The Strange Death of Alex Raymond

By Dave Sim and Carson Grubaugh. Published by Living the Line Books.

Hardcover, 320 pages, B&W, 2022. 

Legendary creator Dave Sim is renowned world-wide for his groundbreaking Cerebus the Aardvark. Now, in The Strange Death of Alex Raymond, Sim brings to life the history of comics' greatest creators, using their own techniques. Equal parts Understanding Comics and From Hell, Strange Death is a head-on collision of ink drawing and spiritual intrigue, pulp comics and movies, history and fiction. The story traces the lives and techniques of Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon, Rip Kirby), Stan Drake (Juliet Jones), Hal Foster (Prince Valiant), and more, dissecting their methods through recreations of their artwork, and highlighting the metatextual resonances that bind them together.