Who is your favourite EC artist?

[benday-dot]

In recent days, more or less coinciding with the hotly contested choices of the CBR top 50 artists/writers thread, I have been looking through some of my EC reprints (I have a bunch from both the Gladstone and Gemstone runs of a few years back). I must say I included two greats from the historic EC “bullpen” on my top 10 artists list (and Kurtzman came a hair’s breadth from my writers list). Browsing through a cross section of different CBR threads, and especially through my “home” here at Classic Comics I know that it is somewhat contentious as to “who is your favourite” EC artist? Or for that matter your least?

I thought it might be fun, to have a microcosm of that other CBR event-- to throw the question out to the many EC devotees on this forum -- to just see how some of the other uber-intelligent classic comic fans would vote if they were asked to choose a favourite or worst (if you can’t pick among your most loved children, but have no problem turning the evil eye toward one:evilsmile ) artist from among this immensely gifted crew.

The thing with EC is that they seemed to be the first publisher (certainly before Marvel knew that putting up Kirby, Ditko and Colan's name in marquee fashion would sell a book) to recognize the power of the star system. Mini biographies of their artists would often be featured in their titles. Artists would hardly fail to sign their names to their work. Even if signatures were absent, so distinct and recognizable was the work, an artist could count on his panels being identified and lauded as his own, in era when anonymity still prevailed in many instances. The penciller's and inkers responsible for EC's titles were indeed artists in every sense of the word. The fine lines of Reed Crandall and George Evans, the genre defining and detail rich space-tales of Wally Wood, Al Williamson and Joe Orlando, the horror and mood pieces of Graham Ingels, Jack Kamen and Johnny Craig, the cartoony grotesques of Jack Davis, the superlative war stories of Harvey Kurtzman, the adventure and period pieces of John Severin, and of course the innovative panel layouts and quasi-expressionistic work of Bernie Krigstein... I know I haven't got them all, but I'll try and list a few others below.

Ok... If anyone is game I'll tell of my favourite first. And he is...

It was tough. I almost said Wally Wood (surely he must crack the CBR top five!), and maybe next week I will change my mind, but for now I am handing the ribbon to none other than Johnny Craig.

Now I am not an expert on any of these guys, but I’ve read what I could. Apparently, this master of the horror book pretty much taught himself his craft, and from all I have seen he is both student and teacher par excellence. Famously slow, Craig always took his time to do it right. Part of what eventually drove him out of comics was hatred of deadlines. No Jack Kirby, Craig laboured away at a panel, often erasing his work and restarting a multitude of times until he felt had achieved the desired mood (mood was all with JC) and then met his own difficult standard of near-pefection in draftsmanship. Craig's personal baby was the Vault of Horror (he devised the memorable imagery of both the Vault Keeper, and Drusilla), and he created nearly all of the covers for that series. Some were absolutely seminal, playing a key role as citations in Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent campaign. But though he was capable of it, Craig tended to leave the more ghastly and gruesome aspects of horror to his fellow EC artists. Craig was always much more into the psychological elements of the genre, leaving the blood and guts to off-panel imagination. His specialty seemed to be zombies, the "horror" of middle class marriage, and so too of affairs and their spawn of nasty revenges. He was a master of urban noir, gangsterism, the electric chair, cupidity and its ill rewards, and might I say beads of sweat. Other than colleague Al Feldstein I don't think a comic book artist put a niagra of sweaty angst and terror to better effect than Johnny Craig (Really, it seems to me it wasn't until Paul Gulacy revived the efficacy of the sweat bead in Master of Kung Fu has it much graced our comic world, but I rely on others, more knowing, to correct me here). Craig's stories were always tightly plotted and relied on a lingering chill, rather than an overly wound twist (as was the frequent EC devise) to conclude a tale. Craig went off into advertising and commisioned work (more to his speed) after he left EC, and, I think, it wasn't until his later 60's work for Marvel (mainly Iron Man) and later DC work that he returned to the comic book fold. Alas, he arrived as a bit of anachronism in this latter world. His loathing of deadlines still with him, and exercising a style not suited to the superhero genre Craig's comic book revival mostly served to illuminate the glorious run he had with EC comics in the fifties.

Well, there is my bit for Johnny Craig. If others care to pitch in, with a sentence or two of praise for their guy, I'd love to here your thoughts on this all too brief, but historic gathering of talent.

Here are the EC names I recall, in no particular order, other than my guy at the top (I'm sure a forgot a great or two, so suggest away if you wish). Also sorry… I don’t know how to do one of those nifty poll calculator things.

