MICHAEL DAVIS: The Davis List
There seems to be a whole lot of people who get to tell us what they think we should see, what they think we should buy what is the best, worst, the must haves and the stay away froms. Most of these experts put out a list so that we can revel in their genius. How many lists are we subjected to? Let’s see, off the top of my head…
David Letterman’s Top Ten List, the only list I pay any attention to
The Top Ten Movie List
The Hollywood Power List
The richest people in the world list
Blackwell’s worst dress list
The Sexiest Man List (I can’t believe that I have not made that one)
Joan Rivers best / worst dress list
The New York Times Best Seller list
AFI greatest movies of all time list
Rolling Stones greatest albums ever list
These are just the ones I can think of while waiting at LAX for a flight to Chicago. There are a multitude of lists out there. Everybody has a list, every magazine, every TV news show, every critic, every commentator, every Tom, Dick and Harry has a list. Well why can’t we have a list? You, me everybody? What makes Rex Reed’s list better than yours or mine? With all due respect to Mr. Reed, I seem to remember he hated Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Need I remind everybody that that film is one of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time. Well I think that it’s time we all have a list. Let’s start with mine. My list will not be a Top Ten list. Nope. I’m twice as cool, so mine will be a top 20!
Comics:
1. The greatest comic book ever: Avengers #66 (My first comic!)
2. The greatest superhero ever: Batman
3. The second greatest superhero ever: Captain Marvel (Shazam!)
4. The greatest super team: 60’s Teen Titans
5. The greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Thing
6. The second greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Sub-Mariner
7. The greatest team up ever: Spider-Man and Superman (the first one)
8. The greatest graphic novel ever: Watchmen
9. The second greatest graphic novel ever: The Killing Joke
10. The third greatest graphic novel ever: The Death Of Captain Marvel
11. The fourth greatest graphic novel ever: Marvels
12. The saddest event in comic books: The death of Gwen Stacy
13. The saddest event in the comics industry: The death of Jack Kirby
14. The greatest writer in comics: Denny O’ Neal
15. The greatest artist in comics: Jack Kirby (DUH!)
16. The greatest publisher in comics: Milestone
17. The second greatest publisher in comics: DC (love them or hate them, they do great books)
18. The smartest man in comics: Mike Richardson
19. The guy with the best job in comics: Paul Levitz
20. The sexiest man in comics: Michael Davis (finally!)
Movies:
