When Bill Gaines inherited EC Comics from his father, the legendary publisher M. C. Gaines, at just 25 years old, no one could predict the impact he would have—not only on comics, but on global pop culture at large. Inspired by the pulp sci-fi stories and weird fiction of their youth, Bill Gaines and artist Al Feldstein drafted the initial issues of what would become the first true serialized science fiction magazine, delivering stories, creatures, and worlds unlike anything readers had ever seen. Far from the simplistic space adventures of Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, the high-concept, morally ambiguous, and often-chilling tales of Weird Science resonated deeply with readers growing up in the Atomic Age under the shadow of the mushroom cloud. Nuclear threats, the ravages of science unshackled from ethics, and the creeping authority of world governments locked in a Cold War had begun seeping into the fabric of American life. The first issue of Weird Science appeared on newsstands in the spring of 1950, its cover boldly daring readers to pick it up. Subsequent bimonthly releases pulled audiences into an ever-changing kaleidoscope of “Scientific SuspenStories,” featuring Martian invasions, murderous androids, time travel gone awry, planets inhabited entirely by women, and more. Bolstered by a growing stable of soon-to-be comic art legends like Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, and Joe Orlando, Weird Science shaped the collective imagination of a generation. Gaines and Feldstein boldly tackled themes that were rarely addressed in serialized comics, while visionary artists like Wood went on to define the aesthetic and societal impact of the genre, depicting futuristic vistas and impossible technology with a level of detail as if not merely imagining them, but glimpsing into the very future itself. In Volume 1, TASCHEN presents the first eleven issues of Weird Science, meticulously recreating the comics in their original glory. Rather than recolor the artwork, this edition works with super-high-resolution photographs of each page as it was printed more than half a century ago, using modern retouching techniques to correct problems with the era’s inexpensive, imperfect printing. The result is a pristine product, keeping the character and feel of the classic pulp comic magazines, but freshly printed by a world-class press, produced without the economic or time constraints of the past. Complete with an introductory essay by EC authority Grant Geissman, which illustrates the historical, cultural, and artistic context of the stories and their creators, this collection is a must-have for fans of the weird, the strange, and the fantastical.
Authors
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. Excerpted from Wikipedia.
Joseph Orlando was an Italian American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. (source: Wikipedia)
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he claimed to dislike. Within the comics community, he was also known as Woody, a name he sometimes used as a signature. He was the first inductee into the comic book's Jack Kirby Hall of Fame, in 1989, and was inducted into the subequent Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame three years later. In addition to Wood's hundreds of comic book pages, he illustrated for books and magazines while also working in a variety of other areas—advertising; packaging and product illustrations; gag cartoons; record album covers; posters; syndicated comic strips; and trading cards, including work on Topps' landmark Mars Attacks set. For much of his adult life, Wood suffered from chronic, unexplainable headaches. In the 1970s, following bouts with alcoholism, Wood suffered from kidney failure. A stroke in 1978 caused a loss of vision in one eye. Faced with declining health and career prospects, he committed suicide by gunshot three years later. Wood was married three times. His first marriage was to artist Tatjana Wood, who later did extensive work as a comic-book colorist. EC editor Harvey Kurtzman, who had worked closely with Wood during the 1950s, once commented, "Wally had a tension in him, an intensity that he locked away in an internal steam boiler. I think it ate away his insides, and the work really used him up. I think he delivered some of the finest work that was ever drawn, and I think it's to his credit that he put so much intensity into his work at great sacrifice to himself". EC publisher William Gaines once stated, "Wally may have been our most troubled artist... I'm not suggesting any connection, but he may have been our most brilliant".
