My Kind of Opera! by Dave Goode

MY KIND OF OPERA by Dave Goode

Wally Wood has been my favorite comic book artist for decades now. His style worked in every genre. Humor, horror, romance, mystery, jungle adventure...He could do it all. I'm especially fond of his science fiction stories. Or should I say "space opera". The stuff that featured steely-eyed, square-jawed space pilots with ray guns rescuing sexy damsels in distress wearing modified burlesque costumes. And of course B.E.M (Bug Eyed Monsters). And nobody drew the interior of a rocket ship like Wally Wood. Not even Jack Kirby.

I sometimes imagine Wood drawing comic book adaptations of certain 50s sci-fi flicks that Dell never got around to. The classic THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955) based on Raymond F. Jones 1952 novel with Wood illustrating the Metaluna mutant would have been pure magic. Not to mention what Wood's rendering of Faith Domergue in her sexy space suit would look like.

 

Another one that would have been great drawn by Wood would have been an adaptation of WORLD WITHOUT END (1956) written and directed by Edward Bernds who was well known for his work with the 3 Stooges. WORLD WITHOUT END was pure sci-fi pulp with it's future world of mutant cavemen and an underground civilization populated by leggy beauties in futuristic miniskirts. I always thought that with a little tweaking this flick could have made a good Challengers of the Unknown movie.

The list seems endless. With Wood drawing adaptations of QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE (1958) and others. Another one I would have loved to have seen Wood illustrate, maybe as a graphic novel, would have been INVADERS FROM MARS (1953). No Flash Gordon or Captain Future types in that one. But it did have Martian mutants, ray guns, and beautiful Helena Carter in seamed stockings.