Jack Kamen, best known for his work at EC Comics, died yesterday at the age of 88. The cause of death is being reported as cancer.
A native of Brooklyn, Kamen was born May 29, 1920 and at one point in his life was heading for a career in illustration and sculpture. In 1941, he began getting work as an illustrator for pulp magazines…an endeavor that was interrupted by a draft notice. Upon his discharge, he found the pulp market in decline and so began picking up work for comic books, primarily for Fiction House where his clean style fit in well with the preferred look of their line. He was especially good at drawing pretty women, a skill that often typed one as an artist for romance comics.
That's what he was doing when he began his career with EC Comics and then, as they replaced their romance comics with horror, crime and science-fiction books, he stuck around to work on them. Some readers called him their "unfavorite" and wondered what a guy who produced such clean, shiny drawings was doing in horror comics. But publisher William Gaines and editor Al Feldstein believed Kamen was a valuable asset; that his sexy girl drawings added to the commercial appeal of their books. Scripts were written for him with that in mind.
When EC folded their main line, Kamen drew several issues of a new book for them called Psychoanalysis, which mainly consisted of people in therapy lying on a couch and describing their problems. It didn't sell and when EC folded its comic line, Kamen segued to advertising art, occasionally bring a "comic book" look to assignments. In 1982, he supplied the EC-like key art for the Stephen King motion picture, Creepshow.
In recent years, Kamen basked in the spotlight of his sons' accomplishments. Dean Kamen invented the Segway and the iBOT Mobility System. Another son, Barton, is a doctor who is now the Chief Medical Officer of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Jack Kamen at the Comic-Con International in 2000. He was delighted by the attention that attendees gave to his work, and also by being reunited at the con with so much of the old EC crew. And an awful lot of people were delighted to meet him.