Staff Picks (August): Alex Raymond - An Artistic Journey
Jul 15, 2015
When you think of the great adventure comic strip artists you tend to think of Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, Milton Caniff, Roy Crane, Noel Sickles, and Alex Raymond. You will note that most of these artists had multiple successes in their field.
Alex Raymond had success with four classic strips, Secret Agent X-9 which years later became Secret Agent Corrigan and illustrated by the Raymond-influenced Al Williamson and latter George Evans, the classic science fiction strip Flash Gordon and its companion strip Jungle Jim, and the detective/film-noiresque Rip Kirby which was continued in fine form by John Prentice.
Alex Raymond - An Artistic Journey: Adventure, Intrigue and Romance from Hermes Press is a must have for comic strip collectors.
In a big 300+ page book, 10''x13'' portrait-formatted hardcover, and with full support from King Features Syndicate as part of their 100th Anniversary Celebration, Hermes Press presents a comprehensive, definitive art monograph covering Raymond's complete artistic output with authoritative text provided by comics historian Ron Goulart.
Like many of the artist editions, this full color art book features over 400 images, many scanned directly from Raymond's original artwork.
Fans get to see original artwork from Raymond's work on Secret Agent X-9, Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, and Rip Kirby as well as numerous examples of his earliest strip artwork, commercial illustration, and more.
As a fan of classic adventure strips thanks to people like Ed April, Ken Pierce, Tony Raiola, and the Menonomee Falls Gazette, I had a chance to read some great adventure strips. Rip Kirby is specia,l as I first discovered it on the back page of the Atlanta newspaper with my parents' wedding announcement.
With all the volumes of Rip Kirby from IDW and Secret Agent X-9 from Nostalgia Press, I look forward to adding this Alex Raymond title to my collection.
—Steve Leaf
Publisher: Hermes Press Item Code: AUG151563 Release Date: 11/25/15 SRP: $75.00 |