Jack Davis at an event honoring him at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2011. Stephen Morton/AP
Mad Magazine cartoonist Jack Davis attends an event in his honor by the Savannah College of Art and Design and the National Cartoonists Society, Friday, Oct. 11, 2011 in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
One of Davis' many covers for Mad magazine. Jack Davis/Mad
One of Davis' many covers for Mad magazine.
A sketch from one of Davis' Tales from the Crypt comics. Jack Davis/courtesy IDW Publishing
A sketch from one of Davis' Tales from the Crypt comics.
A sketch from The Crypt of Terror. Jack Davis/courtesy IDW Publishing
A sketch from The Crypt of Terror.
This Davis rough sketch is from one of his Time magazine illustrations. “I think my favorite pieces were the ones I did for Time,” he says. "They just seem more important." Jack Davis
This Davis rough sketch is from one of his Time magazine illustrations. “I think my favorite pieces were the ones I did for Time,” he says. "They just seem more important."
One of Davis' covers for Time magazine from 1973. Jack Davis/Time
One of Davis' covers for Time magazine from 1973.
Davis illustrated Oakland As manager Billy Martin for print and TV ads for Crunch Stix in 1980. Jack Davis
Davis illustrated Oakland As manager Billy Martin for print and TV ads for Crunch Stix in 1980.
A sketch of a similar Billy Martin illustration. Jack Davis
A sketch of a similar Billy Martin illustration.
Jack Davis, the legendary Mad magazine illustrator and movie poster artist, is finally hanging up his pencils.
It’s not that the iconic 90-year-old cartoonist can’t draw anymore—he just can’t meet his own standards. “I’m not satisfied with the work,” Davis says by phone from his rural Georgia home. “I can still draw, but I just can’t draw like I used to.”
Davis has probably spent more time in America’s living rooms than anyone. Mad was a million-seller when Davis was on the mag, and when he was doing TV Guide covers in the 1970s, the publication boasted a circulation of over 20 million. Yet, Davis is largely unaware of his massive cultural significance. “I never really thought about that, but I guess I’m very blessed,” he says. “I’ve been very lucky.”
But his luck paled in comparison to his skill. Davis started his career in 1936, when he was only 12; he won $1 as part of a national art contest and saw his work published in Tip Top Comics #9. While still a teen, his cartoons were published in The Yellow Jacket, a humor magazine at Georgia Tech University, where his uncle was a professor. After a stint in the military, Davis caught on with EC Comics in 1950, where he was part of the artistic wave that revolutionized comics with titles like Tales from the Crypt, Two-Fisted Tales, and Mad.
Whereas Norman Rockwell’s images represented Americana of the 1940s and ’50s with his Boy Scouts and pigtailed girls, Davis’ work epitomized the ’60s and ’70s—the smirking, sardonic face of the emerging counterculture. By the time the Beats and the Hippies (who came of age reading Davis cartoons) took over, he was doing movie posters for Woody Allen’s Bananas, The Long Goodbye, American Graffiti, and others.
“Jack Davis is probably the most versatile artist ever to work the worlds of comic books, illustration, or movie poster art,” Scott Dunbier, a former art dealer and current director of special projects at comic book publisher IDW. “He can work in a humorous style or deadly serious style, historical or modern, anything. His work transcends that of almost any other cartoonist.”
IDW recently published Jack Davis’ EC Stories Artist’s Edition , reprinting some of Davis’ classic stories taken from the original art. Other pieces from the archives may emerge, but Davis is done producing new work. “I’m just gonna sit on the porch and watch the river go by,” Davis says. “And maybe go fishing once in a while.”
Check out some highlights of Davis’ work in the gallery above.
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