1. Johnny Craig
2. Reed Crandall
3. George Evans
4. Jack Kamen
5. Jack Davis
6. Graham Ingels
7. Wally Wood
8. Joe Orlando
9. Al Williamson
10. Roy Krenkel
11. Harvey Kurtzman
12. Al Feldstein
13. John Severin
14. Bill Elder
15. Bernard Krigstein
16. Frank Frazetta

[Red Oak Kid]

Of course they are all great. Masters of the medium all together at one company.

I'll go with Al Williamson. His work just seems perfect to me. Perfect proportions, perfect framing, perfect inking. It seems to be realistic, tho actually it's not.

I love the work of Jack Davis, but I just thought his style was too cartoonish for the majority of themes he illustrated at EC.

Wally Wood was a master. His inking was fantastic. Sometimes tho, his figures seemed short. Something about his proportions gave his characters an odd look. But his women were the best. If you asked who drew the best women at EC, I would pick Wood.

I like Al Feldstein's work just because it has a great 1950s feel to it.

[Scott Shaw!]

The thing with EC is that they seemed to be the first publisher (certainly before Marvel knew that putting up Kirby, Ditko and Colan's name in marquee fashion would sell a book) to recognize the power of the star system.

Not necessarily true. In the Golden Age, DC used to ballyhoo the creative team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in their house ads.

As for my favorite EC artist, it's gotta be Jack Davis...one of America's most recognizable "unknown" cartoonists. In fact, I wrote the following script for a one-page tribute to Jack that I drew for the program of the Comic Art Professional Society here in Los Angeles; Jack's the Guest Of Honor at CAPS' banquet this upcoming weekend.

Aloha,

Scott!
----------
JACK DAVIS
Tribute
(script)

Scott Shaw!
October 11, 2006

PAGE ONE:

Panel One – Open panel; limbo; addressing the reader, 55-year-old-Scott Shaw! lists Jack Davis’ many specialties.

SCOTT SHAW!
(addressing the reader)
Y’know, JACK DAVIS has MANY artistic identities! He’s "that MAD MAGAZINE guy"…"that E.C. HORROR COMICS guy"…"that MOVIE POSTER guy"…"that CARICATURE guy"…"that SPORTS CARTOON guy"…"that ALBUM COVER guy"…"that CIVIL WAR guy"…"that ANIMATION DESIGN guy"…"that WESTERN guy"…"that ADVERTISING guy"…"that CHILDRENS’ BOOK guy"…"that slick MAGAZINE COVER guy"…and so on!!

Panel Two – Closed panel; young Scott in drugstore, circa 1959, discovering FUNNY MONSTERS/YOU’LL DIE LAUGHING cards for the first time.

NARRATIVE CAPTION (Scott Shaw! speaking):
I first became aware of JACK’S artwork back in 1959! While in a San Diego drugstore, I discovered his "FUNNY MONSTERS" -- AKA "YOU’LL DIE LAUGHING" -- TRADING CARDS published by TOPPS! These were the FIRST-ever MONSTER-themed trading cards!

Panel Three – Open panel; limbo; close-up on young Scott as floating trading cards circle his awestruck head.

NARRATIVE CAPTION (Scott Shaw! speaking):
JACK’S amazing work on these cards really BLEW my eight-year-old MIND – his MONSTERS were CARTOONY but somehow simultaneously REALISTIC! And oh, that gorgeous COLOR-styling! Each and every card was a MASTERPIECE!

Panel Four – Closed panel: young Scott lays on floor, drawing; he’s surrounded by trading cards and the DRACULA’S GREATEST HITS record album.

NARRATIVE CAPTION (Scott Shaw! speaking):
Gripped by MONSTER FEVER, I wasted no time in trying to COPY JACK’S incredible ARTWORK! Eventually, I also acquired DRACULA’S GREATEST HITS, a 1964 LP album with covers and more monster trading cards, all superbly drawn in PEN-AND-INK by (who else?) the great JACK DAVIS!

Panel Five – Open panel: Jack Davis’ version of the Creature From The Black Lagoon as he emerges from a toilet.

NARRATIVE CAPTION (Scott Shaw! speaking):
One of these cards depicted a cool "SURF MONSTER! I became fairly good at drawing a shaky version of it, but my JUVENILE sense of humor demanded that I add a TOILET from which it emerged! I’d SELL my hand-drawn DAVIS-swipes to my classmates, then use the
money to buy COMIC BOOKS!

Panel Six – Closed panel; limbo; 55-year-old-Scott’s face is on a FUNNY MONSTERS/YOU’LL DIE LAUGHING trading card.

SCOTT SHAW! 1
(addressing reader)
THAT’S why I’ll ALWAYS think of JACK DAVIS as "that MONSTER guy"! THANKS for all the INSPIRATION!

