales of Suspense and spot work on Fantastic Four,” noted Jon B. Cooke in TwoMorrows’ Thunder Agents Companion.
“But in short order, after only seven issues as artist of the Man Without Fear, Woody would depart the Marvel Comics Group in ’65. Perhaps it was because the often-obstinate artist butted heads with demanding editor/ art director/ writer Stan Lee, or maybe it was an irresistible offer made by Tower Publishing’s Harry Shorten and Samm Schwartz (eager to jump into the superhero game), enabling him to scratch an itch to form his comic book line-up.”
“Had no idea who Wally Wood was back then! Not sure that most of Marvel’s readers had any sense who he was either,” Paul Zuckerman recalled. “I just knew that I was very impressed by his art, and he quickly became one of my favorites at the time, and I followed him to Tower!
“I also liked Johnny Romita’s issues on Daredevil and thus was not unhappy to see him make Spider-Man look more polished. Now, I prefer the Ditko issues, though.
“I think Daredevil only hit its stride when Gene Colan became the artist and gave the character a unique swashbuckling look. From a writing standpoint, though, the book only came together for me when Roy Thomas became the writer.”
“As Paul notes, I don’t think most readers were aware of who Wood was,” wrote Joseph Lenius. “Maybe older ones and adults, those familiar with his art in Mad, and also the earlier ECs. When I was first reading comics (age 8 in early 1963), I wasn’t even noticing art styles, let alone ‘judging’ them. That happened gradually, and my only reference to the artists and writers was the credits given (obviously more by Marvel than DC).
“By the time Wood was with Tower, I could appreciate, identify, and criticize art. And I knew who Wood was from his previous Marvel credits, and I went back and looked at his Daredevil and his inking in a whole new light. I could identify artists by around the time Romita took over Daredevil — certainly by DDs 15-18.”
“Wood’s all-too-brief run on Daredevil was a major high spot for ’60s Marvel,” recalled Randall Hugh Crawford. “At least until Steranko came along. Sure, Kirby, but he was everywhere on everything, so Kirby-style was the norm that Ditko and Wood were exceptions to.
“Some books have a ‘definitive’ artist. Daredevil had several. Wood’s brief stay, Gene Colan’s tenure, Frank Miller’s groundbreaking work. Mazzuchelli and Romita Jr. did some good work too, but I’m not sure I’d rank them as ‘definitive’”
Daredevil, a latecomer to the Marvel playground, even had to make do with leftovers in the supervillain department. He ran into Spider-Man’s enemy Electro in his second issue, and here in the sixth issue, he found himself tackling a “Fellowship of Fear” that included Spidey’s foe the Ox and the Human Torch’s enemy the Eel.
In the next issue, Wood would redesign the Man Without Fear’s costume from an acrobatic yellow to a devilish red, and craft one of the best superhero stories of the 1960s — Daredevil’s clash with the Sub-Mariner, a foe he couldn’t possibly beat (and didn’t).
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