'Double Jeopardy' (Crime SuspenStories #20).
Jack Kamen was an American comic artist and commercial illustrator. Working in the comic book industry during the 1940s and 1950s, he began his career producing story art for publishers like Fiction House and Fox Comics, before becoming a staple at EC Comics. There, he was mainly tasked with drawing ill-fated love stories with a morbid twist, running in titles like 'Tales from the Crypt', 'The Haunt of Fear' and 'Shock SuspenStories'. When EC's "New Trend" line of comic books was canceled in 1955, Kamen became a prominent artist in the advertising industry.
Early life
Jacob Kamen was born in 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. Drawing pictures since his early childhood, he received his artistic education at the Art Students League and the Grand Central Art School. During this period, he was also an assistant to the sculptor Agop M. Agopoff, known for his heroic sculpture of Texas Governor P. H. Bell for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. He paid for his studies by painting theatrical scenery, designing window displays and decorating fashion mannequins. As his father died when he was fourteen years old, Kamen had to drop his ambitions of becoming a fine artist, and venture into commercial art to help with the family finances.
'ZX-15 Spies in Action' (Jumbo Comics #96, February 1947).
Early comic book career
Jack Kamen soon found work in the early American comic book industry, spending the first couple of years of his professional life in the studio of comic book packager Harry "A" Chesler. There, he worked on stories for Fawcett Comics and Harvey Comics, although specific credits are unknown. According to the 'Who's Who of American Comic Books' by Jerry Bails, Kamen's early work included back-up features in Fawcett's 'Bulletman' and 'Spy Smasher'. He also made black-and-white illustrations for the western and detective pulp magazines of Better Publications. He later joined Jerry Iger's studio, where one of his earliest-known comics was a 10-page 'Rip Carson' story for the June 1942 issue of the Fiction House title 'Fight Comics'. In 1942, Kamen was drafted, and spent the next four years in the U.S. Army.
'Stuart Taylor, Weird Stories of the Supernatural' (Jumbo Comics #112, June 1948).
Iger Studio
Back in civilian life in 1946, Jack Kamen rejoined Iger for the rest of the decade. Between 1946 and 1952, he worked on several features for the 'Jumbo Comics' title by Fiction House, including 'Wambi, The Jungle Boy', 'ZX-5 Spies In Action', 'The Ghost Gallery' and 'Stuart Taylor, Weird Stories of the Supernatural'. Starting in 1947, Kamen regularly drew characters like 'Blue Beetle', 'Jo-Jo Congo King' and 'Rulah Jungle Goddess' for Fox Comics, and also drew for that publisher's romance titles. He additionally contributed to romance comics by Harvey Comics ('First Romance', 'Love Lessons') and Timely Comics. At Iger's, Kamen also drew the daily strip 'Inspector Dayton' for Phoenix Feature Syndicate, which was credited to George Thatcher, but probably not picked up by a newspaper.
'Dangerous Deception' (Sweet Love #5, Harvey Comics, May 1950).
EC's New Trend comics
At Iger, Kamen had met Al Feldstein, who later introduced him to EC Comics. Since Kamen was a steady and loyal worker, publisher William M. Gaines quickly hired him as an exclusive artist. Throughout his career with the company, he however rarely visited EC's New York City offices, but always picked up and dropped off his work at his editor Feldstein's home, who also lived on Long Island. After starting out doing stories for the last of EC's romance titles, 'Modern Love', Kamen quickly moved over to the company's influential "New Trend" line of comic books. Ranging from horror and mystery to crime and suspense, these titles stood out for their daring subject matter, ironic plot twists and high-quality artwork.
Working from plot outlines by his editors Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines, Kamen first appeared in 'Weird Fantasy', and then quickly became a regular in the horror titles 'The Haunt of Fear', 'The Vault of Horror' and 'Tales from the Crypt', while also drawing stories for 'Crime SuspenStories'. He later appeared in every issue of 'Shock SuspenStories' (1952-1955), the last of the New Trend titles launched. As his artwork was more slick and less outspoken than that of fellow EC horror artists like Graham Ingels and Johnny Craig, Kamen was mostly tasked with stories that tied in with his background in romance comics, but then with a gruesome twist.
