Alan Davis

Alan Davis (born 18 June 1956) is an English artist and writer of comic books, known for his work on titles such as '' Captain Britain'', '' The Uncanny X-Men'', '' ClanDestine'', '' Detective Comics'', ''Excalibur'', '' JLA: The Nail'' and '' JLA: Another Nail''.

Career

UK work

Davis began his career in comics on an English fanzine. His first professional work was a strip called ''The Crusader'' in '' Frantic Magazine'' for Dez Skinn's revamped Marvel UK line.

Davis's big break was drawing the revamped Captain Britain story in '' Marvel Superheroes''. At the time, he was working full-time in a warehouse in Corby doing work that included loading trucks. He initially had no interest in pursuing a career in comics, as he considered drawing to be a hobby.Davis, Alan (w). "Stick with it, it gets better!", ''X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain'' #1 (July 1995), Marvel Comics (New York City), p. 4. Due to his inexperience, Davis did not leave enough room for word balloons in the five-page first installment, so it had to be recut to six pages. Afterwards, Alan Moore took over writing duties on ''Captain Britain''. He drew 14 issues of the monthly ''Captain Britain'' title, which was later reprinted in trade paperback. Davis and Moore formed a close working partnership as creators; they also created D.R. and Quinch for '' 2000AD''. Later, Davis replaced Garry Leach on ''Marvelman'' in '' Warrior'' and yet again worked with Moore. He also drew the story "Harry Twenty on the High Rock" in ''2000AD''.

American work

In 1985 Davis received his big break in the United States when he was hired by DC Comics to draw ''Batman and the Outsiders'', written by Mike W. Barr. Davis took over from Jim Aparo, who launched the direct market version of the title. His work proved popular enough for him to be assigned artistic duties on DC's flagship title '' Detective Comics'' in 1986, again with Barr writing. During the " Batman: Year Two" storyline, however, Davis encountered difficulties with his editor and left after the first issue of the four-issue storyline. The remaining three issues were illustrated by Todd McFarlane. In the story, which featured Joe Chill, the murderer of Batman's parents, Barr wanted Chill to have a large gun. He asked Davis to draw him with a Mauser with an extended barrel, similar to the one used by the Paul Kirk version of Manhunter. However, after Davis rendered Chill with this firearm throughout ''Detective Comics'' #575 and on its cover, he obtained copies of the pages for ''Batman'' #404 by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, which was scheduled to be released months before the "Year Two" storyline, and saw that Chill was depicted using a smaller handgun without the extended barrel. When asked by editorial to redraw the gun in his artwork, Davis refused. Dick Giordano redrew the gun in the artwork.

Davis accepted an offer by '' Uncanny X-Men'' writer Chris Claremont to work on Marvel Comics' ''X-Men'' books. With Claremont, Davis drew two '' New Mutants Annuals'' and three issues for ''Uncanny X-Men''. In 1987 the duo launched the monthly series ''Excalibur'', which featured a team consisting of Captain Britain and Meggan together with former X-Men members Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler and Rachel Summers. The stories, set in England, saw appearances by many characters from Moore's and Davis' ''Captain Britain'' stories of the early 1980s, including the Crazy Gang and the Technet. Davis' pencils were inked by Paul Neary and, later, Mark Farmer. Davis left with issue 24 due to deadline pressures, but returned with issue 42, this time also as writer. During this second run, according to Davis, " ditorTerry Kavanagh spoiled me, gave me near total freedom, and encouraged me to experiment." Among the new characters he created for his second run on the title were Feron, Cerise, Micromax and Kylun.

In 1994 Davis created a new series of original characters called the ClanDestine, which featured the Destines, a family of long-lived, magically-powered British superhumans. Davis wrote and penciled the title for the first eight issues. He departed after issue 8, and the series was canceled with issue 12. In 1996 Davis wrote and drew the two issue crossover miniseries ''X-Men and The ClanDestine''.

In 1991, Davis reunited with writer Barr to draw the sequel to "Year Two", the one-shot '' Batman: Full Circle''. During much of the 1990s Davis drew many of Marvel and DC Comics major characters and titles, including '' JLA: The Nail'' and ''The Avengers''. He was also commissioned to write both main X-Men series in 1999 (providing art for ''X-Men'' as well), but he left the following year.

