Davis's big break was drawing the revampedCaptain Britain story inMarvel Superheroes. At the time, he was working full-time in a warehouse inCorby doing work that included loading trucks. He initially had no interest in pursuing a career in comics, as he considered drawing to be a hobby.[4] Due to his inexperience, Davis did not leave enough room forword balloons in the five-page first installment, so it had to be recut to six pages.[5] Afterwards,Alan Moore took over writing duties onCaptain Britain. Davis drew 14 issues of the monthlyCaptain Britain title, which was later reprinted in trade paperback.[6] Davis and Moore formed a close working partnership as creators; they also createdD.R. and Quinch for2000AD.[7] Later, Davis replacedGarry Leach onMarvelman inWarrior and yet again worked with Moore.[8] He also drew the story "Harry Twenty on the High Rock" in2000AD.[9]
In 1985 Davis received his big break in the United States when he was hired byDC Comics to drawBatman and the Outsiders, written byMike W. Barr. Davis took over fromJim Aparo, who launched thedirect market version of the title.[11] His work proved popular enough for him to be assigned artistic duties on DC's flagship titleDetective Comics in 1986, again with Barr writing.[12] During the "Batman: Year Two" storyline, however, Davis encountered difficulties with his editor and left after the first issue of the four-issue storyline. The remaining three issues were illustrated byTodd McFarlane. In the story, which featuredJoe Chill, the murderer of Batman's parents, Barr wanted Chill to have a large gun. He asked Davis to draw him with aMauser with an extended barrel, similar to the one used by thePaul Kirk version of Manhunter.[13] However, after Davis rendered Chill with this firearm throughoutDetective Comics #575 and on its cover, he obtained copies of the pages forBatman #404 byFrank Miller andDavid Mazzucchelli, which was scheduled to be released months before the "Year Two" storyline, and saw that Chill was depicted using a smaller handgun without the extended barrel. When asked by editorial to redraw the gun in his artwork, Davis refused.Dick Giordano redrew the gun in the artwork.[14]
Davis accepted an offer byUncanny X-Men writerChris Claremont to work onMarvel Comics'X-Men books. With Claremont, Davis drew twoNew Mutants Annuals and three issues forUncanny X-Men. In 1987 the duo launched the monthly seriesExcalibur,[15] which featured a team consisting of Captain Britain andMeggan together with former X-Men membersKitty Pryde,Nightcrawler andRachel Summers. The stories, set in England, saw appearances by many characters from Moore's and Davis'Captain Britain stories of the early 1980s, including the Crazy Gang and theTechnet. Davis' pencils were inked byPaul Neary and, later,Mark Farmer.[16] Davis left with issue 24 due to deadline pressures, but returned with issue 42, this time also as writer.[5] During this second run, according to Davis, "[Editor]Terry Kavanagh spoiled me, gave me near total freedom, and encouraged me to experiment."[5] Among the new characters he created for his second run on the title wereFeron,Cerise,Micromax andKylun.
In 1994 Davis created a new series of original characters called theClanDestine, which featured the Destines, a family of long-lived, magically powered British superhumans.[17] Davis wrote and penciled the title for the first eight issues. He departed after issue 8, and the series was canceled with issue 12. In 1996 Davis wrote and drew the two issue crossover miniseriesX-Men and The ClanDestine.[18]
In 1991, Davis reunited with writer Barr to draw the sequel to "Year Two", the one-shotBatman: Full Circle.[19] During much of the 1990s Davis drew many of Marvel and DC Comics major characters and titles, includingJLA: The Nail[20] andThe Avengers.[21] He was also commissioned to write both main X-Men series in 1999 (providing art forX-Men as well), but he left the following year.
Starting in October 2002 he wrote and drew for MarvelKillraven, a six-issues miniseries revamping the title character of the 1970s. After a return toUncanny X-Men, working again with Claremont, Davis wrote and drew in 2006–2007 a six-issueFantastic Four: The Endlimited series for Marvel[22] (not to be confused with a similar one-shot written byStan Lee and drawn byJohn Romita Jr). In February 2008, Davis wrote and pencilled a five-partClanDestine miniseries and the one-shotThor: Truth of History for Marvel.[23] Davis most recent work has been inTotally Awesome Hulk (#7–8, 2016), theThanos Trilogy (2018–2019)[24][25] and a reunion withRoy Thomas in 2019 for two issues ofThe Savage Sword of Conan (#10–11, volume 2).[26]
Davis and his wife Heather have a son, Thomas, and a daughter, Pauline. Thomas had recently been born when Davis began his work on theCaptain Britain stories in 1981, and Pauline was born a few years later.[4]
Avengers: Standoff, includes Avengers (vol. 3) #63, Thor (vol. 2) #58, and Iron Man (vol. 3) #64, hardcover, 120 pages, Marvel Comics, March 2010,ISBN0-78514-467-6
Captain Britain Omnibus, collectsMarvel Super-Heroes (UK) #377–388,The Daredevils (UK) #1–11,Captain America #305–306,Mighty World of Marvel (UK) #7–16,Captain Britain (UK) #1–14,New Mutants Annual #2,Uncanny X-Men Annual #11, hardcover, August 2009, 688 pages,ISBN0-7851-3760-2
Excalibur Visionaries: Alan Davis, trade paperback, Marvel Comics, 2009–2011, Volumes 1–3, including Excalibur issues drawn by Davis from #42–67. (Vol. 1:ISBN0-7851-3740-8; Vol. 2:ISBN0-7851-4455-2; Vol. 3:ISBN0-7851-5543-0)
^"Show #72: The Mark Gruenwald Show".The Fred Hembeck Show. Quick Stop Entertainment. 14 September 2006. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved13 March 2017.