'Raw Deal' (Shock SuspenStories #15).
Regular Kamen themes were infidelity and the battle of the sexes, with ruthless femme fatales plotting with their suitors to bump off their husbands, or the other way around. Publisher Bill Gaines once said in a 1983 Comics Journal interview that Jack Kamen was generally handed what he and Feldstein called "Buster stories", because the sexy women in these stories would generally show off their attitude by exclaiming at one point in the story: "Look, Buster!". Another regular Kamen task was drawing the 'Grim Fairy Tale!' feature, in which a traditional fairy tale or children's story was given the EC treatment. One of his most remarkable stories was 'Kamen's Kalamity', published in 'Tales from the Crypt' #31, in which the artist gave a satirical self-mocking take on his transition from romance to horror. In 1990, the story was adapted into the HBO television series 'Tales from the Crypt' as 'Korman's Kalamity'.
'Kamen's Kalamity' (Tales from the Crypt #31).
New Direction and Picto-Fiction
By the mid-1950s, the witch hunt and media scare against comics had brought EC Comics in dire straits. Many of their titles were targeted by the highly restrictive Comics Code. This industry-created measure was a result of the sensational book 'Seduction of the Innocent' (1954) by psychologist Dr. Fredric Wertham. While most of the "New Trend" titles came to an end in 1955, EC moved on with the so-called "New Direction" line of more educational and wholesome comic books. Kamen notably drew every story in the four-issue 'Psychoanalysis' title, in which Gaines and Feldstein tried to adapt this scientific study into a comic book format. When the New Direction titles folded within a year, Kamen suggested to Gaines to switch from the comic format to illustrated stories, resulting in the Picto-Fiction line. Jack Kamen notably appeared in the titles 'Shock Illustrated' and 'Confessions Illustrated'. However, these titles were soon dropped by lack of solid distribution. In a 2002 interview with The Comics Journal, Jack Kamen remarked he found doing these black-and-white illustrations with much atmosphere "the most enjoyable time", and that he was "sorry to see that go".
'The Needle' (Shock Illustrated #1, in fact reworked material made for the fifth issue of the aborted 'Psychoanalysis' title).
Commercial art
By the mid-1950s, all of EC's comic books had disappeared from the market, and the company fully focused on its humor magazine Mad. In 1956, Kamen had some work published in this magazine, but its zany type of humor didn't suit him. Instead, he found more lucrative work in the advertising industry. Joining an agency, he provided artwork for black-and-white print ads for Vick's cough drop, Playtex, U.S. Steel and Reynolds Aluminum. He later also did color paintings to promote Esquire shoe polish, Kent cigarettes, Mack trucks, Pan American Airlines and Smith Corona typewriters. In 1961, he served as art director for a children's encyclopedia with lushly illustrated pages, published in two editions by Harwyn, as 'Harwyn Picture Encyclopedia' and 'Art Linkletter's Picture Encyclopedia for Boys and Girls'. To do the job, Kamen hired several of his former EC colleagues, including Wallace Wood, George Evans and Al Williamson.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Kamen worked primarily as a magazine illustrator. In 1982, he illustrated the movie poster, as well as all the comic book illustrations for the Stephen King and George A. Romero horror anthology film 'Creepshow', which was King's homage to the classic EC horror comics. He also provided the cover illustration for the film's graphic novel adaptation, which had interior art by Bernie Wrightson.
Advertising art for Smith Corona typewriters.
Later life and death
Married to his wife Evelyn in 1946, Jack Kamen had four children. His son Dean Kamen (b. 1951) gained notability as an inventor of several medical devices, having over sixty patents to his name. Among his best-known creations are the two-wheeled Segway transporter and the iBOT wheelchair. On several occasions, Kamen helped his son with designing his products or creating detailed diagrams for the Patent Office. During his retirement, Kamen enjoyed painting. He died at his Boca Raton home on 5 August 2008 from complications of cancer. He was 88 years old.
Jack Kamen.