Zack Terrell Mosley was an American comic strip artist best known for the aviation adventures in his long-running The Adventures of Smilin' Jack which ran in more than 300 newspapers from 1933 to 1973.
Biography
Mosley was born in Hickory, Oklahoma, but his family moved to Pottawatomie County. They lived first in Tecumseh and later moved to Shawnee, where Zack, then going by his middle name, Terrell, graduated from Shawnee High School in 1925. He was active in student affairs, including serving as treasurer of his class. HIs abilities as a cartoonist showed up at this early age, and some of his work is in the school annual. His family then moved to Oklahoma City, and he worked for a while as a retail clerk before leaving to attend the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Chicago Art Institute, where he assisted Dick Calkins on Buck Rogers and Skyroads. The Encyclopedia of American Comics noted:
Comic strips
Mosley, who started taking flying lessons in 1932, launched his aviation Sunday page about a trio of flying students, On the Wing, on October 1, 1933. After the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate changed the title to The Adventures of Smilin' Jack on December 31, 1933, it ran as both a daily and a Sunday strip for four decades. Comics historianRon Goulart commented on the success of The Adventures of Smilin' Jack:
Mosley, who also designed posters, insignias and program covers for flying events, became a licensed pilot on November 13, 1936. He owned nine airplanes, logging over 3000 hours at the controls, and flew on Civil Air Patrol anti-submarine flights during World War II. Zack's younger brother, Robert L. Mosley, flew World War II Air Force combat missions in the Pacific, and after the war he became Zack's assistant on The Adventures of Smilin' Jack for five years while the two were living in Stuart, Florida. Boody Rogers was another assistant on the strip. Zack Mosley was 87 when he died of a heart attack December 21, 1993, at Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, Florida. In May 1948, Mosley was the first civilian recipient of the Naval Air Reserve certificate of merit, for boosting air-mindedness and civil defense through his strip. Mosley was inducted into the Oklahoma Cartoonists Hall of Fame in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, by Michael Vance. The Oklahoma Cartoonists Collection, created by Vance, is located in the Toy and Action Figure Museum.
