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Rip Kirby
Rip Kirby
Author(s)	Ward Greene (1946–1956) Fred Dickenson (1956–mid-1980s) John Prentice (mid-1980s–1999)
Illustrator(s)	Alex Raymond (1946–1956) John Prentice (1956–1999)
Current status/schedule	Defunct daily strip
Launch date	March 4, 1946
End date	June 26, 1999
Syndicate(s)	King Features
Publisher(s)	David McKay Publications IDW Publishing
Genre(s)	Detective fiction

Rip Kirby is an American comic strip created by Alex Raymond and Ward Greene featuring the adventures of private detective Rip Kirby. The strip ran from 1946 to 1999 and was in the hands of artist John Prentice for more than 40 years.

Publication history

After World War II, Raymond did not return to work on any of his previous successful comic strips (Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, Secret Agent X-9), but instead began work on a new strip in which ex-Marine Rip Kirby returns from World War II and goes to work as a private detective, sometimes accompanied by his girlfriend, fashion model Judith Lynne "Honey" Dorian. (Her given name and nickname were borrowed from the names of Raymond's three daughters.)

Rip Kirby was based on the suggestion by King Features editor Ward Greene that Raymond try a "detective-type" strip. First published on March 4, 1946, the strip was given significant promotion by the syndicate, even including fully painted promotional art, a rarity in comic-strip promotions. The strip enjoyed success, and Raymond received the Reuben Award in 1949.

During Raymond's years on the strip, the stories were initially written by Ward Greene, and later, following Greene's death, by Fred Dickenson. Some sequences were also written by Raymond. In 1956, Raymond was killed in a car crash. King Features quickly needed a replacement, and found it in John Prentice. Dickenson continued to write the series until the mid-1980s, when he was forced to retire for health reasons. Prentice then took over the writing along with others. Prentice kept the strip going until his own death in 1999. The strip ended with Rip's retirement on June 26, 1999. Prentice received the National Cartoonists Society Story Comic Strip Award for 1966, 1967, and 1986 for his work on the strip.

Over the years of publication, the strip was ghosted and assisted by many artists and writers, including Frank Bolle (who completed the last episode), Al Williamson, and Gray Morrow.

Characters and story

Comics historian Don Markstein notes how the character of Remington "Rip" Kirby broke away from the usual pulp detective archetype:

Circulation rose steadily during the strip's first few years — even tho' Rip wasn't the kind of private detective they were used to from pulp fiction. This one did more cogitating than fisticuffing, and smoked a leisurely pipe while he did it. He had a frail, balding assistant, Desmond (a former burglar), instead of a two-fisted sidekick. Instead of carrying on with an endless series of female clients, he had a steady girlfriend, Honey Dorian. If that wasn't enough, he even wore glasses! Even Kerry Drake didn't depart so far from the standard. If Rip was more sophisticated and urbane than the average fictional private eye, that's okay, because he was very successful — both for himself and for the people who wrote, drew and distributed him.

Writers and artists

Reception

Writer Mike W. Barr described Rip Kirby as a "great syndicated detective strip." He added "Raymond's artistry gave the world populated by Kirby & co. a lushness and fluidity that the comics pages had never seen".

Reprints

In 1948, Rip Kirby strips were reprinted in issues #51 and #54 of David McKay Publications's Feature Book. Issue #51 included a biography of Alex Raymond with a photograph showing him sketching an unnamed model for Honey Dorian. In 1980, Pacific Comics Club reprinted the 1946-1950 strips in 16 comic books. In 1988, Pioneer published 6 books and 2 more collections the following year.

Internationally Published Reprints

Some of the Rip Kirby comic strips were reprinted in India as comic books in the popular comic book series called Indrajal Comics.

The strip was published in a dozen comic book magazines in former Yugoslavia. In 1983 Radio Television of Serbia produced an educational series about comics, which included live action sequences featuring Nebojsa Krstic as Rip Kirby and Predrag Milinkovic as his butler. Milinkovic looked the part insomuch that he was nicknamed Desmond. From 2011 to 2019 Croatian publisher Fibra reprinted the complete 1946-1999 strip in 19 volumes.

IDW Publishing

In 2009, IDW Publishing started to reprint the Rip Kirby strip as part of its The Library of American Comics. The first four volumes contain a complete reprint of Raymond's stories including the last one, finished by Prentice. Volume 5 continues with Prentice's work.

Story list

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (September 2013)

References

1. Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 332. ISBN 9780472117567.
2. Mendez, Armando E. The Look of Love: The Rise and Fall of the Photo-Realistic Newspaper Strip, 1946–1970: "Alex Raymond and Rip Kirby, Page 2" Archived March 19, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Accessed January 1, 2009
3. ^ "Rip Kirby". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
4. ^ "Alex Raymond". Lambiek Comiclopedia.
5. Yeates, Thomas, "Chapter 4: Atlas" in Yeates, Thomas, and Ringgenberg, S.C., eds. Al Williamson: Hidden Lands. Milwaukie, Oregon: Dark Horse Books. (pp. 81-84) ISBN 978-1569718162.
6. Gray Morrow at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013.
7. DeAndrea, William L. (1994). Encyclopedia Mysteriosa: A Comprehensive Guide to the Art of Detection in Print, Film, Radio, and Television. New York: Prentice Hall General Reference. pp. 73–4. ISBN 0671850253.
8. "Indrajal Comics-399-Rip Kirby (Rare): The Wax Trap (1982)". Goodreads. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
9. Datta, Sravasti (2014-08-28). "Few of my favourite things". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2021-10-10.
10. "Strip-knjižara Asteroid B612". skab612.com. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
11. Serbia, RTS, Radio televizija Srbije, Radio Television of. "Stripomanija, 1-6". www.rts.rs. Retrieved 2022-07-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. "Celog života je igrao batlere i konobare, a bio je mnogo veća faca nego što ste mislili". Noizz.rs (in Serbian). 2016-12-24. Retrieved 2022-07-17.
13. "Rip Kirby". www.fibra.hr. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
14. "Library of American Comics". Archived from the original on 2012-01-09.

External links

• Thrilling Detective: Rip Kirby
• Tribute: John Prentice

• Comics

• 1946 comics debuts
• 1999 comics endings
• American comics characters
• American comic strips
• Comics characters introduced in 1946
• Crime comics
• Detective comics
• Detective comic strips
• Fictional private investigators