Request Material
Jack Davis collection
Descriptive Summary | |
| Title: Jack Davis collection | |
| Creator: Davis, Jack, 1924-2016 | |
| Inclusive Dates: 1937-2003 | |
| Language(s): English | |
| Extent: 60.5 Linear Feet 2 boxes and 30 oversize boxes | |
| Collection Number: ms2964 | |
| Repository: Hargrett Library | |
Collection Description
Historical Note
John Burton "Jack" Davis, Jr. (December 2, 1924 – July 27, 2016) was an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories. He was one of the founding cartoonists for Mad in 1952. His cartoon characters are characterized by extremely distorted anatomy, including big heads, skinny legs and extremely large feet.
Davis was born December 2, 1924, in Atlanta, Georgia. He first saw comic book publication at the age of 12 when he contributed a cartoon to the reader's page of Tip Top Comics No. 9 (December 1936). After drawing for his high school newspaper and yearbook, he spent three years in the U.S. Navy, where he contributed to the daily Navy News.
Attending the University of Georgia on the G.I. Bill, he drew for the campus newspaper and helped launch an off-campus humor publication, Bullsheet, which he described as "not political or anything but just something with risque jokes and cartoons." After graduation, he was a cartoonist intern at The Atlanta Journal, and he worked one summer inking Ed Dodd's Mark Trail comic strip, a strip which he later parodied in Mad as Mark Trade.
In 1949, he illustrated a Coca-Cola training manual, a job that gave him enough money to buy a car and drive to New York. Attending the Art Students League of New York, he found work with the Herald Tribune Syndicate as an inker on Leslie Charteris's The Saint comic strip, drawn by Mike Roy in 1949–1950. His own humor strip, Beauregard, with gags in a Civil War setting, was carried briefly by the McClure Syndicate. After rejections from several comic book publishers, he began freelancing for William Gaines' EC Comics in 1950, contributing to Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, and other titles.
Davis drew for Mad when it was launched by Harvey Kurtzman in 1952. His work appears in most of the first 30 issues and he would continue to contribute to the magazine for many decades. He soon expanded into work for TV Guide, Time, and movie posters for comedies It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,Viva Max!, and Kelly's Heroes. He also created album artwork, including the cover for Johnny Cash's 1966 LP Everybody Loves a Nut.
Davis was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2003. He also received the National Cartoonists Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. A finalist for inclusion in the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, 1991 and 1992, he received the National Cartoonists Society's Advertising Award for 1980 and their Reuben Award for 2000. Following his professional career in New York, Davis and his wife Dena moved to St. Simons Island, Georgia in the 1990's. They raised two children: daughter Katie Davis Lloyd and son Jack Davis III. He passed away in 2016 at the age of 91.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of over 2000 pieces of art created by Jack Davis over the course of his career. The cartoons were commissioned for various publications, including TV Guide, Time, Mad, and EC Comics. The artwork includes drafts, sketches, animation cels, and completed works.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Jack Davis collection, ms2964, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.
Finding Aid Publication
Finding aid prepared on: 2017.