JACK DAVIS humor magazine output

When it comes to sheer output of work I think it would be hard pressed for many humorous illustrators/artists to rival Jack Davis. Jack Davis' art fit perfectly into MAD with its humorous slant and exaggerated motion it is no wonder that his work was so sought after. When Harvey Kurtsman left MAD to join Hugh Hefner and launch TRUMP Jack Davis was one of the artists that followed him. Similarly when that project died after only 2 issues Jack was one of a few that started HUMBUG which lasted 11 issues until late 1958. After that Jack started drawing for a myriad of publishers and their magazines from SICK to CRACKED to YAK YAK (which incidentally was written and illustrated by him). After much roaming Jack finally returned to MAD illustrating a piece on monsters in '69.

Above are just a few covers to some of these publications.

American Humor Magazines book

I stumbled across this book while putting a search for humor magazines and was quite surprised that such a periodical existed. After tracking down the book's author David Sloane (a professor if I'm not mistaken, who has written other books) we exchanged lists of humor magazine titles.

I was able to order it from my local library who had to get it from elsewhere in the country. The book was published in '85 and at 683 pages has an immense listing of literally 100's of different humor magazines, from The Harvard Lampoon to MAD and everything in between. There is a detailed introduction and then in depth essays on the 100 most influential titles with shorter chapters dedicated to many others. The appendix also includes a complete listing. I feel the book is highly detailed and in depth from a researchable point of view and would therefore be a welcomed addition to most University libraries. I personally would have felt the entire book and its content would have been majorly enhanced if it had some visuals of different magazine covers, mascots, interior pages, anything really just to break up the text.

Still I would recommend it to the die hard humor magazine fan. I looked into purchasing it but it is very rare and has a $200 price tag last time I checked Amazon. Try your library.