Austin Briggs (1908–1973) was an American illustrator and cartoonist whose career bridged commercial art, pulp magazines, newspaper comics and mid-century illustration. Born in Minnesota and raised in Detroit, he trained at the Wicker Art School and later the Art Students League in New York. Early work included advertising and illustrations for magazines such as McClure’s and Red Book; his drawings also appeared in Blue Book and other fiction magazines.
Briggs became Alex Raymond’s assistant on the Flash Gordon newspaper strip and then drew the strip from 1940 to 1944. He later illustrated leading general-interest magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies’ Home Journal and Cosmopolitan. In 1952 he was among the founders of the Famous Artists School, where established working artists taught by correspondence. His later assignments included travel posters, album covers and postage stamps.