Rip Kirby hit the newspapers' comic pages as a completely new concept for the private detective medium. He was thoughtful, wore glasses and smoked a pipe. He had his share of fisticuffs and gun battles, but preferred to think his way through a mystery. Rip Kirby was aided in his sleuthing by a reformed burglar named Desmond and Rip's long time girlfriend, the lovely Honey Dorian.
The Rip Kirby comic strip was the brainchild of Alex Raymond (creator of Flash Gordon and Secret Agent X-9) and Editor Ward Greene. The strip debuted on March 4, 1946 and would continue for over fifty years. Alex Raymond was given the prestigious Reuben award in 1949 for his work. The interior artwork in these stories are all Alex Raymond's brilliant pencils and inks. The covers were crafted by James E. McConnell. Raymond wrote three of the four scripts for this collection. The script for RACE OF DEATH was penned by
Fred Dickenson
The Rip Kirby comic strip was an amazing combination of beautifully crafted artwork and taught writing and is still considered to be a classic to this day.