Rip Kirby Volume 4 Hardcover – August 9, 2011

This was a gift for someone that collects this particular book line. She loved it. I was very pleased. It was in very good condition.

This, the Spring 1954 to Autumn 1956 continuity, is Alex Raymond's last work; the final story was completed by John Prentice, who took on the strip after Raymond's death in a car accident. Everything is in black and white. There are 320 pages of strips, the story of Raymond's final years, and a biography of Prentice, who was to continue Rip Kirby for the next 43 years.It's not completely unfair to complain that there are some shoddy reproductions here; that is somewhat true of most of the first story (some areas a little light and others a little dark) and the beginning of the second, but even those sections are completely readable. The rest of the art, with a few exceptions, is reproduced perfectly. The stories, attributed to Fred Dickenson, are somewhat predictable and occasionally pretty soapy in a '50s-action-hero style:Chapter 1, "Stark Night of the Soul" (04/19-07/10 1954), presents former film-star Byron Delight planning a comeback by hitching himself to rising star Pagan Lee. Unfortunately Delight has aroused the passions of a number of females, including a femme fatale.Chapter 2, "Two Men and a Baby" (07/12-12/25 1954), has Desmond, Rip's butler, left holding the baby while leftists hold the parents. Rip and Desmond slip behind the iron curtain in the hope of ringing down the curtain on tyranny.Chapter 3: "The Eyes of Kismet Kildare" (12/27/1954 -04/09/1955) are on Rip, as the attractive artist feels her father was framed and wants Rip to get the picture. When Rip realizes someone is substituting fakes for old-master artwork, Kismet's fate may be sealed.Chapter 4, "Carno's Carnivores" (04/11 - 07/09 1955), finds Rip getting an offer he can't refuse: protecting the daughter of an animal trainer from a certain Snake and his murderous mate.Chapter 5, "Hep to the Jive" (07/11 - 09/24 1955), has brassy Ma Casino asking Rip to go undercover to find the robbers preying on her casino clientele. Rip scores when lovely lounge-singer Lenore Lillis changes her tune once the accompaniment turns murderous.Chapter 6: "The Laugh's on Giggles" (09/26 - 11/26 1955) when boorish tv comedian Giggles Magee plans to force beautiful dancer Joan Turner to marry him, only to run afoul of sentimental bookie "Necktie" and his backup, the Bowery Four.Chapter 7, "Brain vs. Brawn" (11/28/1955 - 02/18/1956), is Rip pitted against ne'er-do-well "Brawn" Adair in a search for another possible heir to Adair's late great-uncle's millions. Although long-lost granddaughter Sari has life plans of her own, Brawn plans to put an end to them.Chapter 8: "Double in Diamonds" (02/20 - 1956-05/19) begins with Rip's nemesis "the Mangler" meeting a man with the misfortune to be nearly his double - and to have told the Mangler too much about his daughter and his diamonds. The Mangler's misfortune is that after meeting daughter Angela she suspects something is amiss, and hires Rip to find out what.Chapter 9: "Zero Tolerance" (05/21 - 07/28 1956) is what Rip's favorite model "Honey" Dorian experiences when she makes her own alteration to couture that a couple of intercontinental crooks wanted run from a foreign runway.Chapter 10, "Cat Amoungst the Pigeons" (07/30 -10/20 1956), finds Desmond approached by a colleague whose cat-fancying employer, heiress Hettie Hilton, is the target of a pair of pseudo-scientific swindlers. Raymond's final strip work ends with his signature dated 9-29; Prentice smoothly and practically unnoticeably completes the story from October 1st to the 20th.Alex Raymond was a master of pen-(and brush-)and-ink. In the introduction, graphic-art historian Brian Walker describes Raymond's "signature style" as "... combining delicate pen lines with bold brush strokes, Raymond depicted his characters in dramatic profile and dynamic action and placed them in a variety of locales ranging from atmospheric cityscapes to exotic natural environments.

This volume contains ten stories including a very good Pagan Lee episode and a variety of entertaining episodes including runaway royalty, a vengeful beauty, a sea chase and an entertaining Mangler episode. One episode centers around Honey Dorian, but she is rarely seen in much of this volume, replaced by other females, each of them memorable.All four of these Alex Raymond books are must haves if you appreciate graphic novels and good illustrations. Raymond was at his best here, with nicely detailed scenes in the fog, castle dungeons, and on the sea standing out above the rest, but even panels showing characters in a discussion convey much more than dialogue in the progression of movement from one pane to the next.This volume will provide hours of quality reading, especially for those who take time to visually enjoy the details of the scene. It's not mandatory to begin with volume 1, this book can be read on its own merit, but I recommend reading all of them in order.John Prentice took over the last episode due to Raymond's untimely death. The transition was seamless, so I ordered volume 5 to see how Prentice does with a variety of scenery and locales. I can't see myself wanting to part with this book. I'll read it again.

