Jack Davis, legendary cartoonist for MAD magazine, dies at 91. Being a son of the South, the news was broken by the University of Georgia campus radio station: "Famed Bulldog Artist Davis Dies", which lifted his Wikipedia entry in its entirety: "Jack Davis (cartoonist)"
Davis' career stretches back to EC Comics, on their horror and war titles, as well as MAD the comic book. His gift for caricature got him frequent covers for Time magazine, but he also worked in advertising -- particularly for print and animated ads for Raid bug spray, of all things.
I often wondered if he was still around, and I regret his passing.
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Another person who was a big part of my childhood gone. He had such a distinct style.
Jack Davis definitely had a one-of-a-kind style, full of flair and movement.
It was cartoony but quite accurate in capturing real people when called upon in things like magazine covers and spreads, movie posters, ads, and album covers. Dark and macabre when doing horror stories, but light and fun for comedy.
Check out these examples pulled up on a Google search: "Jack Davis"
Since he's best-known for his Mad work it's not surprising they have posted a tribute to him.
He also created album covers for a bewildering range of artists.
During the Seventies his ad art seemed to be everywhere. Amazing how he maintained such consistent quality to his work over many decades - one of the greats.
Didn't know he did the Monster Rally album cover. I used to have that record but it sadly broke at some point in the 80s.
His Mad Monster Party? designs were both scary and funny, especially his werewolf and Mr. Hyde.
As I mentioned in my accidental other post, I have been a big fan of his for a long time. My time as a comics reader didn't start until long after I developed a love for Mad Magazine. He's one of those artists whose work I knew by how it looked long before I knew what his name was.
It honestly wasn't until I became a comic book reader and started to recognize certain styles and match them with names (Norm Breyfogle, Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson, Bart Sears) that I went back and started to look back at the names of those Mad artists. It didn't take long before I started to learn names like Mort Drucker, Antonio Prohias, Sergio Aragones, and, yes, Jack Davis.
From movie posters to album covers to advertisements to everything...he was definitely one of the greats whose name you normally don't hear along with the Kirbys and the Ditkos and the Sterankos...but in a just world, you would.
Davis also rendered excellent versions of the Frankenstein monster and the Mummy. His full figure drawing that was sold as a poster from Famous Monsters of Filmland may be my all time favorite rendition of Franky.
Ronald Morgan said:
Davis did a portrait of the staff of Outdoor Life magazine years ago (sometime before I started working there in 2003). It was hanging in the hallway on the way to the staff kitchen. I just reached out to one of my friends still at the magazine, suggesting that this week would be a great opportunity to repost it up ion their blog.
I've always loved his art; it was always expressive, always fun. I'm sorry to hear he's passed.