The EC Archives: Weird Fantasy Volume 4

Jack Davis was born on December 2, 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia. After serving in the Navy, Davis enrolled in night classes at the Art Students League and began working on The Saint syndicated newspaper strip. It was in 1951 that he began working for EC Comics on their horror, war, and suspense titles. The juxtaposition of Davis’s “cartoony” style with the grim and at times gruesome EC scripts quickly made him one of the line’s most popular artists. Shortly thereafter he began his decades-long association with MAD, where his humorous, over-the-top style meshed perfectly with MAD‘s zany irreverence. Davis has worked in virtually every area of commercial illustration, including movie posters, advertising campaigns, album covers, magazine covers, and illustrations.

Al Williamson (1931–2010) was one of the premier science-fiction and fantasy comic strip artists of his time. Born in New York and educated at The School of Visual Arts, Williamson had a photo-realistic style that hadn’t been seen in the world of comics up to that point. He is the winner of multiple Eisner Awards.