1. The greatest movie ever (Tie): My Best Friend’s Wedding / Team America (long story)
2. The greatest movie superhero ever: Batman
3. The second greatest movie superhero ever: Superman
4. The greatest movie team: The Magnificent 7
5. The greatest movie fight ever: Rocky 3, when Mr. T pimp slaps Rocky
6. The second greatest movie fight ever: Rocky 3 when Rocky pimps slaps him back
7. The greatest fantasy ending in movies: Rocky 3 when Rocky wins…yeah right.
8. The worst movie ever: Showgirls (When I walk out of a movie with naked women in it, you know it’s horrible)
9. The second worst movie ever: Alexander (how could the guy who gave us JFK give us this??)
10. The third worst movie ever: Alexander (Oswald should have shot Oliver Stone)
11. The fourth worst movie ever: Alexander (back and to the left, back and to the left)
12. The saddest event in movies: Star Wars episodes 1, 2 and 3
13. The second saddest event in the movies: No Static Shock feature film
14. The greatest writer in movies: Orson Welles
15. The greatest director in movies: Bill Duke (just go watch Deep Cover)
16. The greatest movie studio: Dreamworks
17. The best chick flick that men can watch with dignity intact: Groundhog Day
18. The coolest man in movies: Steven Spielberg
19. The guy with the best job in movies: Steven Spielberg
20. The sexiest man in the movies: Michael Davis (Hey, I go to the movies!)
Music:
1. The greatest Rock and Roll group ever: The Beatles
2. The greatest Funk group ever: Parliament (ask somebody, if you have to)
3. The greatest pop group ever: The Jackson Five
4. The greatest R&B group ever: The Temptations
5. The greatest rap group ever: Public Enemy
6. The greatest rapper ever: Tupac
7. The greatest entertainer ever: Michael Jackson
8. The greatest singer ever: Frank Sinatra
9. The greatest song ever: One For My Baby (Sinatra, written by Mercer and Arlen)
10. The second greatest song ever: Always (Stevie Wonder)
11. The third greatest song ever: In My Llife (The Beatles)
12. The fourth greatest song ever: Fight the Power (Public Enemy)
13. The greatest video ever: Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson)
14. The saddest days in music: The deaths of John Lennon & Marvin Gaye
15. The dumbest thing in music: The way record companies still do business
16. The smartest people in music: Apple!
17. The best song to dance to: It Takes 2 (Rob Bass)
18. The best slow song to dance to: Always & Forever (Yes, fanboy, you can touch a GIRL!)
19. The best car to blast your music from: Nissan 350 Z roadster, with the top down
20. The sexiest man in music: Michael Davis (Hey, I have a CD player AND I worked for Motown!)
TV:
1. The greatest TV show ever: Batman
2. The second greatest TV show ever: All My Children
3. The greatest TV star ever: George Clooney
4. The worst TV show ever: Any George W. Bush press conference
5. The funniest TV show ever: Any George W. Bush press conference
6. The saddest TV show ever: Any George W. Bush press conference
7. The greatest TV show to watch with a girl while keeping your dignity: Grey’s Anatomy
8. The greatest ‘man’ TV show: The A-Team
9. The stupidest TV show ever: Any George W. Bu…I mean, My Mother the Car
10. The greatest morning news show: The Today Show
11. The greatest channel ever: The History Channel
12. The greatest TV show that failed: The Green Hornet
13. The funniest on-going skit on a TV show: Weekend Update (Saturday Night Live)
14. The funniest TV show without George W.: Mad TV
15. The greatest animated show ever: Static Shock!
16. The greatest talk show ever: The Howard Stern E Show
17. The greatest TV character to be on Halloween: Kato
18. The saddest event in TV: The JFK funeral
19. The happiest event in TV: When my family finally got a color TV
20. The sexiest man in TV: Michael Davis (hey, I work in TV!)
Well that’s it for the first Davis list. I know not everyone will agree, but that’s ok. What does this all mean?
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Any list is just someone’s opinion. This one happens to be mine. I have every right to give my opinion, as do you, on any number of topics. In fact I would be very interested in reading your lists. Send them to me at ComicMix.com and lets see what you come up with!
Michael Davis is a comics creator and the founder of the Guardian Line series of comics as well as being a television producer and writer. He was a co-founder of Milestone Comics and his artwork has appeared in Wasteland, Green Arrow: Shado, Green Hornet and The Question, among others.
What a great list! And he is sooooo sexy!
MY God! Mark, this art is incredible!Did you used to work in design, advertising or something? The page layouts are the most interesting I've seen in a long while! Way beyond waht most in comics are doing today! Waht are using for colour? Are those watercolour markers?
I'm pleased you like my art, JK. While I have worked in advertising – I think my design chops grow out of a long love of classic magazine design. I collect old magazines from the first half of the 20th century. And just about every page in one of those old magazines is a unique and wonderful design that combines headlines, credits, text and exceptional illustrations. If you want to see some examples – they show up from time to time at this blog:Today's Inspirationhttp://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/As for my color work – I paint with a pile of 1s and 0s. Every bit of that painting work you see in EZ STREET is digital, done in Photoshop. I also draw the pages in Photoshop. I'm currently using a drawing tablet from Wacom called the Intuos 3 as my input device. But I did a lot of real, hardcopy painting over the years. And I know that I bring all my painting chops to the computer. So I'm not surprised that you thought what you were seeing was real paint. The great thing about Photoshop is that I'm able to directly translate all my old painting techniques to the digital platform with nothing lost and a lot gained.If anyone is interested – I'm producing a "how to" video showing me creating a painting in Photoshop. I plan on running the DVD at the San Diego Comic Con – so stop by the Insight Studios booth and take a look at how I get it done.
I think I'll be studying some of that stuff more closely in the hopes that it will influence my work.As for the photoshop, do you use the brush tool at a low pressure setting to get that watercolour marker effect?
I use every trick in the book to get my painting effects. And I'm always learning new ones. Off hand I don't know what you are seeing as markers/watercolor. Give me an example, with a page number and a panel number if possible, and I'll try to explain what I do to get the effect.