Zack Mosley

Who was Zack Mosley?

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.

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: