Alan Davis (born 18 June 1956)
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 in the five-page first installment, so it had to be recut to six pages.
Davis created the illustrations used by the Post Office in their 2019 Marvel commemorative stamp set.
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 "" 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.
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 . During much of the 1990s Davis drew many of Marvel and DC Comics major characters and titles, including 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 limited series for Marvel
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.
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Bibliography
DC Comics
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Batman and the Outsiders (then, Adventures of the Outsiders) #22–36 (1985–1986)
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Detective Comics #569–575 (1986–1987)
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, graphic novel (1991)
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Legion of Superheroes vol. 4 #100, Annual #6 (1998)
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, miniseries, #1–3 (writer/artist, 1998)
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Superboy's Legion, miniseries, #1–2 (2001)
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(Batman Black and White) #25 (2002)
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, miniseries, #1–3 (writer/artist, 2004)
Marvel Comics
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Astonishing X-Men: Ghost Boxes, miniseries, #1 (2008)
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Avengers vol. 3 #38–43, 63 (2001–2003)
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Avengers: Ultron Forever #1–3 (2015)
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Avengers Prime, miniseries, #1–5 (2010–2011)
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(2011)
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Captain America vol. 6 #6–10 (2012)
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Captain America #703 (2018)
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Captain Britain and The Mighty Defenders #1–2 (2015)
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The ClanDestine #1–8 (writer/artist, 1994–1995)
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ClanDestine, miniseries, #1–5 (2008)
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Daredevil vol. 3 Annual #1 (2012)
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Dark Reign The List: Uncanny X-Men (2009)
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Excalibur #1–7, 9, 12–17, 23–24, 42–52, 54–58, 61–67 (1988–1993), Special Edition (1987)
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Fantastic Four Annual #33 (2012)
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, miniseries, #1–6 (writer/artist, 2007)
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Fantastic Four vol. 3 #1–3 (1998)
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Free Comic Book Day: Civil War II (2016)
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Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler #1 (2020)
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Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy, miniseries #1–5 (2017)
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The Infinity Entity, miniseries, #1–4 (2016)
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Iron Man vol. 3 #64 (2003)
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Killraven, miniseries, #1–6 (writer/artist, 2002)
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Marvel Comics #1000 (2019)
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Marvel Comics Presents (ClanDestine) #158 (1994)
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Marvel Super-Heroes (Black Knight) #4 (1990)
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New Mutants Annual #2–3 (1986–1987)
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Savage Hulk #1–4 (writer/penciller) (2014)
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Savage Sword of Conan vol. 2 #10–11 (2019)
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miniseries, #1A, 2, and 3 of 3 (cover artist) (2008)
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S.H.I.E.L.D. vol. 3 #3 (2015)
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Solo Avengers (She-Hulk) #14 (1989)
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Spider-Man The Official Movie Adaptation (2002)
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Stan Lee Meets Doctor Strange (2006)
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Tarot #1–4 (writer only, 2020)
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Thanos: The Infinity Siblings OGN (2018)
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Thanos: The Infinity Conflict OGN (2018)
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Thanos: The Infinity Ending OGN (2019)
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Thor vol. 2 #58 (2003)
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Mighty Thor #18–21 (2012)
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Thor: Truth of History, one-shot (writer/artist, 2008)
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Amadeus Cho #7–8 (2016)
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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)
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, graphic novel (1990)
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Wolverine vol. 4 Annual #1 (writer/artist, 2012)
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Wolverine vol. 5 #1–4, 8–13 (2013–2014)
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vol. 2 (artist): #85–90, 93–94, 96–98, Annual #9; (writer): #91–92, 95, 99 (1999–2000)
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X-Men: Schism, miniseries, #4 (2011)
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X-Men/ClanDestine, miniseries, #1–2 (1996)
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Young Avengers Presents #6 (2008)
Marvel UK
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Captain Britain vol. 2 #1–14 (1985–1986)
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The Daredevils (Captain Britain) #1–11 (1983)
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The Empire Strikes Back Monthly #153, 156 (1982)
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Marvel Superheroes (Captain Britain) #377–388 (1981–1982)
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Mighty World of Marvel vol. 2 (Captain Britain) #7–16 (1983–1984)
Other publishers
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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)
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2000 AD Sci-Fi Special (IPC Magazines, 1985)
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Gen13 Bootleg #1–2 (Image Comics, 1996)
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Maze Agency Special #1 (Innovation Publishing, 1990)
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Marvelman #1–6 (Eclipse Comics, 1985–1986)
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Vampirella #19 (Harris Comics, 2003)
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Warrior (Marvelman) #4, 9–10, 13–16 (Quality Comics, 1982–1983)
Collected editions
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Avengers Prime, Marvel Comics, 128 pages, hardcover, April 2011, ; trade paperback, October 2011,
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Avengers: Standoff, includes Avengers (vol. 3) #63, Thor (vol. 2) #58, and Iron Man (vol. 3) #64, hardcover, 120 pages, Marvel Comics, March 2010,
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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,
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Clandestine Classic Premiere, collects ClanDestine #1–8, Marvel Comics Presents #158 and X-Men & ClanDestine #1–2, hardcover, Marvel Comics, 312 pages, February 2008,
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ClanDestine: Blood Relative Premiere, hardcover, Marvel Comics, 120 pages, October 2008,
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The Complete D.R. & Quinch, trade paperback, 128 pages, 2000 AD, 2010,
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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: )
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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: )
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, tpb, 1999, DC, , Titan,
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, tpb, 2004, DC,
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Harry 20: On the High Rock, tpb, 2010, 2000 AD,
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Killraven, hardcover, June 2007, ; softcover, December 2008,
Further reading
External links
