Jack Davis (1924–2016) was possibly the most ubiquitous humor illustrator of all time. A master cartoonist and caricaturist, his instantly recognizable, beautifully rendered artwork graced the covers of countless magazines, such as Mad, Cracked, TV Guide, and Time, not to mention comic books, paperbacks, movie posters, and record albums. The king of the mind-bogglingly large-crowd scene was also one of the fastest illustrators around: this quiet Southern gentleman was usually finished with his daily assignments by 2:30 p.m. and out on the golf course. After Davis was hired to create the memorably manic poster art for the 1963 film It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World—jammed with dozens of boldface names—he soon became the most in-demand film-comedy poster artist in the world. Davis’s 100th birthday was December 2.
