My familiarity with the work of
Jack Davis is predominantly
MAD-related. Here is a typical example -- a Davis/Alfred E. "suit" for the MAD Card Game:
He produced a wide array of readily recognisable album covers and movie posters as well, almost always employing the inimitable "Jack Davis" caricature mode.
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| "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and... |
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| ... but of course. |
Prior to
MAD Davis was already tight with publisher
Bill Gaines thanks to an extended tenure with
E.C. Comics. He did the art for a number of
Tales From The Crypt, as well as various E.C. "War" titles. It's the latter that have my attention.
More examples to be had
over here. They're worth a closer look. To my eye, for all the fineness of the rendering -- including an unusually forceful use of extreme black-and-white contrast -- they have troubles with a certain inertness, as well as proportionality. Good work, in other words -- but Davis' real genius was caricature, where proportionality was deliberately elastic and he could shine like no other (save his co-partner-in-crime
Mort Drucker, another gargantuan talent in Gaines' usual gang of idiots).
More examples to be had over here. They're worth a closer look. To my eye, for all the fineness of the rendering -- including an unusually forceful use of extreme black-and-white contrast -- they have troubles with a certain inertness, as well as proportionality. Good work, in other words -- but Davis' real genius was caricature, where proportionality was deliberately elastic and he could shine like no other (save his co-partner-in-crime Mort Drucker, another gargantuan talent in Gaines' usual gang of idiots).
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