Episode #56 - "Alan Davis"

[conorkilpatrick]

http://www.ifanboy.com/images/iFanboy_056_100x100.jpg

Running Time: 00:24:25

There have been a ton of creators from the UK working in comics, but one artist stands out in the hearts of iFanboy, and that's Alan Davis, best known for his Batman, JLA and X-Men work

Click here for download info and show notes! (http://www.ifanboy.com/archive/weblog/ifanboy_episdoe_1.html)

[spock-tm]

Was a good episode, turns out Mr. Davis did a bunch of books I really liked reading, Superman raised by Armish?! I gotta check this out.... if only to figure out how he comes up with his costume design....


I really need to start paying more attention to the writers, I have favourites, but when I like a book I never look to see who wrote it............ and thus turns a new page in the mind of me.

[emeraldscribe]

I've been trying to read comics starring Captain Britain for awhile now, that last run of New Excalibur had a few interesting issues but didn't do it for me. Those collected issues of early Excalibur might just be what I'm looking for.

[the-sword-is-drawn]

I've been trying to read comics starring Captain Britain for awhile now, that last run of New Excalibur had a few interesting issues but didn't do it for me. Those collected issues of early Excalibur might just be what I'm looking for.

Definitely give them a go. Davis' work on Excalibur was top notch, especially when he got to writing and drawing the book on his own.

His Captain Britain solo strip work was also great. Sadly marvel have still not collected anything more than the tip of an iceberg of that stuff though... :(

[kahunablair]

I've had "The Nail" and it's sequel sitting unread on my shelf for a while. Thanks iFanboy for giving me a reason to get off my butt and read them.

PS. Conor, I love that shirt man!
I went to order it during the last Threadless 10 sale, and they were already sold out of "Big guy" size.

[comhcinc]

great show as always. i've always enjoyed Alan Davis' work. in fact his is one of the artist that i judge other artist by.

[gineration]

Just picked The Nail up on eBay for around 5 bucks thanks to the show!

[the-sword-is-drawn]

Did anybody pick up the new Clan Destine, last week?

I enjoyed it a lot. Davis got the balance of required exposition on the family and the artwork spot on. It's good to see Davis writing and pencilling on his own terms again. His last Uncanny X-Men run certainly wasn't bad, but I did get the feeling that he was being asked to try and keep things more 'realistic'. That's not Davis' strongest suit.

[-mad-berry]

When i saw this episode I was deciding to buy 32 Excalibur issues... And i did lol...


I want to take this opportunity to thank ifanboy for bringing me back to my roots after almost 15 years I started reading comics again because of this vid cast...

Thanks,
[mad]Berry

[the-sword-is-drawn]

I have to say it surprised me a little that there wasn't more detail given about Alan's Excalibur work here. Yes, he did part company with Excalibur with Claremont after #17, but then he came back as artist and writer shortly afterwards. That was really Excalibur's peak as a title, with Davis staying on until #67.

(After that Lobdell takes over, axes most of the cast, forces it into being a generic X-Book and the whole thing kind of goes to hell for a few years - but up to that point it was great!)

I know that a lot of US readers don't really get how the comics industry in the UK works (Or worked back in the 70s/80s anyway) but Moore and Davis did quite a lot for 2000 AD. D.R. and Quinch is probably the only work to be collected in a complete 'Them only' tpb form, though.

Davis' work for Marvel UK was quite important - especially in shaping the early 90s imprint. That imprint sold a lot of units, the problem for Marvel UK was that just at the time it was booming its parent company (Marvel US) was looking at cost cutting. Almost all of the staff, bar Davis, found themselves redundant almost overnight. Marvel found work for a lot of the Marvel UK artists (Carlos Pacheco, Salvador Larroca, Liam Sharp, Jim Cheung etc) but a lot of the writers and other staff were shown the door.

Davis found himself in the uncomfortable position of Marvel US wanting The ClanDestine to be the sole project still being run in England. This resulted in Davis walking away from the project, because of the difficult position it was placing him in. He had a lot of stories to tell, several of which have been adapted for the new volume on sale now.

If you've never read ClanDestine it's seriously worth picking up. It tells the story of the immortal Adam Destine, and his longevity blessed children. They've effectively been living amongst Marvel's universe for centuries, trying to stay hidden, creating false identities. Only the two young twins come of age, realise that they have super powers, and seeing the American heroes fighting crime decide they want part of the action.

It really is Davis writing and drawing in perfect sync. I'm glad it's come back.

Oh, but guys? As for Marvel UK being 'Earth 615'? No. Marvel UK remains part of the full Marvel Universe. It shared the same time-lines and characters. It just happened in Britain. In fact back in the 70s it was Marvel UK that coined the phrase 'Earth 616' in the pages of the anthology title publishing Captain Britain at that time.

Nobody's entirely sure who did that. Alan Davis, Alan Moore and his predecessor on the strip David Thorpe all have claims on it. It's such a shame that fore US readers Captain Britain basically didn't really exist before Excalibur. People have been hassling Marvel for years to collect all the old anthology strips, but it's yet to happen.