Jack Burton Davis Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1924 - d. 2016

Comic book cartoonist and commercial artist Jack Davis (John Burton Davis) was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1924. His cartoons first appeared in 1936 at the young age of ten, when Tip Top Comics accepted, as was its practice, work from a reader. After drawing cartoons for the school paper in high school, Davis drew for the Navy News, while in that branch of the service during the latter stages of World War II. He later drew cartoons while attending the University of Georgia, and in 1951, completed studies at the Art Students League, in New York City.
A training manual he illustrated in 1949 for the Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company earned him enough money to buy a car and go to New York. Within a few months his money and car were stolen. But Davis was hired by EC Comics to work on their magazines Mad and its successor, Panic, as well as Small Town Horror Stories. Two of his drawings were reprinted in anti-comics crusader Fredric Wertham's 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent, as shocking examples of the sort of comic books that were corrupting America's youth.
Davis continued to work for Mad magazine, when, in 1955, EC ended its traditional comic books. He also worked for Atlas Comics, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel. By the 1960s, he was doing bubble gum cards, movie posters and display advertising. He also worked on Little Annie Fanny and Yak Yak, Dell Comics' now-obscure 1961-62 attempt at hip humor. He illustrated three 1963 issues of The Rawhide Kid, his last work in traditional comic books.
Davis went on to dozens of covers for music albums and magazines including Time and TV Guide. He was given the Reuben Award by The National Cartoonists Society in 2000, naming him Cartoonist of the Year.