The Ol' AMOC Mailbag: Wally Wood's 22 panels that always work

Hi, Everybody!

Unfortunately, AMOC never gets invited anywhere cool...

So the Ol' AMOC Mailbag received the following:

Dear Moment of Cerebus,

Out of respect for creator rights, the truth, dignity, and all that is good, 

would you please delete the inaccurate, disparaging, slanderous, negative, remarks by "Odkin"under your Wood Panels That Always Work post.

It would also be appreciated if you would note that,

Panels That Always Work is © & TM the Wallace Wood Estate.

Thank you,

The Wallace Wood Estate

Executor, Jack Robinson

Deputy Executor, Glenn Wood 

Director, J. David Spurlock 

Director Emeritus, Bill Pearson

This is referring to this.

I responded (not ten minutes ago,) thusly:

Hello Misters Robinson, Wood, Spurlock, and Pearson,

Matt Dow, the Interim Editor of A Moment of Cerebus, here.

Having received your message regarding the "Wally Wood's 22 panels that always work" post on AMOC, I reviewed the post and the ensuing comments.

As to the request to delete the comments of "Odkin", I'm afraid that as a blog devoted to celebrating the works of Dave Sim, a staunch supporter of Freedom of Expression and Free Speech, that I can't in good conscience engage in an act of outright censorship. But, I do encourage you to post any comments you may wish to make to correct what you perceive as "inaccurate" about "Odkin's" comments. (As to "Odkin's" comments being "disparaging, slanderous," or "negative," I find that that is an "eye of the beholder" situation, and really not under my control.) Since your request has come three years after "Odkin" made these comments, which were made three years after the initial post (by my predecessor founding editor Tim W.), I reasonably expect that any response from "Odkin"  to anything you post wouldn't show up for another three years.

Also, according to http://www.comicsbeat.com/wally-woods-22-panels-that-always-work-unlimited-edition/ "In the blog posting, Johnson reveals the history of the famed piece, including writer/editor Larry Hama’s account of its creation: I worked for Wally Wood as his assistant in the early ’70s, mostly on the Sally Forth and Cannon strips he did for the Overseas Weekly. I lettered the strips, ruled borders, swipe-o-graphed reference, penciled backgrounds and did all the other regular stuff as well as alternating with Woody on scripting Cannon and Sally Forth. The “22 Panels” never existed as a collected single piece during Woody’s lifetime. [Emphasis mine. MD]  Another ex-Wood assistant, Paul Kirchner had saved three Xeroxed sheets of the panels that would comprise the compilation. I don’t believe that Woody put the examples together as a teaching aid for his assistants, but rather as a reminder to himself. He was always trying to kick himself to put less labor into the work! He had a framed motto on the wall, “Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up.” He hung the sheets with the panels on the wall of his studio to constantly remind himself to stop what he called “noodling.”" As the AMOC post specifically uses the Hama "22 panels," I'm not sure that adding "Panels That Always Work is © & TM the Wallace Wood Estate" is entirely accurate. 

But do note that I am posting this message to AMOC with a link to the original post, so the copyright/trademark notice will be posted in some form.

You're so very welcome,

Matt Dow

Interim Editor, A Moment of Cerebus

 Having looked into "The Wally Wood Estate," and their dealings, I believe I've made the right call.

Next Time: I wonder if the Kirby estate wants to #@$! with me?