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Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics: The Definitive Book of the Life and Art of the Legendary Golden Age Artist
Beginning with his WPA etchings during the 1930s, Mac Raboy struggled to survive the Great Depression and eventually found his way into the comic book sweatshops of America. In that world of four-color panels, he perfected his art style on such creations as Dr. Voodoo, Zoro, The Mystery Man, Bulletman, Spy Smasher, Green Lama and his crowning achievement, Captain Marvel Jr. Raboy went on to illustrate the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip, and left behind a legacy of meticulous perfection. Through extensive research and interviews with son David Raboy, and assistants who worked with the artist during the Golden Age of Comics, author Roger Hill brings Mac Raboy, the man and the artist, into focus for historians to
savor and enjoy. This full-color hardcover includes never-before-seen photos, a wealth of rare and unpublished artwork, and the first definitive biography of a true Master of the Comics!
savor and enjoy. This full-color hardcover includes never-before-seen photos, a wealth of rare and unpublished artwork, and the first definitive biography of a true Master of the Comics!
160 pages, Hardcover
First published November 9, 2019
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December 22, 2023
Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics by Roger Hill
I've read a lot of these artist biographies from Twomorrows. And mostly you know what you're going to get. A long interview with the artist. A lot of artwork. Maybe a few interviews with contemporaries and maybe family. But with Mac Raboy, that initial interview was an absolute impossibility. Raboy was an intensely private person. There are less than a handful of known photos of him. And he also died, quite young, at age 53 in 1967. At that point comics fandom was just starting to track down the largely anonymous Golden Age artists. Not that Raboy was all that anonymous, since he was the artist on the Flash Gordon Sunday strip at the time, but it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, because he wasn't going to give anyone interviews.
For those who aren't comics nerds, Mac Raboy drew some of the most beautifully rendered comics from the 1940s through his death. His work on Captain Marvel, Jr., was simply gorgeous. He was also one of the very slowest artists in comic books at the time. He would work an entire day on one panel and then decide it wasn't good enough and erase the entire thing. As a result he had a number of assistants while at Fawcett who did most of the backgrounds in the Captain Marvel, Jr. stories. He also used a lot of photostats when he came up on deadlines. But his work was so good that his editors put up with it. He later did the Green Lama for Spark Publications and then took over Flash Gordon from Alex Raymond. Nobody but Raboy could have followed Raymond.
Roger Hill conducted a number of interviews with Raboy's various assistants, with other folks who had worked for Fawcett and with Raboy's son. This is a great look at an amazing artist. And it's one that we really could only get from a publisher like Twomorrows.
I've read a lot of these artist biographies from Twomorrows. And mostly you know what you're going to get. A long interview with the artist. A lot of artwork. Maybe a few interviews with contemporaries and maybe family. But with Mac Raboy, that initial interview was an absolute impossibility. Raboy was an intensely private person. There are less than a handful of known photos of him. And he also died, quite young, at age 53 in 1967. At that point comics fandom was just starting to track down the largely anonymous Golden Age artists. Not that Raboy was all that anonymous, since he was the artist on the Flash Gordon Sunday strip at the time, but it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, because he wasn't going to give anyone interviews.
For those who aren't comics nerds, Mac Raboy drew some of the most beautifully rendered comics from the 1940s through his death. His work on Captain Marvel, Jr., was simply gorgeous. He was also one of the very slowest artists in comic books at the time. He would work an entire day on one panel and then decide it wasn't good enough and erase the entire thing. As a result he had a number of assistants while at Fawcett who did most of the backgrounds in the Captain Marvel, Jr. stories. He also used a lot of photostats when he came up on deadlines. But his work was so good that his editors put up with it. He later did the Green Lama for Spark Publications and then took over Flash Gordon from Alex Raymond. Nobody but Raboy could have followed Raymond.
Roger Hill conducted a number of interviews with Raboy's various assistants, with other folks who had worked for Fawcett and with Raboy's son. This is a great look at an amazing artist. And it's one that we really could only get from a publisher like Twomorrows.
Displaying 1 of 1 review