Alex Raymond(1909-1956) is regarded, with Milton Caniff and Hal Foster, as one of the three giants of newspaper adventure strip artists. Raymond apprenticed with Chic Young onBlondie, and Lymon Young onTim Tyler's Luck. The year 1934 was a major turning point in his career- he illustratedX-9, a new detective comic strip written by Dashiell Hammett, and then createdFlash Gordon and Jungle Jim.Rip Kirby, created in 1946, signaled a grand departure, both thematically and artistically, from the science fiction classic. He promulgated a new art style-one of cinematic photo-realism-that influenced such artists as Stan Drake, Leonard Starr, Al Williamson, and Neal Adams.