Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie "Alex" Raymond was an American cartoonist, best known for creating Flash Gordon for King Features in 1934. Wikipedia
Born: October 2, 1909, New Rochelle
Died: September 6, 1956 Education: Grand Central School of Art Awards: Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame
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Alex Raymond - "Flash Gordon"
Good as the others were, my personal gold medal goes to Alex Raymond who
drew "Flash Gordon." And "Secret Agent X-9," "Jungle Jim" and, later,
"Rip Kirby." Like Foster, his action drawings were more subdued than
Hogarth's. His compositions were good and his use of blacks and chiaroscuro
was effective. Where Raymond shined was drawing people; at that task
he was perhaps the best comic strip artist ever. Examples from "Flash
Gordon" are below.
Nice use of black. Keep in mind that the Sunday "Flash Gordon" was
colored, which meant that Raymond had to leave plenty of white areas
available for the flat colors used in newspaper reproduction in those
bygone days when printing was by letterpress (today offset printing is
most commonly used).
There's some missing continuity to the lower row. In a clipped-off
panel to the left, post-wedding, merciless Ming states "Now that I've
kept my promise to make her empress, take this rebel girl to the
dungeons and execute her at once!"
A fine drawing. I really like the '30s streamliner-type car Raymond designed.