Friday, November 25, 2011

A JACK DAVIS sampling

Cover for MAD # 2
On Dec 3rd at 1.30 PM,, along with Fantagraphic's  Gary Groth, I'll be interviewing the one and only living legend JACK DAVIS at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival. Programming and events (including the interview) will take place at UNION POOL, 484 Union Ave, #A, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the festival is one block away at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 275 N. 8th St. Jack Davis will also be attending the festival, signing his new career retrospective: "Drawing American Culture" at the Fantagraphics booth.

http://www.comicsandgraphicsfest.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Davis-Drawing-American-Retrospective/dp/1606994476/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322252980&sr=8-1

Picking a sampling of Jack Davis images to showcase from his 60-plus year career is a daunting, nearly impossible task, as there are literally thousands and thousands of top notch, funny, unmistakably JACK DAVIS illustrations to choose from, so I've selected a varied mix, some familiar and some more obscure, highlighting his astounding career. We'll be discussing many of these images with Jack on the 3rd. Hope to see you there!

Cover art; "Tales from the Crypt" # 37
Final panel from 'Tain't the Meat... It's the humanity 
Original EC "Tales from the Crypt" art

Cover art "Two- Fisted Tales #30
EC comics stationary by Jack Davis
Cover to PANIC #12
Incredible Science Fiction # 32
Cover art for Utterly MAD paperback
Cover art for MAD magazine #27
Back cover of the hardcover book "MAD for Keeps", Back of Alfred E. Neuman by Norman Mingo, border art by Will Elder, background art by Jack Davis
Cover art for Campus Howl magazine

Interior image from Humbug
Interior ad for HUMBUG

Cover art for "The HUMBUG Digest"
Cover art for Gunsmoke Western (Atlas comics)
Cover to SHOCK magazine
Cover To YAK YAK #1, also edited by Davis
Art for "HORROR HOTEL" poster
Cover art for Wildest Westerns magazine, edited by Harvey Kurtzman
interior art for Wildest Westerns

Cover art "Sing along with Jonathan and Darlene Edwards"
logo art for Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine's letters column
Album Cover, Spike Jones' "Thanks you Music Lovers!"
Cover art for CRACKED magazine
Cover art for SICK magazine
Interior ad for PLAYBOY, The Clancy brothers
Funny Valentines for TOPPS, front and back
Poster art for "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Mad World"
Wrap around cover for the MAD's paperback answer
Art for Jonathan Winters' Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad album
"Caption Company" ad for the Frankenstein Pin-Up by Davis
Box art for TOPPS

A "You'll Die Laughing" Topps card
Cover art for a 1964 Presidential election book
Cover art for CREEPY #1
Homer and Jethro album cover, one of many
NBC/TV Guide art
Epic Davis NBC color and B&W art created for TV GUIDE's 1965 fall preview issue (his first job for TV Guide)

Poster art for "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming!"

Wrap around art for the album "The Sound of Sight"

GET SMART art created for NBC

Cover art by Davis
Cover art by Davis

 Poster art for "A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum"
"Monster Rally" album cover art
MOTHER art for TOPPS
Album cover art for "Inspector Clouseau"

Page from MAD magazine
Art for "Wanted Posters" from TOPPS, "Dentist"

The MAD show album cover
Poster art for "Arrivederchi, Baby"
Poster/album art for "Way... Way Out"
Poster art for "One More Time"
Album cover art: "This is Myron Cohen"

Cover art for MAD
portrait of MAD publisher William M. Gaines getting an oriental sponge bath
Cover art: David Frye, "Radio Free Nixon"
TIME cover, Joe Namath
Poster art for Woody Allen's "Bananas"
Cover art for EBONY: The Jackson Five
TV GUIDE: The Odd Couple
Cover art for TIME
Poster art for "It's Showtime"
image from TIME

Slim Jim ad

Subway poster for the Howard Stern show on 66 WNBC
Al Hirschfeld and the Marx brothers
Cover art for The Comics Journal: Harvey Kurtzman
Cover art for The Smithereens' "B-Sides the Beatles"



Thanks to David Burd

19 comments:

  1. An amazing assortment of excellent art, and you're just scratching the surface!

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  3. Now just look at the valuable information you can get out of my blog.

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  4. THANK YOU!!! I've NEVER seen a jack Davis piece that DIDN'T make my jaw drop while simultaneously knocking my eyes out...ridiculously good. Those TV Guides...the Frankenstein poster...his B & W cross-hatched drawings...just amazing.

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  5. The Stern one doesn't really capture Stern or Robin, although it's a fun drawing.

    Most of the are incredible though. What a talent.

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  6. Like Jagger and Lennon, Monet and cezanne, Picasso and Braque, Davis and Drucker were two contemporaries of their time who pushed each other to be the best caricaturists of the 1900's.

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  7. RIP Jack Davis - a titan of 20th century illustration

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  8. Drew,
    I am not 100 percent convinced that Jack Davis did the "Horror Hotel poster. Is there any solid evidence that he did? It seems like a Davis done in a more tonal style. Davis was very flexible, so it could be him.

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  9. Not only is it 100% confirmed that it was drawn by Jack Davis, but I watched him inscribe multiple copies of the poster at the Brooklyn Comics Arts Festival in 2011 when I conducted an interview with him along with Gary Groth.

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  10. He was a genius. He had everything. When he wanted to....he could blow anybody away. His BOO drawing....my god....it's astounding. The Horror Hotel poster was done in 1962, is that his first movie job?

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  11. No, he did some British posaters beginning in 1955 with one version of the "Wee Geordie" poster, and later "Carry on Admiral".

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  12. He did another British film in the 50's called "The Smallest Show On Earth" (AKA, "Big Time Operators")

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  13. Very cool- thanks for doing this!!

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  14. Jack Davis is a Rembrandt of comic cartoons. Great artist!

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  15. Your personal drawing from Jack looks like a photo I have of him with that cane he liked

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