JACK DAVIS 'Spalding' ad recreation

Last year I was co-writing (along with David Williams) and inking a 'Superteens and the Mighty Crusaders' project for Archie Comics. An important story element was the consumption of a 'Jinkies' snack cake. So we decided to put it in the story as a fake advertisement, and pay homage to the classic Jack Davis, Spalding basketball ad, with this recreation.

After approving the idea, Archie changed their minds after seeing this artwork. They said it was 'too close to the original', and their legal department wanted us to pull it from the story, and replace it with a different Jinkies ad. (Who did the Archie lawyers think was going to sue them, Jack Davis's ghost?)

With a green light from the editor, I made some changes to the artwork. I made Dr. J., and Rick Barry old, balding, and with grey hair (calling them, Dr. Grey and Rickety Larry). And we changed the basketball into a soccer ball.

The Archie lawyers still didn't approve, so we had to scrap this page, and replace it with a Charles Atlas parody. (With no compensation for the extra work!)

This piece is now back in it's original form, and available for purchase for the original page rate.

Brush and india ink on 11x17 bristol.