Background
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was born on October 2, 1909 in New Rochelle, New York, the son of Alexander Gillespie Raymond and Beatrice Wallaz Crossley.
( • Nominated for three Eisner Awards! The Definitive Fla...)
• Nominated for three Eisner Awards! The Definitive Flash Gordon & Jungle Jim presents every Sunday strip by Raymond from both classic strips together for the first time, in the oversized 12" x 16" champagne edition format. Created by Raymond in 1934, Flash Gordon is arguably the most famous science fiction comic strip of all time. It follows the adventures of the title character and his companions — Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov — as they leave Earth to discover the source of meteors that are threatening the planet, and get waylaid on the planet Mongo, where they battle the evil Ming the Merciless. The three Earthlings encounter one strange race after another, from the water-breathing Shark-Men of the Undersea Kingdom, to the winged Hawkmen, to the ferocious Tusk-Men. All the while, Flash finds himself in the arms of one beautiful woman after another — much to Dale Arden's chagrin. From IDW, the publisher who brought you: • Caniff HC 9781600109201 • Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Vol 1 9781600100369 • Complete Terry And The Pirates Vol 1: 1934-1936 9781600101007 • Genius, Illustrated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth 9781613770245 • Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth 9781600108280 • Rip Kirby Vol 1 9781600104848 • Scorchy Smith And The Art Of Noel Sickles 9781600102066 • Steve Canyon Vol 1: 1947-1948 9781613771259 • X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan Vol 1 9781600106972
https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Flash-Gordon-Jungle-Jim/dp/1613772203?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1613772203
(The second of Checker's re-issue of the color Flash Gordo...)
The second of Checker's re-issue of the color Flash Gordon strips from the pen and brush of its unsurpassed originator, Alex Raymond! The work of a master at his best, these color strips were originally published in 1935 and 1936.
https://www.amazon.com/Alex-Raymonds-Flash-Gordon-2/dp/0974166464?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0974166464
( • IDW's Library of American Comics is producing The Def...)
• IDW's Library of American Comics is producing The Definitive Flash Gordon & Jungle Jim as part of the Ultimate Alex Raymond Collection. Edited by Eisner Award-winner Dean Mullaney, The Definitive Flash Gordon & Jungle Jim will present every Sunday by Raymond from both classic strips together for the first time, in the oversized 12" x 16" champagne edition format. • Created by Raymond in 1934, Flash Gordon is arguably the most famous science fiction comic strip of all time. It follows the adventures of the title character and his companions, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov, as they leave Earth to discover the source of meteors that are threatening the planet, and get waylaid on the planet Mongo, where they battle the evil Ming the Merciless. The three Earthlings encounter one strange race after another, from the water-breathing Shark-Men of the Undersea Kingdom, the winged Hawkmen, and the ferocious Tusk-Men. All the while, Flash finds himself in the arms of one beautiful woman after another — much to Dale Arden's chagrin. • Jungle Jim was created as a strip topper for Flash Gordon, and followed the life of Jim Bradley, who fought pirates, slave traders, and assorted villains in the exotic Southeast Asia of the 1930s. This neglected Raymond classic also features Jim's native cohort Kolu and femme fatale Lille DeVrille.
https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Flash-Gordon-Jungle-Vol/dp/1613770154?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1613770154
( Beginning the complete library of the greatest science ...)
Beginning the complete library of the greatest science fiction hero of all time. Volume One will spotlight the work of Alex Raymond, legendary for some of the finest storytelling of the 20th century. Raymond illustrated the Sunday strips until 1944; with his clear and much-imitated style forming the original aesthetic of the most popular and easily recognised science fiction hero for decades to come. Introducing Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, Dr. Hans Zarkov, and Ming the Merciless, this volume will catapult readers to the deadly planet Mongo. These are the strips that influenced George Lucas to create Star Wars, and which illustrator Al Williamson said were "the reason I became an artist."
https://www.amazon.com/Planet-Mongo-Complete-Gordon-Library/dp/0857681540?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0857681540
( • The third volume of Alex Raymond's modernist classic,...)
