'Supercar' #1 (Mexican edition).
Ray Osrin was an American cartoonist who inked and occasionally pencilled comics for Archie, Charlton, Dell and Gold Key from the mid-1940s until the early 1960s. He was an assistant on 'Barney Google and Snuffy Smith', as well as 'Morty Meekle'. Between 1966 and 1993 he was political cartoonist for the newspaper The Plain Dealer.
Early life and comics career
Raymond Harold Osrin was born in 1928 in Brooklyn, New York. He studied art at the School of Industrial Art and the Art Students League. Among his graphic influences were Pat Oliphant, Bill Mauldin, Herblock, Don Wright, Paul Conrad, Milton Caniff, Frank Robbins and Matt Baker. In 1945 he joined Jerry Iger's comics store, where he worked as a staff inker for four years. His earliest work was inking Matt Baker and other Iger staffers on Fiction House heroes like 'Kayo Kirby' (Fight Comics), 'Camilla' (Jungle Comics) and 'Mysta of the Moon' (Planet Comics), but also possibly on 'Glory Forbes' (Ranger Comics) and 'Rip Carson of Risks, Unlimited' (Fight Comics). In the late 1940s he also inked 'Blue Beetle' and 'Phantom Lady' for Victor Fox's comic books, as well as horror and romance stories for Farrell Publications.
'Fat and Lean', from Bobby Comics #1 (Iger Comics, 1946).
Osrin also inked Arnold Drake, Leslie Waller and Matt Baker's proto-graphic novel 'It Rhymes with Lust' (1950) for St. John Publications. Aditionally he provided pencil work for St. John's romance comic books like 'Teen-Age Diary Secrets' and 'Teen-Age Romances' in the period 1949-1952. Halfway the 1950s Osrin inked 'Pat the Brat' (with pencils presumably by Leon Winik) for Archie Comics and various romance and mystery comics for Charlton, as well as 'Blue Beetle' (pencils by Ted Galindo). He inked Baker again in Dell's 'Lassie' tie-in comic book (1955) and pencilled most of the Gold Key comic book 'Mike Mercury - Supercar', which contained stories based on the children's TV shows 'Supercar' and 'Robert's Robot' (1962-1963).
'Ruled By Jealousy', a story presumably pencilled by Osrin from Teen-Age Romances #27.
Barney Google / Morty Meekle
Osrin assisted Fred Lasswell on Billy DeBeck's newspaper comics 'Barney Google and Snuffy Smith' in the 1950s, and Dick Cavalli on the 'Morty Meekle' strip during the early 1960s.
Final years and death
In 1957 Osrin moved from New York City to Pittsburgh, where he was involved in television animation and industrial film making. From the late 1950s onwards he was however mostly active as an editorial cartoonist. He worked in this function for the Pittsburgh Press between 1958 and 1963. In 1963 he joined The Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he succeeded Ed Kuekes as their official political cartoonist from 1966 until his retirement in 1993. Ray Osrin passed away in in Delray Beach, Florida in 2001 from complications due to heart disease and diabetes.
Cartoon by Osrin for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (1976).