JACK DAVIS Interview

Please SUBSCRIBE for more great comics content. The legendary EC ink slinger talks about his joyous times working for EC comics and publisher Bill Gaines. But also the subsequent shame he felt when many of the horror comics he worked on were considered deviant. From the DVD extras of HBO's Tales from the Crypt series. #eccomics #madmagazine #jackdavis #georgia

[@stevekobb3850]

The Greatest.

[@RoberSoul77]

Oh, it's a shame Jack Davis himself ended up viewing horror comics as something bad, "distasteful." It was some of his best work!

[@GodLovesComics]

It is sad because on one hand he clearly believed that the work he was doing was harmless and he had nothing but praise for Gaines, Feldstein and Kurtzman; however when the "experts" claimed horror comics were having a deleterious effect on children, Davis seems to have taken that to heart. Plus society at large didn't view comics as a respectable artform or job.

[@geinikan1kan]

I don't know why but I could tell Davis' accent from his art. That's why he could do those crazy southern characters. To my mind, Davis wasn't the best figurative artist, and his inking was so scratchy. But no artist haunts my childhood like Davis. He was everywhere! Comics, ads, animation design. So prolific.

[@GodLovesComics]

Before I ever heard his voice (which was only in the past few years) I saw Davis described as a quintessential Southern gentleman from Georgia, so I expected the accent. He was born in Atlanta but passed away on a nice barrier island on the coast, about three hours away from where I grew up. I actually think he was an amazing figurative artist, but he very intentionally (maybe instinctively) exaggerated his characters, often for comic effect, instead of ever playing it straight like Frazetta, Williamson, Wood etc. I never saw much, if any, of his comics work growing up so I ever thought of him as "haunting" my childhood, but now I'm remembering those ubiquitous Dr. J/Rick Barry "Street Ball" ads that were on the back cover of every comic printed in the Bronze Age. Davis was certainly one of the most gifted, versatile, and yes prolific artists to ever emerge from comics.