RAYMOND, ALEX(ANDER GILLESPIE)

born Oct. 2, 1909, New Rochelle, N.Y., U.S. died Sept. 6, 1956, near Westport, Conn. U.S. comic-strip artist notable for his creation of a number of outstanding and successful adventure comic strips. At 18 Raymond went to work in a brokerage office on New York City's Wall Street, but the stock market crash of 1929 ended his career in finance. He then worked briefly as an assistant to Russ Westover on his strip Tillie the Toiler. In 1930 he joined the King Features Syndicate, creating, with the mystery writer Dashiell Hammett, the strip Secret Agent X-9. In 1934 he was assigned to draw Flash Gordon, a new strip dealing with interplanetary adventures, and at about the same time he created Jungle Jim, another adventure strip. During World War II Raymond served with the U.S. Marine Corps as a public information officer and combat cartoonist. In 1946 he introduced still another strip, Rip Kirby, dealing with the adventures of a suave, intellectual private detective. Raymond's strips were notable for outstanding drawing, particularly for the skillful use of shadow.