'Gil Thorp' (1 April 1997).
Ray Burns had a long career in newspaper comics and commercial art, although his name is largely unknown to the public. He was Alex Raymond's assistant on 'Rip Kirby' for nine years until Raymond's death in 1956. He was an occasional ghost illustrator on the 'Berenstain Bears' book series, and succeeded Jack Berrill on the 'Gil Thorp' sports comic (1996-2000).
Early life
Ray Burns was born in 1924 as Raymond Howard Bernstein and raised in Stamford, Connecticut. His father was a jewelry salesman. Graduated from high school in 1942, he held several odd jobs until he got bored with them and enlisted in the Navy. He served aboard the destroyer USS Livermore in both the European and the Pacific theaters until 1946. He took part in the invasion of North Africa and Battle of Anzio in Italy, after which he served in France for quite some time.
Assistance of Alex Raymond
Back in civilian life, Burns was hired by Alex Raymond to do the lettering of his new daily detective strip for King Features Syndicate, 'Rip Kirby'. After a while, he was also tasked to do some additional background art. Burns worked non-stop with the legendary artist, except for a seventeen-month interlude in 1950-1952. During this period, he was called back to the Navy to fight in the Korean War. During this period, Bob Leatherbarrow took his place in Raymond's studio. When Burns returned to Raymond, he assisted other cartoonists on the side, such as Gus Edson on 'The Gumps' and Frank Beck on 'All in a Lifetime' and 'Bo the Dog'.
Ray Burns and Alex Raymond in 1950.
Illustration work
After Alex Raymond's death in 1956, Ray Burns moved over to the fields of illustration and commercial art. For over four decades, he provided illustrations to more than 85 books, mostly aimed at a juvenile audience. Burns for instance illustrated three books in Stan and Jan Berenstain's children's book series 'The Berenstain Bears'. Through agencies like Johnstone and Cushing, he also provided advertising illustrations in a variety of styles to clients like Xerox, G.T.E., Union Carbide, Volkswagen, I.T.T. and Richardson-Vicks. In addition, he created storyboards for TV series, including a series of cartoons for a children's game show on Nickelodeon, and artwork for corporate publications of companies such as GTE, Union Carbide and Xerox.
Gil Thorp
In 1994, Burns returned to cartooning, when he assisted Jack Berrill on his high school sports comic 'Gil Thorp'. After Berrill's death in 1996, Burns continued the strip with writer Jerry Jenkins for Tribune Media Services. Several of Jenkins' stories were however anonymously written by his son Chad Jenkins, a baseball coach at Bethel College. Burns drew 'Gil Thorp' until his own death in November 2000. His final strip was printed on 6 January 2001. Since then, 'Gil Thorp' has been drawn by Frank McLaughlin (2001-2008), Frank Bolle (2008) and Rod Whigham (2008-2024) and Rachel Merrill (2024- ).
Death
Raymond H. Burns passed away on 23 November 2000, in Norwalk, Connecticut. He was 76 years old.
'Gil Thorp' (25 August 1999).