Alden Spurr “Mac” McWilliams was born February 2, 1916 in Greenwich, Connecticut. Alden drew for several comics including I Spy, Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Wild Wild West, and Star Trek.
Alden McWilliams started his career in pulp magazines before becoming one of the pioneering comic book artists in 1935. McWilliams contributed both writing and artwork with a strong leaning towards science-fiction, working on titles such as ‘Captain Frank Hawk’, ‘Crimebusters’, ‘Space Cadets’, ‘Stratosphere Jim’ and ‘Flash Gordon’. He also worked on ‘Skid Davis’ (1939). During World War II, McWilliams worked on a number of war stories like ‘Spitfire’ and ‘Captain Flag’ (1940 to 1942). After three years in the army, McWilliams was discharged in 1945 and promptly resumed his comics career, developing ‘Steve Wood’ and ‘Sergeant Spook’, as well as a number of crime stories.
He also drew several popular syndicated newspaper comic strips, such as Twin Earths (1952) and Davy Jones (1963). In 1968 he co-created the first American newspaper comic strip that starred a Black lead character, Danny Raven, in Dateline: Danger!
