Point Blank Stage

The theater stage was bereft
theatric'lly there'd been a theft
When actor stole scene
from playwright, Eugene
O'Neill made an exit, stage left

Photo © Ryan Woodland 2009

Wood, Working

There once was an artist named Wood
whose comics were better than good
For those who can see
his work at E.C.
the testing of time has withstood


Top: A terrific 3-D Wood illustration of Al "Jazzbo" Collins for
Mad Magazine #31, 1957. Above: The last panel from Wood's E.C.
comics classic, "My World." Read the entire incredible story here.
We hope you've enjoyed Wood Week. For more of his wonderful
work visit Steve Thompson's Hooray For Wally Wood!
All art © and trademark E.C. Comics 2009.

Man on the Moon Maiden

In the fifties it wasn't too soon
to rocket right up to the moon
Then save lunar lassie
and, squeezing her chassis,
lay down in a crater and spoon

Rocket to the Moon #1, 1951. Art by
Wally Wood and Joe Orlando.

Base Detective

There was a detective in space
Of evidence hadn't a trace
Disgracing profession
he'd beat a confession
to crack ev'ry alien case

Space Detective #1, 1951. Art by Wally Wood.

Space Suited

It seems that most guys who fly rockets
wear space-suits with belts full of pockets
Their long-legged femmes
attract B.E.M.s
with eyeballs that bulge from their sockets


Three 1950s covers by the great Wally Wood,
who defined the art of science fiction in comics.
Glossary note: B.E.M.s are Bug-eyed Monsters.
Steve Mannion sent along this link to the original
art to original Wood E.C. art, including the Weird
Science-Fantasy cover seen above, here.
Steve is a big Wally Wood and E.C. fan. Check out
his fantastic E.C.-inspired art at his blog, here.

Full Metal Racket

His captor, so-called "Iron Maiden"
wears outfit she must be obeyed in
Our hero is caught
in picture quite fraught
With layers of meaning it's laden

Image thanks to Pencil Ink. Art by the masterful
Wally Wood, from T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1, 1965.
It's Wood Week at Limerwrecks.

Ugly Girl

Here's a late addition to Wolverton Week. It's a very short claymation piece called Ugly Girl, inspired by Basil Wolverton's Lena Hyena. Thanks to Richard Krauss at Midnight Fiction for the link.

This video isn't a rental
It doesn't need guidance parental
A very toothpaste-y
so short that it's hasty
claymation on hygiene that's dental

Looming Tomb of Doom

The end of the world's drawing near
the reasons for which aren't clear
This warning in verse
is terribly terse
There isn't much time left, I fear



Click to enlarge the apocalyptic artistry of Basil Wolverton.
This is the end of Wolverton Week at Limerwrecks.

Cover Hurl

She won't get the boys hot and sweaty
Her hair hangs like soggy spaghetti
Her face is a blot
it's starting to rot
She's better at ugly than Betty

A Little Crab'll Do Ya

The crabmen are crawling by night
They scuttle and skitter and bite
Don't sleep with the crabs--
they'll leave you with scabs
Start pulling your bed covers tight!


They Crawl By Night, from Journey Into Unknown
Worlds #15, 1953. Story by Daniel Keyes ("Flowers for
Algernon"), art by Basil Wolverton. Read this paranoid
classic in black-and-white at Pappy's Golden Age Comics,
or in its original 4 color version at The Horrors of It All.
Click on the images to enlarge them.

Thinkin', Inkin', and Odd

Ingestion of drugs won't explain
what poured out of Wolverton's brain
The drawings he signed
could warp a young mind
or drive a cartoonist insane


Isolated panels from the Basil Wolverton story "Nightmare World",
Weird Tales of the Future #3, Sept. 1952. The entire story is here.

Weird, Tiered

To oddity Wolverton steered
From "normal" his drawings all veered
His renderings range
from goofy to strange
By lovers of weird he's revered

Weird Tales of the Future art by Basil Wolverton.
Read the entire story, "Escape to Death!", here.

Tome on the Strange

Cartoonists sit mostly at home
from drawing boards seldom will roam
They travel creation
in their illustration
imagining worlds in their dome

Read our earlier Wolverton limericks, here