Alex Raymond, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Alex Raymond

American comic strip artist and creator of Flash Gordon

Date of Birth: 02-Oct-1909

Place of Birth: New Rochelle, New York, United States

Date of Death: 06-Sep-1956

Profession: screenwriter, military officer, comics artist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Libra


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About Alex Raymond

  • Alexander Gillespie Raymond, Jr.
  • (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the Flash Gordon comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934.
  • The strip was subsequently adapted into many other media, from three Universal movie serials in 1936, 1938,, and 1940,) to a 1970s television series and a 1980 feature film. Raymond's father loved drawing and encouraged his son to draw from an early age.
  • In the early 1930s, this led Raymond to become an assistant illustrator on strips such as Tillie the Toiler and Tim Tyler's Luck.
  • Towards the end of 1933, Raymond created the epic Flash Gordon science fiction comic strip to compete with the popular Buck Rogers comic strip.
  • Before long, Flash was the more popular strip.
  • Raymond also worked on the jungle adventure saga Jungle Jim and spy adventure Secret Agent X-9 concurrently with Flash, though his increasing workload caused him to leave Secret Agent X-9 to another artist by 1935.
  • He left the strips in 1944 to join the Marines, saw combat in the Pacific Ocean theater in 1945, and was demobilized in 1946.
  • Upon his return to civilian life, Raymond created and illustrated the much-heralded Rip Kirby, a private detective comic strip.
  • In 1956, Raymond was killed in a car crash at the age of 46.He became known as "the artist's artist" and his much-imitated style can be seen on the many strips that he illustrated.
  • Raymond worked from live models furnished by Manhattan's Walter Thornton Agency, as indicated in "Modern Jules Verne," a profile of Raymond published in the Dell Four-Color Flash Gordon #10 (1942), showing how Thornton model Patricia Quinn posed as a character in the strip. Numerous artists have cited Raymond as an inspiration for their work, including comic artists Jack Kirby, Bob Kane, Russ Manning, and Al Williamson.
  • George Lucas cited Raymond as a major influence for Star Wars.
  • He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1996.
  • Maurice Horn stated that Raymond unquestionably possessed "the most versatile talent" of all the comic strip creators.
  • He has also described his style as "precise, clear, and incisive." Carl Barks described Raymond as a man "who could combine craftsmanship with emotions and all the gimmicks that went into a good adventure strip".
  • Raymond's influence on other cartoonists was considerable during his lifetime and did not diminish after his death.

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