The Living Mummy and Other Stories by Jack DavisMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Living Mummy and Other Stories collects 32 tales illustrated by Jack Davis for EC Comics.
Most of the stories are written by Al Feldstein, although Ray Bradbury gets credit on one and another is a uncredited retelling of The Monkey's Paw. It's the usual EC conglomeration of cheating husbands, cheating wives, cheating business partners, werewolves, vampires, mummies, and even a conjoined twin or two. While that's all well and good, there are also a ton of "vengeance from beyond the grave" tales, my favorite kind of EC horror tale, and Jack Davis is the maestro.
Davis' art is iconic, the art I picture in my head when I think of EC comics. His slightly exaggerated characters are grotesque at times and the black and white format of this collection is the perfect way to showcase his art. His heavy black inks really pop without color to hold them back. His shambling, rotting corpses are my favorites of all the EC artists' rotting corpses. And there were many.
That's about all I have to say. If you're only going to buy one of Fantagraphics' EC Artist Editions, The Living Mummy would be the one to get. When it comes to the classic EC artists, Jack Davis was the best of the best. Five out of five stars.
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