Jack Kamen was an American illustrator whose versatile career spanned comic books, magazines, books, and advertising. Born on May 29, 1920, he died on August 5, 2008.
Fight Comics #24 (1943)
Kamen came up through the industry during the early 1940s, accumulating credits across a wide range of titles. Catalog records place him active from 1942 onward, with work appearing in publications such as *Fight Comics*, *Jumbo Comics*, and later the EC Comics line, where he found his most enduring audience. At EC he contributed artwork to titles including *Haunt of Fear*, *Shock SuspenStories*, and *Psychoanalysis*, demonstrating a facility across horror, crime, suspense, and science fiction genres. His draftsmanship — particularly his clean, polished rendering of characters — gave EC's sometimes lurid material an almost domestic normalcy that made the darker turns hit harder.
Jumbo Comics #90 (1946)
Beyond comics, Kamen built a successful career in advertising illustration, which represented a significant portion of his professional life. A late-career highlight came in 1982, when he contributed original artwork that appeared onscreen in George Romero and Stephen King's horror anthology film *Creepshow*, connecting his EC-era sensibility directly to a new generation of horror fans. Across his career he logged credits as both artist and inker on roughly 174 issues, leaving a body of work that remains closely associated with EC's celebrated, and controversial, golden period.
