The strip was created and written by legendary crime author Dashiell Hammett, who by this time had already written the Maltese Falcon and would soon go on to write The Thin Man.

This comic told the adventures of X-9, a nameless agent for a nameless government agency. Raymond got his big break in 1933 with the comic strip Secret Agent X-9. Raymond worked as a staff artist for King Features, assisting on such strips as Tim Tyler’s Luck and Blondie. Through Westover, Raymond was introduced to King Features Syndicate, one of the largest comic syndication companies to this day. In 1930, Raymond began to work with cartoonist Russ Westover, assisting him on the comic strip Tillie the Toiler. Returning to his earlier ambitions, Raymond enrolled in the Grand Central School of Art in New York City, a storied institution that would count artists such as Normal Rockwell, Charles Addams, and Bob Kane among its alumni. He briefly worked in a brokerage office on Wall Street, but the financial crash of 1929 ended that career path. Instead, Raymond went to Iona Preparatory School on an athletic scholarship and pursued a career in finance. decided against going into art as a career. Sadly, the elder Raymond died when his son was 12, and Alex Jr. Alex’s father was a civil engineer, who supported his son’s artistic interests. Alex Raymond’s career was short, and his death came far too soon, but his art and influence are immortal.Īlexander Gillespie Raymond Jr was born in 1909 to Beatrice and Alexander Raymond in New Rochelle, NY. While “Jungle Jim” and “Rip Carson” may not be household names, Raymond’s most famous creation, Flash Gordon, is so ingrained into American pop culture that simply his name can be used as shorthand for a specific type of heroic, romantic science fiction.

Few people have influenced American comics as much as Alex Raymond.

Alex raymond flash gordon original art