James Crossley Raymond (February 25, 1917 – October 14, 1981)
was an American
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
artist and the younger brother of ''
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...
'' artist
Alex Raymond
Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the '' Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into m ...
. He was also the great-uncle of actors
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination.
Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...
and
Kevin Dillon.
Biography
Born in
Riverside, Connecticut and raised in
New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...
, Raymond's first cartoons were published in his high school newspaper. In 1935, he started as an assistant on the ''
Blondie'' comic strip, mostly as a replacement for his brother, who had been working on ''Blondie'' for three years before leaving to start his own strips.
Initially, Raymond's responsibilities were quite minor, but by 1937, when the first son of ''Blondie'' creator
Chic Young died of
jaundice
Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving abnormal heme meta ...
, Raymond was considered experienced enough to take over both writing and drawing the strip for a year.
In 1938, Chic Young returned from his sabbatical, resuming his place as the main writer of ''Blondie''. Raymond continued to play a major role in creating the artwork, in addition to a short stint assisting his brother Alex on ''
Jungle Jim'' around 1944. In 1950, due to Chic's diminishing eyesight, Raymond permanently became the lead artist of ''Blondie'' and began to develop the distinctive style that the strip uses to this day.
Chic Young died in 1973 and his son
Dean, who had been assisting with the writing for about ten years, took over as head writer. Raymond continued as the artist and began sharing a byline credit with Dean soon after.
Raymond's health began to fail in 1979, and he died in late 1981 from cancer. After his death, he was succeeded by
Mike Gersher
Mike Gersher was formerly an artist on the Blondie comic strip. He started being credited as the head artist in late December 1981, after the death of the long serving Jim Raymond
James Crossley Raymond (February 25, 1917 – October 14, 1981) ...
, who had assisted him for about 17 years. All ''Blondie'' artists since that time have stuck closely to the style that Jim Raymond refined, with small modifications to keep props and clothing styles contemporary.
References
Further reading
*
External links
Lambiek: Jim Raymond
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond, Jim
1917 births
1981 deaths
American comics artists
American comic strip cartoonists
Artists from New Rochelle, New York
Blondie (comic strip)
Deaths from cancer in Florida