Editing Mac Raboy

{{short description|American cartoonist, 1914-1967}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2010}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image         =
| imagesize     =
| caption       =
| birth_name    = Emmanuel (or Manuel) Raboy
| birth_date    ={{Birth date|1914|4|9}}
| birth_place      = New York City
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1967|12|12|1914|4|9}}
| death_place   =
| nationality   = American
| area          =
| pencil        = y
| alias         =
| notable works = [[Captain Marvel Jr.]]<br />''[[Flash Gordon]]'' Sunday strip
| awards        =
}}
'''Emmanuel''' "'''Mac'''" '''Raboy''' (April 9, 1914 – December 12, 1967) was an American comics artist best known for his [[comic-book]] work on [[Fawcett Comics]]' [[Captain Marvel Jr.]]<ref name="bf">Brent Frankenhoff & Maggie Thompson ''The Greatest Comic Book Covers Of All Time''. Iola, WI : Krause Pub.; F+W Media, Inc., 2012.  {{ISBN|144023499X}} (p. 26-7).</ref> and as the Sunday [[comic-strip]] artist of ''[[Flash Gordon]]'' for more than 20 years.<ref name="mc">Marguerite Cotto, "Flash Gordon", in Ray B Browne; Pat Browne,''The Guide to United States Popular Culture'' Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0879728213}} (p. 283)</ref> Cartoonist [[Drew Friedman (cartoonist)|Drew Friedman]] has stated, "Raboy was an expert technician with pen and brush, and his lush covers are some of the most unusually beautiful ever to grace comic books".<ref name="df">Drew Friedman, ''Heroes Of The Comics: Portraits of the Pioneering Legends of the Comic Books''. Seattle, Washington: [[Fantagraphics]] Books, 2014. {{ISBN|9781606997314}} (p.82)</ref>

==Early life==
Raboy was born in [[New York City]] on April 9, 1914, to a [[American Jewish|Jewish]] family.<ref name="frankel">{{cite book |last1=Frankel |first1=Valerie Estelle |title=Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy Through 1945: Immigrants in the Golden Age |date=2021 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=177 |isbn=9781793637130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wkIxEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22lou+fine%22+jewish&pg=PA177 |access-date=22 January 2022}}</ref><ref name="Hill2019">{{cite book|author=Roger Hill|title=Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qZW8DwAAQBAJ|date=6 November 2019|publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing|id=GGKEY:2H2R5Z720P0}}</ref> (The April 9 date is taken from Roger Hill's biography ''Mac Raboy: Master of the Comics''. His birthdate has also been cited as April 17, 1914, in other sources.<ref name=SSDI>Social Security Death Index, SS# 075-14-1435</ref> Hill's biography also gives his birth name as "Manuel",<ref name="Hill2019"/> but Friedman's book ''Heroes Of The Comics'' lists it as "Emmanuel."<ref name="df"/>) Raboy's father had emigrated from [[Romania]]; the family name's spelling was changed from "Raboi". His father worked in a hat factory before moving to [[North Dakota]] for a time to work as a blacksmith and horse handler. He moved to [[Connecticut]] to work on the family dairy farm, and finally settled in [[the Bronx]]. His father wrote poetry, political essays, and several books, including ''The Jewish Cowboy,'' about his North Dakota experience.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Raboy, Isaac {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/raboy-isaac |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

==Career==
Raboy began his art career with the [[Works Progress Administration]] during the [[Great Depression]]. In the 1940s he began working with the [[Harry A. Chesler]] studio of comics artists.<ref name="df"/> Raboy began drawing comic books and gained fame as the illustrator for ''[[Captain Marvel, Jr.]]'' and the ''[[Green Lama]]''.<ref name="df"/> Raboy was a great admirer of [[Alex Raymond]], and "kept a portfolio of Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon" comics by his side for inspiration and guidance as he worked".<ref name="df"/> In the spring of 1946, [[King Features]] hired Raboy to continue the Sunday page adventures of ''[[Flash Gordon]]'', which he continued to work on until his death.<ref name="mc"/>

==Death==
Raboy was diagnosed with cancer in 1967, and died that December. Hill's biography gives the date as December 22; other sources have listed it as December 12.<ref name="Hill2019"/><ref name=SSDI/>

== References ==
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[[Category:American comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Federal Art Project artists]]
[[Category:Artists from New York City]]
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Jewish American comics artists]]
[[Category:American science fiction artists]]

{{US-cartoonist-stub}}