SCOTT SHAW! 2
(addressing reader)
And THANKS for never DEMANDING your PERCENTAGE of the SALES of all my SWIPES of your "CREATURE" CARTOON!

[Gingold]

I'm a Wally Wood guy, myself. Davis comes close, though.

[jam]

It's got to be Wally, for me.

Not to slight the other EC artists who were all brilliant, as I recall.

[MDG]

In terms of their work for EC, Johnny Craig--a great classic "comic book" art style, strong characterization, great storytelling, and usually stories that were not as "formula" as many ECs.

Davis is a favorite, but my favorite stuff by him was done after EC (ditto Wood, and Williamson, whose inking was much stronger and consistent in the 60s).

Viscerally, I love Kurtzman's art, though a lot of his EC art feels pretty restrained (at least when he was in the Feldstein-edited books). But there's something to love in just about all of the EC artists' work.

I sometimes wonder how different some artists' reputations would be if they had become part of the EC stable--people like Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, Rudy Palais or Murphy Anderson (who was about to start at EC, but DC offered him a story at a higher page rate).

MDG

[Lone Ranger]

1. Berni Krigstein
2. Jack Davis
3. John Severin
4. Wally Wood
5. Harvey Kurtzman
6. Reed Crandall
7. George Evans
8. Basil Wolverton
9. Johnny Craig
10. Marie Severin (gotta give her some props for her work)

[dan bailey]

I've never made a secret of being an absolute John Severin fanatic, so he of course gets my top ranking. Otherwise --

2 Wally Wood
3 Bill Elder
4 Al Williamson
5 Graham Ingels
6 George Evans
7 Reed Crandall
8 Johnny Craig
9 Al Feldstein
10 Jack Kamen

The others are all great, too, but in most cases I'm simply less familiar with their work. Obviously, I haven't been reading the right reprints (such as the Gemstone Panic set that arrived a few days ago via an eBay auction, bought -- as foreshadowed in a topic a few weeks ago -- as an eventual Xmas gift for a friend ... I haven't really had a chance to crack the covers yet).

[Mike Kuypers]

Part of it depends on what genre appeals to you, I think. I like science fiction and sexy women, so I've got to go with Wally Wood. But the others are great too.

[Cei-U!]

Well, I don't really care much for EC (Kurtzman's war titles excepted) so I'm ranking the artists based mostly on my familiarity with their other work. For me, it's a toss-up between Wood and Williamson for first place. Kurtzman, Severin, Crandall, Evans, Davis, Craig and Ingels would be on the list. I'm not particularly enamored of either Kamen or Elder and I'm not familiar enough with Krigstein to have an informed opinion.

Kurtzman, I should note, made my writers list over on Top 100.

Cei-U!
I summon the summary!

[berk]

My #'s 1 and 2 would be Al Williamson and Wally Wood, probably in that order, although I could see myself changing my mind tomorrow.

After that I'd have a hard time ranking them in any kind of order. Krenkel and Frazetta are favourites, but more for their illustrtations than for their sequential art; Severin I like a lot, but I like him even better when he teams up with Marie; and so on and so forth.

Totally agree with Red Oak concerning Wood's women; Williamson was one of the best in that regard as well, even though his elegant and beautiful female characters are of a completely different physical type to Wood's typically earthy and buxom girls.

[Slam_Bradley]

Woody would be number one with a bullet. I absolutely love his work.

If I truly considered Krenkel an EC artist, he'd rival Woody. But his output was so small that it's hard for me to really put him in the list. I'll buy anything with his name on it, though, including paperback covers and spot-illos.

I'll have to think about the rest.

[hondobrode]

I am fanatical about EC's and love love love love em ! I bought my first Russ Cochran slipcased set with some of my high school graduation money (Weird Science). Over the years I got most of the sets. I love all the EC artists but the one that I really have a love for and who gets way overlooked is Jack Kamen. He drew all those great Shock SuspenStories and twisted love triangles. His style, like Johnny Craig's, is just SO 1950's in a good way.

[Lone Ranger]

If I truly considered Krenkel an EC artist, he'd rival Woody. But his output was so small that it's hard for me to really put him in the list. I'll buy anything with his name on it, though, including paperback covers and spot-illos.

Same goes for Toth.

He'd did a bit of work for EC for Frontline Combat, but I've never considered him to be an EC Artist.

[TheHistorian]

I think it varies with my mood. There isn't much bad in the bunch, that's for sure.

Usually, it's Crandall or Kamen that really work for me. Sometimes I'm in the mood to be really jarred by something truly different, and I need a burst of Kurtzman.

It's always fun, and that's the main thing for me.