• The third volume of Alex Raymond's modernist classic, Rip Kirby, contains nearly three years of strips, from September 24, 1951 through April 17, 1954, all rendered in Raymond's incredibly lush style. World's best photographer, the sexy Bijou Benson; a playboy sheik from Algiers; a revolution in the Middle East; the return of criminals Joe Seven, Fingers Moray, and the deadly Mangler; the deadly Lili Lavelle; all while Honey Dorian, of course, is not happy that Pagan Lee re-enters the picture. • Edited and designed by Eisner Award-winner Dean Mullaney, with a biographical and historical essay by Brian Walker. -The Library of American Comics is the world's #1 publisher of classic newspaper comic strips, with 14 Eisner Award nominations and three wins for best book. LOAC has become "the gold standard for archival comic strip reprints...The research and articles provide insight and context, and most importantly the glorious reproduction of the material has preserved these strips for those who knew them and offers a new gateway to adventure for those discovering them for the first time.” - Scoop •
https://www.amazon.com/Rip-Kirby-3-Alex-Raymond/dp/1600107850?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1600107850
(When Secret Agent X-9 premiered in January 1934, King Fea...)
When Secret Agent X-9 premiered in January 1934, King Features could proudly boast that its new adventure strip was written by the world's most famous mystery writer — Dashiell Hammett, the man who virtually invented the hard-boiled detective in such novels as The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, and Red Harvest. The artist chosen was less well-known — at this point, Alex Raymond was merely an uncredited assistant on Tim Tyler's Luck and the humor strip Blondie — but 1934 was the turning point in Raymond's career. From that cold January forward, Alex Raymond would become as famous as Hammett, thanks to his Sunday comics double-header, Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim. The Secret Agent X-9 strip was a dailies-only serial. This volume collects the complete Hammett/Raymond strips, plus the subsequent stories by Raymond and Leslie Charteris, famous himself for "The Saint" novels, as well as the Charteris stories drawn by Charles Flanders. Included are strips from January 22, 1934 through October 31, 1936.
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Agent-Library-American-Comics/dp/1631402110?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1631402110
(Continuing the comprehensive library of the greatest scie...)
Continuing the comprehensive library of the greatest science fiction hero of all time, this gorgeous collection of library editions feature all-new restorations that will preserve these legendary adventures for generations to come. Featuring strips from world-famous writer-artist Alex Raymond, restored in their original format, complete and uncut! This volume continues the seminal adventures of pulp hero Flash Gordon, an ordinary man trapped on an alien world, and his ongoing battles with the deadly and heartless Ming the Merciless. The Tyrant of Mongo offers readers a series of new, swashbuckling Flash Gordon adventures, including: The Fall of Ming Ice Kingdom of Mongo Beast Men of Mongo
https://www.amazon.com/Tyrant-Mongo-Complete-Gordon-Library/dp/0857683799?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0857683799
( • Presenting the first volume of Alex Raymond's moderni...)
• Presenting the first volume of Alex Raymond's modernist classic Rip Kirby from its start in 1946. Created by Alex Raymond when he was deactivated from the Marines after World War II, Rip Kirby was a fresh approach to the genre, a departure from the prevailing hard-boiled style of detective fiction. Rip Kirby was urbane and cerebral, and used scientific methods as often as he used his fists when solving crimes and mysteries. • Edited and designed by Eisner Award-winner Dean Mullaney, the strips are reproduced from pristine syndicate proofs that will allow readers to see, for the first time, the full luxurious detail of Raymond's brushwork. • Includes a biographical and historic essay by Brian Walker, and an introduction by Raymond biographer and authority Tom Roberts. -The Library of American Comics is the world's #1 publisher of classic newspaper comic strips, with 14 Eisner Award nominations and three wins for best book. LOAC has become "the gold standard for archival comic strip reprints...The research and articles provide insight and context, and most importantly the glorious reproduction of the material has preserved these strips for those who knew them and offers a new gateway to adventure for those discovering them for the first time.” - Scoop •
https://www.amazon.com/Rip-Kirby-1-Alex-Raymond/dp/1600104843?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1600104843
(Earth braces for its final destruction in a collision wit...)
Earth braces for its final destruction in a collision with an onrushing planet, and only Dr. Zarkov can prevent doomsday. Taking Flash Gordon and Dale Arden captive, he takes off in a rocket to deflect the hurtling planet and save the world. The mad Zarkov, Flash and Dale survive a crash landing on Mongo, only to be captured by the diabolical Ming the Merciless. And the true adventure begins.
https://www.amazon.com/Alex-Raymonds-Flash-Gordon-Vol/dp/097416643X?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=097416643X
( • While investigating crimes on both sides of the Atlan...)