Starting in October 2002 he wrote and drew for Marvel '' Killraven'', a six-issues miniseries revamping the title character of the 1970s. After a return to ''Uncanny X-Men'', working again with Claremont, Davis wrote and drew in 2006–2007 a six-issue '' Fantastic Four: The End'' limited series for Marvel (not to be confused with a similar one-shot written by Stan Lee and drawn by John Romita Jr). In February 2008, Davis wrote and pencilled a five-part ''ClanDestine'' miniseries and the one-shot ''Thor: Truth of History'' for Marvel. Davis most recent work has been in ''Totally Awesome Hulk'' (#7–8, 2016), the Thanos Trilogy (2018–2019) and a reunion with Roy Thomas in 2019 for two issues of '' The Savage Sword of Conan'' (#10–11, volume 2).

Personal life

Davis and his wife Heather have a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Pauline. Thomas had recently been born when Davis began his work on the ''Captain Britain'' stories in 1981, and Pauline was born a few years later.

Bibliography

DC Comics

*''Batman and the Outsiders'' (then, ''Adventures of the Outsiders'') #22–36 (1985–1986)
*'' Detective Comics'' #569–575 (1986–1987)
*'' Batman: Full Circle'', graphic novel (1991)
*''Legion of Superheroes'' vol. 4 #100, Annual #6 (1998)
*'' JLA: The Nail'', miniseries, #1–3 (writer/artist, 1998)
*'' Superboy's Legion'', miniseries, #1–2 (2001)
*'' Batman: Gotham Knights'' ( Batman Black and White) #25 (2002)
*'' JLA: Another Nail'', miniseries, #1–3 (writer/artist, 2004)

Marvel Comics

*'' Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes'', miniseries, #1 (2008)
*''Avengers'' vol. 3 #38–43, 63 (2001–2003)
*''Avengers: Ultron Forever'' #1–3 (2015)
*''Avengers Prime'', miniseries, #1–5 (2010–2011)
*'' Avengers: The Children's Crusade: Young Avengers'' (2011)
*''Captain America'' vol. 6 #6–10 (2012)
*''Captain America'' #703 (2018)
*''Captain Britain and The Mighty Defenders'' #1–2 (2015)
*'' ClanDestine'' #1–8 (writer/artist, 1994–1995)
*''ClanDestine'', miniseries, #1–5 (2008)
*''Daredevil'' vol. 3 Annual #1 (2012)
*'' Dark Reign The List: Uncanny X-Men'' (2009)
*''Excalibur'' #1–7, 9, 12–17, 23–24, 42–52, 54–58, 61–67 (1988–1993), ''Special Edition'' (1987)
*'' Fantastic Four'' Annual #33 (2012)
*'' Fantastic Four: The End'', miniseries, #1–6 (writer/artist, 2007)
*''Fantastic Four'' vol. 3 #1–3 (1998)
*''Free Comic Book Day: Civil War II'' (2016)
*''Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler'' #1 (2020)
*'' Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy'', miniseries #1–5 (2017)
*''The Infinity Entity'', miniseries, #1–4 (2016)
*''Iron Man'' vol. 3 #64 (2003)
*'' Killraven'', miniseries, #1–6 (writer/artist, 2002)
*''Marvel Comics'' #1000 (2019)
*'' Marvel Comics Presents'' ( ClanDestine) #158 (1994)
*'' Marvel Super-Heroes'' (Black Knight) #4 (1990)
*'' New Mutants'' Annual #2–3 (1986–1987)
*''Savage Hulk'' #1–4 (writer/penciller) (2014)
*'' Savage Sword of Conan'' vol. 2 #10–11 (2019)
*'' S.H.I.E.L.D.'' vol. 3 #3 (2015)
*'' Solo Avengers'' ( She-Hulk) #14 (1989)
*'' Spider-Man'' The Official Movie Adaptation (2002)
*'' Stan Lee Meets Doctor Strange'' (2006)
*''Tarot'' #1–4 (writer only, 2020)
*''Thanos: The Infinity Siblings'' OGN (2018)
*''Thanos: The Infinity Conflict'' OGN (2018)
*''Thanos: The Infinity Ending'' OGN (2019)
*''Thor'' vol. 2 #58 (2003)
*''Mighty Thor'' #18–21 (2012)
*''Thor: Truth of History'', one-shot (writer/artist, 2008)
*'' The Totally Awesome Hulk'' #7–8 (2016)
*'' Uncanny X-Men'' (artist): #213, 215, 444–447, 450–451, 455–459, 462–463, Annual #11 (1987–2004); (writer): #366–380, Annual 1999 (1999–2000)
*'' Wolverine: Bloodlust'', graphic novel (1990)
*''Wolverine'' vol. 4 ''Annual'' #1 (writer/artist, 2012)
*''Wolverine'' vol. 5 #1–4, 8–13 (2013–2014)
*''X-Men'' vol. 2 (artist): #85–90, 93–94, 96–98, Annual #9; (writer): #91–92, 95, 99 (1999–2000)
*''X-Men: Schism'', miniseries, #4 (2011)
*''X-Men/ClanDestine'', miniseries, #1–2 (1996)
*'' Young Avengers Presents'' #6 (2008)

