Alex Raymond created Flash Gordon and set the standard for comic strip illustration.
Mac Raboy worshipped Raymond, and created his own impeccable standards for illustration during the Golden Age of comics with his astonishing craftsmanship on Captain Marvel Jr.
And then… serendipity takes a hand, and Raboy becomes the Sunday artist for Flash Gordon.
That Sunday run, started in 1946, and only ending with Raboy’s death in 1967, deserves consideration among the best looking SF strips of all time.
As for Captain Marvel Jr.? Raboy’s covers are still among the greatest ever to appear in the medium.
Dark Horse has collected the complete Raboy Flash Gordon run into four attractive volumes.
Secret Agent Corrigan (X-9), Daily Strip, October 17, 1969
As noted in a previous post, the amazing Al Williamson spent 13 years illustrating Secret Agent Corrigan as a daily strip. (With writing by Archie Goodwin — also great.)
Here’s a nice example from the earlier period of Al’s strips with a gorgeous final panel.
(Of course as I also previously noted, Williamson could have illustrated a guide to Windows XP, and I would have devoured it anyway.)
Al’s Corrigan strips are relative bargains in the original art market today: Nice examples can often be found in the $400-$500 range.
The complete five-volume collection of Williamson’s Corrigan (Also referred to as X-9) is one of my favorite series form the Library of American of Comics (LOAC), and one of my favorite projects at IDW Publishing.
Yes, that makes me biased. So?
Continuing our month long celebration of the great adventure comic strips: Week 1: Superheroes Week 2: Detectives Week 3: SF Week 4: Masters Of The Form
Secret Agent Corrigan (X-9) has an outstanding pedigree: Created in 1934 by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond for King Features, he was quickly featured in two movie serials. (1937 and 1945, pictured here.)
Every so often, I have this daydream, that I will sell most, if not all, of my art and use the proceeds to buy just one piece: An Alex Raymond Flash Gordon Sunday.
First time I ever saw that art as a kid, I recognized that I was looking at something extraordinary.
Nearly 50 years later, I still feel that way.
In the meantime, I have this great Raymond Rip Kirby to enjoy. Frankly, they are all pretty great, but this one especially spoke to me because of the terrific use of light and shadows. (And smaller word balloons than typical means more art to enjoy.)
Publishing the complete Raymond Rip Kirby — and Flash Gordon, with the Raymond Jungle Jim toppers — at IDW was a joy. An absolute joy.
Continuing our month long celebration of the great adventure comic strips: Week 1: Superheroes Week 2: Detectives Week 3: SF Week 4: Masters Of The Form
Fun fact: This is Volume 2 of the complete Alex Raymond Rip Kirby, despite the fact that the years contained within are misidentified here.
Hal Foster’s draftsmanship and vivid detail are, as the
Library Journal exclaimed, “breathtaking.” He and Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon)
are the two most important creators in adventure comics’ storytelling.
There is absolutely nothing — nothing! — I can add to the legend of Hal Foster that hasn’t been said before. It’s like trying to discuss the importance of Elvis Presley. Or why Ernest Hemingway is such an outstanding writer. It’s been done previously, and better.
So, instead, I’m going to let one picture do the job of a
gazillion words.
February 14, 1960. Exactly 60 years ago. The 23rd year of the strip (out of the 33 that Foster wrote and drew himself.) It’s a great example from Foster’s latter era, which focussed less on mythology and fantasy, and more on a “realistic” depiction of the Arthurian legend. The second to last panel is so near perfect in its detail, elegance and clarity, that it appeared as a full cover of a foreign book collection.
When I was a little kid, I would read The Sunday “Funnies” (as they say) each week, but I would stare endlessly at Foster’s Prince Valiant.
I still do.
Fantagraphics has done an excellent job reprinting Foster’s Valiant series. Like many publishers, they changed the cover from solicitation to publication, both of which appear above. Also above is the European reprint with the cover created from the panel of the strip.
