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The legendary Alex Raymond made his name drawing the sci-fi fantasy comic strip Flash Gordon but went on to create several other important strips, including his last one, Rip Kirby, featuring a private detective in post-WWII New York.  Raymond was primarily an artist collaborating with writers who supplied his plots and dialogue, but he was a brilliant artist, with a clean, bold, dynamic style that influenced many comic strip artists of later generations.  George Lucas has said that Raymond’s Flash Gordon was a primary influence on the Star Wars films.

For Rip Kirby, Raymond employed a naturalistic style and dynamically composed panels that have a film noir feel to them.  The strip is fast-moving and suspenseful and very entertaining.  IDW Publishing is in the process of issuing reprints of the complete run of the strip in multiple volumes.  It’s well worth a look.