• While investigating crimes on both sides of the Atlantic, the urbane detective encounters beautiful and conniving women, menacing men, jewel thieves, pickpockets, ex-Nazis, rich debutantes, spoiled heirs, kleptomaniac mothers, small town gossips, a fake Yogi named "The Great You," his recurring nemesis — the Mangler — and more than a murder or two. Meanwhile, the tension builds in his love triangle with Honey Dorian and Pagan Lee. • The second volume of Alex Raymond's modernist classic Rip Kirby contains nearly three years of strips, from December 6, 1948 through September 22, 1951, all drawn in Raymond's incredibly lush style. • Edited and designed by Eisner Award-winner Dean Mullaney, with a biographical and historical essay by Brian Walker, and an introduction by Howard Chaykin. -The Library of American Comics is the world's #1 publisher of classic newspaper comic strips, with 14 Eisner Award nominations and three wins for best book. LOAC has become "the gold standard for archival comic strip reprints...The research and articles provide insight and context, and most importantly the glorious reproduction of the material has preserved these strips for those who knew them and offers a new gateway to adventure for those discovering them for the first time.” - Scoop •
https://www.amazon.com/Rip-Kirby-2-Alex-Raymond/dp/1600105823?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1600105823
( • The fourth and final volume of Alex Raymond's moderni...)
• The fourth and final volume of Alex Raymond's modernist classic, Rip Kirby, contains every daily strip from April 19, 1954 through September 29, 1956. The 46-year-old Raymond's tragic death in the prime of his life caught the syndicate in mid-episode. This book also contains the conclusion to Raymond's ultimate story, drawn by John Prentice, from October 1 through October 20, 1956. • Edited and designed by Eisner Award-winner Dean Mullaney, with a biographical and historical essay by Brian Walker. -The Library of American Comics is the world's #1 publisher of classic newspaper comic strips, with 14 Eisner Award nominations and three wins for best book. LOAC has become "the gold standard for archival comic strip reprints...The research and articles provide insight and context, and most importantly the glorious reproduction of the material has preserved these strips for those who knew them and offers a new gateway to adventure for those discovering them for the first time.” - Scoop •
https://www.amazon.com/Rip-Kirby-4-Alex-Raymond/dp/1600109896?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1600109896
( • The grand conclusion to the multple Eisner Award-nomi...)
• The grand conclusion to the multple Eisner Award-nominated edition of Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim. Reproduced in the oversized Champagne Edition format are Raymond's spectacular Sunday pages from 1942 through 1944; also included is the first storyline by Austin Briggs, who followed Raymond's tenure. Edited by Dean Mullaney, designed by Lorraine Turner, with an Introduction by Bruce Canwell.
https://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Flash-Gordon-Jungle-Jim/dp/1613779178?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1613779178
(Featuring four years worth of non-stop exhilarating, scie...)
Featuring four years worth of non-stop exhilarating, science fiction action-adventure as Flash battles a rogue’s gallery of villainy to protect the innocent, the wronged and a bevy of beautiful women from the likes of Kang The Cruel, Queen Valker the Violent, giant birds, lizards, sea-beasts and rock men, as well as wolfmen and gas spiders! For Flash Gordon, the king of the cliff-hanger every Sunday is a day of action!
https://www.amazon.com/Flash-Gordon-Storm-Queen-Valkir/dp/1782762868?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1782762868
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was born on October 2, 1909 in New Rochelle, New York, the son of Alexander Gillespie Raymond and Beatrice Wallaz Crossley.
He studied at Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle from 1925 to 1928. Raymond had been drawing since early boyhood. In art school he learned the refinements of style that later gave him a reputation as a powerful draftsman.
Raymond took a position as a clerk for the Wall Street firm of Chisholm and Chapman, stockbrokers. After losing his job in the great stock-market crash of 1929, Raymond, encouraged by a neighbor, comic artist Russ Westover, creator of "Tillie The Toiler, " enrolled in the Grand Central School of Art. While at art school he worked as a solicitor for the firm of mortgage broker James Boyd.
In 1930 he entered the comic art field at King Features Syndicate, first as an assistant to Russ Westover on the "Tillie" strip and later with Lyman Young on a strip called "Tim Tyler's Luck. " For extended periods in 1932 and 1933 Raymond ghosted the "Tim Tyler" strip for the syndicate.
In 1934, as syndicate competition soared, Raymond was asked to develop a Sunday page composed of two new comic strips, "Flash Gordon" and "Jungle Jim. " The two strips, created to compete with the already popular "Buck Rogers" and "Tarzan, " established an immediate following, and both inspired radio and movie serials as well as comic books.