I wish to complete my collection of Raymond's Rip Kirby.As usual the Amazon's Service is almost perfect. Everything is clear before proceeding to the purchase.

I just ordered and received this book. It's a great addition to the other Kirby books. The stories continue right where the previous ones started. These were the last ones of Kirby's adventures. I think that the printing is of a better quality in this book than in the previous ones. My last Kirby book (vol 3) did not have so good glue and some of the pages and the bookmark came off during the first reading.I was just surprised that I did not get the reddish color like the book advertisement has... My book had blue cover. I had to recheck that I got the right one!This being the fourth and last volume of Alex Raymond's classic Rip Kirby stories includes strips from April 19, 1954 through September 29, 1956. Because of the death of the illustrator, these strips end suddenly. This final collection contains the conclusion to Raymond's ultimate story, which is drawn by John Prentice, from October 1 through October 20, 1956. If you are Rip Kirby fan, you need to get this last collection!

This volume in very much in the pattern of the previous three. Urbane and sophisticated detective Rip Kirby solves crimes and problems worldwide with the help of a great supporting cast. Of that cast Desmond has the highest profile in this volume. Pagan Lee appears in one of the ten stories herein while Honey Doran appears in another. His main nemesis, the Mangler, also appears in one story. Compensating somewhat for the absence of Pagan and Honey are a variety of beautiful clients.The reproduction is also on par with previous volumes, adequate overall with a few weak spots with lines dropping out. The introduction discusses the circumstances of Raymond's death and the strip's continuing with John Prentice.I'm sad to see this series end. Is there any reason not to continue into the John Prentice years to see if interest hold up? Prentice must have had much to recommend him if his longevity on the strip is any indication.Highly recommended. I could (and have) read Rip Kirby all day long.

Treacherous villains and charlatans are no match for Rip Kirby and the cool Desmond, who enjoy the company of beautiful women, Dorian (being offered an apparently scrumptious job, but the downsides of it will prove most dangerous), Pagan Lee (Rip being told she's dead!) and many others. The owner of a casino, anyrthing but beautiful, will hire Rip and Desmond for a very tricky investigation, in the better story of the book. Enjoy!

And his love for fast cars finally did him in. Has information about a lesser known side of Alex Raymond, who loved fast cars and kept quite a few of them, and even had some custom-built for him. The comic album contains 10 stories, which are among the last which Alex did, before his fatal accident. Art for the comic strip was taken over by John Prentice, who would become legendary. Shows Alex at his best, and Prentice at his weakest. Prentice would go on to improve the character of Kirby, with the excellent scripting by Fred Dickenson.Alex's female characters are a bit frivolous to our taste; he was a rich boy and danced around bimbos, so the characters turned out mostly like them! There are quite a few love interests, and Pagan Lee figures as well. Honey Dorian is almost unrecognisable for those of us who are familiar with her from the '80s Indrajal Comics, which was scripted by Dickenson and drawn by Prentice. Kirby has moved with the times, though he aged probably 10-12 years only! (The strips ended in 1999.)Great collector's item. #4 on the first series (which is why there are four characters on the cover). Packaging wasn't very good, the corners were smashed and some pages had crimped edges. Bought at a bargain price, so no complaints.

The quality of the I'm a big fan of Alex Raymond so I enjoyed this book immensely. I received the book within 1 day of ordering it and it arrived in perfect condition. The book is printed on quality paper and binded in a hardcover format. Definitely worth the price.

A superb volume of the best of Alex Raymond's strips. Nobody did it better than Raymond.

Uno splendido fumetto, come non se ne fanno più! E' anche l'ultimo Rip Kirby disegnato da Alex Raymond, con la sua morte il personaggio sarebbe passato a John Prentice, gran professionista, ma non all'altezza di Raymond. L'edizione è molto curata, è in lingua originale (quindi in inglese) e visto il costo, ovviamente, è indirizzata agli appassionati, ma in realtà è bellissima per tutti!

Ein exzellent ausgeführtes Comicbuch in der üblichen Alex Raymond Qualität. Schön verarbeitet, hervorragend gedruckt auf gutem Papier und rasch versendet.