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WOOD STRUGGLED TO BE AS EFFICIENT AS POSSIBLE IN HIS OFTEN LOW-PAYING WORK-FOR-HIRE.^[18] OVER TIME HE CREATED A SERIES OF LAYOUT TECHNIQUES SKETCHED ON PIECES OF PAPER WHICH HE TAPED UP NEAR HIS DRAWING TABLE. THESE "VISUAL NOTES," COLLECTED ON THREE PAGES,^[19] REMINDED WOOD (AND SELECT ASSISTANTS HE SHOWED THE PAGES TO)^[20] OF VARIOUS LAYOUTS AND COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES TO KEEP HIS PAGES DYNAMIC AND INTERESTING.^[18] (IN THE SAME VEIN, WOOD ALSO TAPED UP ANOTHER NOTE TO HIMSELF: "NEVER DRAW ANYTHING YOU CAN COPY, NEVER COPY ANYTHING YOU CAN TRACE, NEVER TRACE ANYTHING YOU CAN CUT OUT AND PASTE UP.")^[19]

IN 1980, WOOD'S ORIGINAL, THREE-PAGE, 24 PANEL (NOT 22) VERSION OF "PANELS" WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE PROPER COPYRIGHT NOTICE IN THE WALLACE WOOD SKETCHBOOK (CROUCH/WOOD 1980).^[21] AROUND 1981,^[19] WOOD'S EX-ASSISTANT LARRY HAMA, BY THEN AN EDITOR AT MARVEL COMICS, PASTED UP XEROXES OF WOOD'S COPYRIGHTED DRAWINGS ON A SINGLE PAGE, WHICH HAMA TITLED "WALLY WOOD'S 22 PANELS THAT ALWAYS WORK!!" (IT WAS SUBTITLED, "OR SOME INTERESTING WAYS TO GET SOME VARIETY INTO THOSE BORING PANELS WHERE SOME DUMB WRITER HAS A BUNCH OF LAME CHARACTERS SITTING AROUND AND TALKING FOR PAGE AFTER PAGE!") HAMA LEFT OUT 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 24 PANELS AS HIS XEROXES WERE TOO FAINT TO MAKE OUT SOME OF THE LIGHTEST SKETCHES.^[21] HAMA DISTRIBUTED WOOD'S "ELEGANTLY SIMPLE PRIMER TO BASIC STORYTELLING"^[22] TO ARTISTS IN THE MARVEL BULLPEN, WHO IN TURN PASSED THEM ON TO THEIR FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES.^[20] EVENTUALLY, "22 PANELS" MADE THE ROUNDS OF JUST ABOUT EVERY CARTOONIST OR ASPIRING COMIC BOOK ARTIST IN THE INDUSTRY AND ACHIEVED ITS OWN ICONIC STATUS.^[22]

WOOD'S "PANELS THAT ALWAYS WORK" IS COPYRIGHT WALLACE WOOD PROPERTIES, LLC AS LISTED BY THE US COPYRIGHT OFFICE WHO ASSIGNED THE WORK REGISTRATION NUMBER VA0001814764.^[23]

HOMAGES AND TRIBUTES TO "22 PANELS"

IN 2006, WRITER/ARTIST JOEL JOHNSON BOUGHT THE LARRY HAMA PASTE-UP OF XEROXES AT AUCTION AND MADE IT AVAILABLE FOR WIDE DISTRIBUTION ON THE INTERNET.^[20] IN 2010 ANNE LUKEMAN OF KILL VAMPIRE LINCOLN PRODUCTIONS PRODUCED A SHORT FILM ADAPTING THE "22 PANELS THAT ALWAYS WORK" INTO A FILM NOIR-STYLE EXPERIMENTAL PIECE CALLED 22 FRAMES THAT ALWAYS WORK.^[24] ARTIST RAFAEL KAYANANCREATED A REVISED VERSION OF "22 PANELS" THAT USED ACTUAL ART FROM PUBLISHED WOOD COMICS TO ILLUSTRATE EACH FRAME.^[25] IN 2011, CARTOONIST D.J. COFFMAN HAD ALL 22 PANELS TATTOOED ONTO HIS LEFT ARM.^[26] IN 2006, CARTOONIST AND PUBLISHER CHEESE HASSELBERGER CREATED "CHEESE'S 22 PANELS THAT NEVER WORK," FEATURING BIZARRE SITUATIONS AND GENERALLY POOR STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES.^[27] IN JULY 2012, CEREBUS TV PRODUCER MAX SOUTHALL BROUGHT TOGETHER MATERIALS AND RELEASED A DOCUMENTARY AT HTTP://CEREBUS.TV THAT FEATURED DAVE SIM'S HOMAGE TO WALLY WOOD AND A FOCUS ON HIS 22 PANELS, INCLUDING A TRIBUTE THAT FEATURES A CREATION USING THE MOTIF OF ONE OF THEM, DEPICTING DAREDEVIL AND WOOD HIMSELF, IN WALLY WOOD STYLE - AND THE WALLY WOOD ESTATE'S OFFICIAL PRINT OF THE PANELS.

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