Career
He was also the great-uncle of actors Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon. Born in New Rochelle, New York, Raymond"s first cartoons were published in his high school newspaper. Initially, Raymond"s responsibilities were quite minor, but by 1937, when the first son of Blondie creator Chic Young died of jaundice, Raymond was considered experienced enough to take over both writing and drawing the strip for a year.
In 1938, Chic Young returned from his sabbatical, resuming his place as the main writer of Blondie.
In 1950, due to Chic"s diminishing eyesight, Raymond permanently became the lead artist of Blondie and began to develop the distinctive style that the strip uses to this day. Raymond continued as the artist and began sharing a byline cr with Dean soon after.
Raymond"s health began to fail in 1979, and he died in late 1981 from cancer. After his death, he was succeeded by Mike Gersher, who had assisted him for about 17 years.
All Blondie artists since that time have stuck closely to the style that Jim Raymond refined, with small modifications to keep props and clothing styles contemporary.