Witzend

witzend
Wally Wood's cover illustration for the third issue of witzend (1967)
Publication information
Publisher	Wally Wood Wonderful Publishing Company
Publication date(s)	1966 – 1985
No. of issues	13
Creative team
Created by	Wally Wood
Artist(s)	Wally Wood, Al Williamson, Reed Crandall, Steve Ditko, Jack Gaughan, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Ralph Reese, Roy G. Krenkel, Angelo Torres, Frank Frazetta, Gray Morrow, Warren Sattler, Bill Elder, Don Martin, Roger Brand, Will Eisner, Richard Bassford, Richard "Grass" Green, Art Spiegelman, Vaughn Bode, Jeff Jones, Bernie Wrightson

witzend, published on an irregular schedule spanning decades, is an underground comic showcasing contributions by comic book professionals, leading illustrators and new artists. witzend was launched in 1966 by the writer-artist Wallace Wood, who handed the reins to Bill Pearson (Wonderful Publishing Company) from 1968–1985. The title was printed in lower-case.

When the illustrator Dan Adkins began working at the Wood Studio in 1965, he showed Wood pages he had been creating for his planned comics-oriented publication, Outlet. This inspired Wood to become an editor-publisher, and he began assembling art and stories for a magazine he titled et cetera. A front cover paste-up with the et cetera logo was prepared and even used in advance solicitation print ads, but when Wood learned of another magazine with a similar title, there was a last-minute title change.

Wood launched witzend in the summer of 1966, with a statement of "no policy" and a desire to give his friends in the comics field a creative detour from the formulaic industry mainstream. During this same period, editor Bill Spicer and critic Richard Kyle began promoting and popularizing the terms "graphic novel" and "graphic story", and in 1967 Spicer changed the title of his Fantasy Illustrated to Graphic Story Magazine. Kyle, Spicer, Wood and Pearson all envisioned an explosion of graphic narratives far afield of the commercial comic book industry.

witzend debuted with Wood's "Animan" and "Bucky Ruckus" while Al Williamson contributed his science fiction adventure, "Savage World." Reed Crandall illustrated Edgar Rice Burroughs, along with a mixed bag of pages by Steve Ditko, Jack Gaughan, Gil Kane, Jack Kirby, Ralph Reese, Roy G. Krenkel and Angelo Torres. The issue wrapped with Frank Frazetta's back cover portrait of Buster Crabbe.