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THE X7 EC MUSEUM IS VERY SADDENED TO ANNOUNCE THE PASSING OF EC LEGEND
JACK KAMEN
(29.5.1920-6.8.2008)
Sincere condolences to all Jack's Family & friends
A highly competent journeyman artist with a distinctive pulp-flavored style, Jack Kamen was an acknowledged master of "Good Girl" artwork in pre-Code comic books. His graceful, sumptuous drawings of women made him a fan favorite. Ironically, Kamen is most famous for being one of the lesser artists who worked for the legendary EC comics line in the 1950s. A major player at less quality-conscious stables such as Fox and Fiction House, Kamen's conventional, comfy approach to comics art paled beside the trend-setting efforts of Wallace Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Johnny Craig and Bernie Krigstein.
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Kamen was EC's most prolific artist, illustrating 138 stories for the comic book titles edited by William Gaines and Al Feldstein. His down-to-earth work, reminiscent of a polished B movie, was ideally suited to EC's countless romantic-triangle stories in their popular crime and horror titles. His placid renderings of everyday American life brought a realistic touch to these tried-and-true pieces of comics noir. Prior to entering the comics field, Kamen studied at the Art Students League and Grand Central Art School. Before entering comics, his major art training was in sculpture, where he studied with Agop Agopoff and Harvey Dunn. Kamen's first efforts in print were illustrations for various pulp magazines. Kamen entered the comics field in 1946, his first efforts appearing in the Fox and Fiction House titles Blue Beetle and Jumbo. Kamen's skill in "good girl art" led to extensive work in Fox's popular jungle-girl titles Zoot, Rulah Jungle Goddess and Dagar, Desert Hawk. Kamen's "Tangi" was a long-running feature in the Dagar book. Kamen's covers were popular, including some classic bondage scenes (e.g., the cover to Zoot #11 (1947) ).
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Kamen's first EC work appeared in the "Pre-Trend" title Modern Love #7 (1950). Kamen worked exclusively for editor Al Feldstein, whose artwork and approach Kamen's resembled. Kamen found his forte in the Feldstein-edited crime and horror books. Rarely did he illustrate the Gothic horror tales associated with Graham "Ghastly" Ingels. In Feldstein's own words, "We gave Kamen those stories where the All-American girl and guy are married and then chop each other to pieces." Kamen's lush renderings, including masterful dry-brush rendering (a technique often used in pulp magazine illustrations), reproduced well, and his workload rivaled any other EC artist's. Kamen's work for the crime, science fiction and horror titles was interchangeable. He excelled at rendering the James Cain-like twist ending tales that filled those books. EC's letter columns showed that Kamen was highly rated by readers. One revealing letter, published in Weird Fantasy #9 (1951), indicated reader awareness of Kamen's forte at EC: "Kamen stories just don't end happy. In fact, if I ever read one that did, I'd swear off my yogurt!" Frequent praise for "those Kamen girls" also filled early EC letters pages. Feldstein celebrated and satirized Kamen's contribution to EC with the notorious "Kamen's Kalamity" (Tales from the Crypt #31). This morbid fantasy, drawn by Kamen, shows the artist becoming a murderous maniac, influenced by the violent horror and crime stories he rendered for EC. Kamen clearly relished the story, and filled it with charming caricatures of himself, his family, and his EC stable-mates.
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A classic example of "the Kamen story" is "Come Into My Parlor" (Weird Fantasy #7, 1951). This bizarre story combines countless "Kamen girls" with his classic theme of a doomed male who falls prey to the deadly charms of the female. Kamen's enthusiastic, lush rendering of the female form fills each panel to overflowing in this silly but atmospheric tale. Kamen illustrated a few of EC's ambitious adaptations of Ray Bradbury's horror, fantasy and SF stories, including "Zero Hour!" (Weird Fantasy #18), "Punishment Without Crime!" (Weird Science #21) and "The October Game!" ( Shock SuspenStories #9). Kamen was the ideal artist for Bradbury's stories featuring children as the focus characters. Though outshone by the younger, more flamboyant EC artists, particularly Wood, Joe Orlando and Krigstein , Kamen found steady work throughout the "New Trend" era. When pressure groups and the Comics Code forced EC to shift gears to a "New Direction," Kamen was given one of the most bizarre and fascinating comics experiments in history. Psychoanalysis, drawn in its four-issue run entirely by Kamen, was a sincere attempt to create a truly adult comic book reading experience. Drawing on the growing popularity of psychotherapy, the title featured a suave therapist and a handful of his case studies, including a frigid woman and a stressed-out TV writer with poor self-esteem. These recurring patients examined the patterns of their lives and, with the therapist's guidance, worked out their problems. If naive, Psychoanalysis was a genuinely different comic book. Kamen's domestic, mundane approach was perfect for this series. Psychoanalysis may well be Kamen's greatest legacy to comics history.
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Kamen claimed to be the creator of EC's last-ditch "Picto-Fiction" format. This series, a doomed hybrid of lurid adult genre fiction and comics-flavored illustration, was EC's last gasp as a publisher of serious material. Said Kamen of this series, "My favorite work in comics was the concept of 'picto-fiction', the last work, and because I created it. My great love for the medium was that, and it was my last psychoanalysis." With EC's demise in 1956, Kamen left comics and found a lucrative second career as an advertising illustrator His work appeared in ads for such high-profile clients as RCA, Mack Trucks, Esquire Shoe Polish, Smith Corona typewriters, Pan American Airlines, Playtex and Sylvania Lighting. He also worked with his son, Dean in medical and aeronautic ventures. Kamen made one notable return to comics with his iconic cover illustration for the Stephen King-Berni Wrightson graphic novel, Creepshow, which appeared in 1982. Kamen's cover art was also the basis for the poster of the cult favorite film version, which was directed by EC-influenced filmmaker George Romero.
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Jack died on 6 August 2008. He was a true EC legend, and will always be remembered as such.
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R.I.P JACK
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