Rip Kirby 4

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.

Alex Raymond (1909-1956) is regarded, with Milton Caniff and Hal Foster, as one of the three giants of newspaper adventure strip artists. Raymond apprenticed with Chic Young on Blondie, and Lymon Young on Tim Tyler's Luck. The year 1934 was a major turning point in his career: he illustrated X-9, a new detective comic strip written by Dashiell Hammett, and then created Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim. Rip Kirby, created in 1946, signaled a grand departure, both thematically and artistically, from the science fiction classic. He promulgated a new art style—one of cinematic photo-realism—that influenced such artists as Stan Drake, Leonard Starr, Al Williamson, and Neal Adams.