Marvel UK

*'' Captain Britain'' vol. 2 #1–14 (1985–1986)
*'' The Daredevils'' (Captain Britain) #1–11 (1983)
*''The Empire Strikes Back Monthly'' #153, 156 (1982)
*'' Marvel Superheroes'' (Captain Britain) #377–388 (1981–1982)
*'' Mighty World of Marvel'' vol. 2 (Captain Britain) #7–16 (1983–1984)

Other publishers

*'' 2000 AD'' (Harry Twenty on the High Rock) #287–307; (D.R. and Quinch) #317, 350–351, 352–359, 363–367, 509; #525–534 (also co-writer); Judge Dredd #585; No. 322 (1983) (IPC Magazines, 1982–1988)
*''2000 AD Sci-Fi Special'' (IPC Magazines, 1985)
*'' Gen13'' Bootleg #1–2 (Image Comics, 1996)
*'' The Maze Agency Special'' #1 (Innovation Publishing, 1990)
*'' Miracleman'' #1–6 (Eclipse Comics, 1985–1986)
*'' Vampirella'' #19 (Harris Comics, 2003)
*'' Warrior'' (Marvelman) #4, 9–10, 13–16 (Quality Comics, 1982–1983)

Collected editions

* ''Avengers Prime'', Marvel Comics, 128 pages, hardcover, April 2011, ; trade paperback, October 2011,
* ''Avengers: Standoff'', includes Avengers (vol. 3) #63, Thor (vol. 2) #58, and Iron Man (vol. 3) #64, hardcover, 120 pages, Marvel Comics, March 2010,
* ''Captain Britain Omnibus'', collects Marvel Super-Heroes (UK) #377–388, The Daredevils (UK) #1–11, Captain America #305–306, Mighty World of Marvel (UK) #7–16, Captain Britain (UK) #1–14, New Mutants Annual #2, Uncanny X-Men Annual #11, hardcover, August 2009, 688 pages,
* ''Clandestine Classic Premiere'', collects ''ClanDestine'' #1–8, ''Marvel Comics Presents'' #158 and ''X-Men & ClanDestine'' #1–2, hardcover, Marvel Comics, 312 pages, February 2008,
* ''ClanDestine: Blood Relative Premiere'', hardcover, Marvel Comics, 120 pages, October 2008,
* ''The Complete D.R. & Quinch'', trade paperback, 128 pages, ''2000 AD'', 2010,
* ''Excalibur Classic'', trade paperback, Marvel Comics, 2005–2007, Volumes 1–4, including Excalibur: The Sword Is Drawn and Excalibur issues drawn by Davis from #1–24. (Vol. 1: ; Vol. 2: ; Vol. 3: ; Vol. 4: )
* ''Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis'', trade paperback, Marvel Comics, 2009–2011, Volumes 1–3, including Excalibur issues drawn by Davis from #42–67. (Vol. 1: ; Vol. 2: ; Vol. 3: )
* '' JLA: The Nail'', tpb, 1999, DC, , Titan,
* '' JLA: Another Nail'', tpb, 2004, DC,
* ''Harry 20: On the High Rock'', tpb, 2010, ''2000 AD'',
* '' Killraven'', hardcover, June 2007, ; softcover, December 2008,

References

Further reading

*

External links

Alan Davis' Home Page

Alan Davis's Official Message Board
*
*

Alan Davis
at the Big Comic Book DataBase

Alan Davis
at Lambiek's Comiclopedia

Alan Davis
at Barney

Alan Davis
at Marvel.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Alan
1956 births
English comics artists
English comics writers
Inkpot Award winners
Living people