In 1935 Raymond, in collaboration with mystery writer Dashiell Hammett, created another comic strip, "Secret Agent X-9, " also for King Features. "Flash Gordon" was inspired by the novel When Worlds Collide, by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer. It was the story of three people from Earth who take a spaceship to the distant planet Mongo, where they do battle with a villain called Ming the Merciless, emperor of Mongo. The three - Gordon, a handsome, blond polo player and Yale graduate; his girlfriend, Dale Arden; and a scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov - played out their adventures "amid grandiose landscapes, in futuristic cities and the forsaken regions of the planet. " "Flash Gordon, " says Maurice Horn, "met with immediate success, establishing itself as the supreme science-fiction strip. "
From 1934 to 1944, Raymond combined brilliant draftsmanship and an articulation of realism. The strip inspired an even better-known movie serial with Buster Crabbe as Flash and Charles Middleton as Ming. During the 1930's and 1940's the strip provided the basis for a radio series, and in the 1953-1954 season it was also a television series. In "Jungle Jim, " Jim Bradley, an explorer, animal trapper, and adventurer, carried out swashbuckling adventures in an area defined only as "east of Suez. " Along with his companion Kolu and a shady lady whom he reformed named Lil de Vrille, Jungle Jim fought villains of all description with ferocity. The strip was hailed by one observer of comic art for its "striking elegance of line, a fine delineation of atmosphere and background, and a visual excitement which give a highly polished gloss. " Although "Jungle Jim" never surpassed "Tarzan" in popularity or in numbers of newspaper clients, it did become one of the highest-rated adventure strips and was widely imitated, mainly for its draftsmanship. Like "Flash Gordon, " "Jungle Jim" became a comic book as well as radio and television serials. And in the 1940's and 1950's Columbia Pictures produced ten "Jungle Jim" movies starring Johnny Weissmuller, who had achieved fame as "Tarzan. "
Like Raymond's two earlier strips, "Secret Agent X-9" was a competitor aimed at the "Dick Tracy" market. The inflexible and tough-minded secret agent battles crime with vigor, dash, and skill. In an era when a highly respected Federal Bureau of Investigation was battling the underworld, the strip found a responsive public. Raymond and Hammett both had left the strip by late 1935, passing their work on to other artists and continuity writers. The strip inspired a shortlived radio serial and two movie serials.
Toward the end of World War II, Raymond, a reserve officer in the U. S. Marine Corps, served as art director of the Marine Corps publicity office in Philadelphia and then saw combat duty as a public information officer and artist aboard the aircraft carrier U. S. S. Gilbert Islands off Okinawa, Balikpapan, Borneo, and Southern Japan. He returned to the United States with the permanent rank of major. After the war Raymond looked for a new challenge. He found it in 1946, creating a fourth comic strip, "Rip Kirby, " the story of a sophisticated and debonair criminologist. Kirby, like Raymond, was a former Marine Corps captain. The strip had more subtlety and less action than "Flash Gordon. "
Kirby, mature, intellectual, and witty, was the antithesis of Gordon and seemed to represent a new phase in Raymond's work. A Kirby comic book was later created, but the strip never achieved radio or television serialization, nor did it become a movie. Raymond helped to refine realism in comic strips.
Raymond also helped to fashion heroes who would have competitive appeal in feature syndication. And he was successful to a great degree, as the diversified spinoffs of his work (comic books, radio, television, and movies) seem to indicate. While "Flash Gordon" was a schoolboy's dream come to life, "Rip Kirby" showed the maturing of a hero who, unlike the blond Adonis Gordon, could wear glasses and lead a refined life.
Raymond was killed in an automobile accident near Westport, Connecticut
(Featuring four years worth of non-stop exhilarating, scie...)
( • While investigating crimes on both sides of the Atlan...)
(When Secret Agent X-9 premiered in January 1934, King Fea...)
(Continuing the comprehensive library of the greatest scie...)
(The second of Checker's re-issue of the color Flash Gordo...)
( • Nominated for three Eisner Awards! The Definitive Fla...)
( • The third volume of Alex Raymond's modernist classic,...)
( • The fourth and final volume of Alex Raymond's moderni...)
( • IDW's Library of American Comics is producing The Def...)
( • The grand conclusion to the multple Eisner Award-nomi...)
( • Presenting the first volume of Alex Raymond's moderni...)
(Earth braces for its final destruction in a collision wit...)
( Beginning the complete library of the greatest science ...)
He was president of the National Cartoonists Society from 1950-1952.
Quotes from others about the person
As Coulton Waugh wrote in The Comics, "What is unique is the degree of realism achieved in the drawing, the conscientious clarity and brilliance of line. In its super-finish there is nothing to compare with it. .. . Raymond created the illusion of depth. "
On December 31, 1930, he married Helen Frances Williams; they had five children.