Sick #16 Frankenstein Monster and Ben Casey Cover 1962

This cover, Sick #16 Frankenstein Monster and Ben Casey, was made by Jack Davis, using watercolor and ink on illustration board. You can see the rough texture of the board itself coming through the translucent washes of color. Notice how Davis isn't trying to hide his process here; the ink lines are thick and expressive, almost like caricatures themselves. The very application of the paint, in broad strokes, seems to wink at the audience, letting us know this isn't meant to be taken too seriously. Davis was a master of the lowbrow, and it’s crucial to remember where he was coming from. Comic books, and especially humor magazines like Mad and Sick, were a distinctly commercial art form. They were made quickly, with an emphasis on efficient production, to be consumed and then discarded. Yet Davis treated his source material with the same skill and attention to detail that a fine artist might bring to a portrait. It’s a reminder that the distinction between “high” and “low” art is a social construction, not an inherent quality of the work itself.