Phil Davis (cartoonist)

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Phil Davis (March 4, 1906–December 1964), born in St. Louis, Missouri, is an American cartoonist best known as the co-creator of Mandrake the Magician.

Growing up with one sister and one brother, Davis became interested in drawing when he was six years old. "I had a mania for parades," he recalled. "I drew every parade I could see. ^[1] My family neither encouraged nor discouraged me. They just accepted my dark fate." His first professional artwork was for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and he left the newspaper to do magazine illustrations and advertising art before eventually landing at King Features Syndicate.

When he met Lee Falk, the two collaborated on Mandrake the Magician in 1934. One of Davis' assistants was Ray Moore, who later became the first artist on Falk's other comic strip, The Phantom.