This is the cover for JSA #1, drawn by Alan Davis, from back in 1999. The large gap in the bottom half of the cover is space for the logo (a sort of eagle shape with ‘JSA’ in large letters and ‘Justice Society of America’ underneath it), in case you were wondering. Alan drew the covers for this new series, co-written by David Goyer and James Robinson (this series came out in the middle of Robinson’s great run on Starman – he’s the one in jeans and jacket, holding the glowing staff), so I’ll be posting the rest of the covers in a row, as is my modus operandi.
Another X-Men-related image: this is a close-up of the image, drawn by Alan Davis, on the cover to a trade paperback called X-Men: Danger Room Battle Archives, which is a collection from 1996 of various X-Men and New Mutants annuals.
Connected early Marvel art: this is a charity piece from a UKCAC (United Kingdom Comic Art Convention) booklet drawn by Alan Davis of the New Mutants.
Continuing the theme of my early exposure to his work: this is the cover for The Uncanny X-Men Annual #11 (from 1987), drawn by Alan Davis. Apart from the excellent artwork inside the comic book, I don’t remember much about this comic (I had to look up the summary online). Not every story can be a winner.
Continuing the theme of early covers from my first exposure to his work: this is the cover to The New Mutants Annual #3 (from 1987), drawn by Alan Davis. This is a funny comic, with Claremont and Davis firing on all cylinders, as the Impossible Man comes to Earth and gets into a competition with Warlock (Alan draws a great Warlock). An absolute favourite from my collection.
Continuing the theme of covers from early Marvel work: this is the cover for The Uncanny X-Men #215, drawn by Alan Davis, again from 1987. Alan was working with Chris Claremont because Chris had seen his work on Captain Britain, a character created by Claremont; it took him a while to get Alan away from DC (he was drawing Detective Comics and Batman And The Outsiders).
Cover theme: my early days of buying comic books with Alan Davis art. This is the cover for The Uncanny X-Men #213 (from 1987), drawn by Alan, another book for which he provided interior artwork. This is an awesome cover: the ferocity of Sabretooth and Wolverine is incredible, and it was an instant classic.
Back to the past: this is the cover for The New Mutants Annual #2, drawn by Alan Davis, from back in 1986 and for which he also provided interior art. This is a landmark Alan Davis comic for me: despite being British, I wasn’t buying Captain Britain or Warrior (although I had seen his work in 2000AD), so this was the first comic book full of his art that I bought. And it was a revelation. I was a huge fan of the Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants during the Claremont years, and Alan made my eyes explode with his version of some of my favourite characters. I’ve been a fan ever since. So, the theme for these covers will be some of those images from those early days for me.
The other cover from the Marvel solicitations for August: this is the cover for Journey Into Mystery #642, drawn by Alan Davis. Interior art will also be provided by Alan (will he be pencilling the entire storyline?), beneath this suitably dynamic cover for the start of the second Aesir/Vanir war.
From the Marvel solicitations for August 2012, the first of two Alan Davis covers. This is for The Mighty Thor #18, which will also feature interior art from Alan. I like this cover: apart from the fact that Alan draws a really good Thor, it is perfectly counterpointed by Loki hanging off his cape, with a great expression on his face.
