Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is a
science fiction comic strip originally drawn by
Alex Raymond, first published on
January 7,
1934. It was created to compete with
Buck Rogers.
|
Flash Gordon pulp magazine |
The comic strip followed the adventures of Flash Gordon, for whom the series was named, and his companions Dr.
Hans Zarkov and
Dale Arden. The story begins with Dr. Zarkov's invention of a rocket ship, in which the three of them make a journey to the planet
Mongo, where they are stranded. Mongo is inhabited by a number of different cultures, some quite technologically advanced, that have been falling one by one under the domination of the vicious tyrant
Ming the Merciless.
Each region of Mongo is analogous to regions on Earth.
Arboria ruled by Barin and his Tree Men, is a lush forest region.
Frigia is a frozen polar region.
Tropica is logically a tropic region. There are undersea kingdoms and a flying city ruled by
Prince Vultan of the Hawk Men. There are many
sentient species on Mongo including lion-men represented by
Prince Thun and Shark-men ruled by King Kala.
The three Earthpeople are befriended shortly after their arrival by
Prince Barin, rightful heir to the throne that Ming has taken. Ming banishes Prince Barin and his followers — including Ming's own daughter,
Princess Aura, Barin's bride — to the forest realm of
Arboria, and the three join in Barin's quest to topple Ming.
In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the
Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative
postage stamps.
|
Flash and Thun rush to stop the wedding of Ming and Dale.
An excerpt from the March 4, 1934 strip, very early in Alex Raymond's original run. |
* Sunday,
Alex Raymond, 1934 - 1943
* daily,
Austin Briggs, 1940 - 1944
* Sunday, Austin Briggs, 1944 - 1948
* Sunday,
Mac Raboy, 1948 - 1967
* daily,
Dan Barry, 1951 - 1990
* daily,
Harry Harrison, writer, 1958 - 1964
* Sunday,
Dan Barry, 1967 - 1990
* Sunday and daily,
Ralph Reese &
Bruce Jones,
Gray Morrow, 1990 - 1991
* Sunday and daily,
Thomas Warkentin, 1991 - 1992
* Sunday,
Richard Bruning,
Kevin VanHook, Thomas Warkentin, 1992 - 1996
* Sunday,
Jim Keefe, 01/1996 - 03/2003
Film Serials
Flash Gordon was featured in three
serials starring
Buster Crabbe:
Flash Gordon (1936),
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (
1938), and
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).
1980 Film
|
A scene from the finale of the 1980 Flash Gordon. |
The
1980 film
Flash Gordon stars
Sam J. Jones in the title role and also features
Melody Anderson as Dale Arden,
Topol as Dr. Zarkov,
Max von Sydow as Ming,
Timothy Dalton as Prince Barin, and
Ornella Muti as Aura. Although not a critical success, the film is also noted for its musical score, which was composed and performed by
Queen .
The film is noted for being
camp, and as such has acquired a
cult status amongst students, sci-fi fans, and others. Many of the film's lines are quotable, and often tongue-in-cheek, and this knowing sense of humour contributes heavily to the collective affection with which the picture is remembered. A good example is the performance of the actor
Brian Blessed, who 25 years later is still most often remembered by the British public as the Hawkman character '
Prince Vultan', despite many more serious, dramatic roles in film, theatre and television. The plot of the film is based loosely on the first few years of the comic strip, and includes a film version of the famous Alex Raymond Sunday page, "Flight of the Hawkmen".
Flesh Gordon (parody)
A semi-
pornographic parody called
Flesh Gordon was released in
1974. It became a
cult classic and was followed in the 1989 by
Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders.
Future Films
In
2004,
Stephen Sommers, director of
Van Helsing and
The Mummy, purchased the movie rights to Flash Gordon. As of February 2006, there is no cast for a new movie installment. A summer 2007 release date has been rumoured, but not confirmed.
Steve Holland, starred in a
1954-
1955 TV series which ran for 39 episodes and is, to date, the only live-action TV series based upon the character. The series had the distinction of being filmed in
West Berlin, less than a decade after the end of
World War II. It was recut into a movie in 1957.
In
1979,
Filmation produced an
animated series based on the comic strip and the first season is remembered as one of the better efforts of the studio. The 1979 animated series was released first, but the
made-for-tv movie,
Flash Gordon, the Greatest Adventure of Them All was made first, and the tv series, titled
The New Adventures of Flash Gordon, endlessly reused footage from the movie, while eliminating more adult material, including a subplot involving
Hitler.
In the
1986 cartoon
Defenders of the Earth, Flash teamed up with fellow
King Features heroes
The Phantom and
Mandrake the Magician. This series took extreme liberties with the character, revealing that he and Dale Arden had conceived a son, Rick Gordon, who is in his mid-teens when the series begins. Dale has her mind torn from her body by Ming in the first episode and is preserved in a crystal, which Rick is able to recover and give to his father. Dale is reborn on Earth as Dynak X, the strategic battle computer of the Defender's base Monitor Earth.
Whilst Flash vows he will restore Dale to her human form, later episodes of the series see him openly flirting and embracing other women, in one case developing a relationship with the android Kala in the episode "Flesh and Blood", Kala is killed at the conclusion of the episode when she sacrifices her life to save the Defenders.
In 1996, Hearst Entertainment premiered a
Flash Gordon (TV Series) animated television series. This version turned Flash and Dale into skateboarding teen-agers.
In 1935, the strip was adapted into
The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon, a 26 episode radio serial that followed the strip fairly closely, except for the last two episodes when Flash and his friends meet
Jungle Jim, another Alex Raymond character.
A second serial,
The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon, apparently ran through 1936.
Over the years, several publishers put out Flash Gordon Comics based on the classic strip.
*
David McKay Publications King Comics #60-120, 132, 148 (1941-48)
*
Dell Comics Four Color Comics #10, 84, 173, 190, 204, 247, 424, 512;
Flash Gordon #2 (1945-53)
*
Harvey Comics #1-5 (1950)
*
Gold Key Comics #1 (1965)
*
King Comics #1-11 (1966-67)
*
Charlton Comics #12-18 (1969-70)
*
Gold Key Comics #19-37 (1978-79)Also, these companies may have run Flash Gordon backup strips in other titles they published.
In
1988,
DC Comics produced a modernized version of the comic strip. It featured Flash as washed up
basketball player who finds new purpose in life on Mongo, which is no threat to Earth, Dale who is an adventurous reporter who is just as capable as Flash, and a gray-skinned Ming who is less of an Asian stereotype.
The series ran for a planned nine issues and was left with an open-ended conclusion, probably in hopes that it would have been popular enough to start a regular comic run.
In
1995,
Marvel Comics did a two issue series with art by
Al Williamson, in the style of the Flash comics he had done for King and others.
In 1936 the first, and only, issue of a would be series of
Flash Gordon Strange Adventure Magazine was published. The novel was entitled
The Masters of Mars and written by the otherwise unknown James Edison Northford. The pulp was based more or less on the comic strip story lines, and included illustrations reminescent of Alex Raymond's artwork. On the back pages a second installment
The Sun Men of Saturn is promised, but, of course, never saw print.
Even though the series did not take off, the one issue of
Flash Gordon Strange Adventure Magazine has become a much sought after item for pulp magazine collectors.
The first novel based on the strip,
Flash Gordon in the Caverns of Mongo was published in 1936 by Grosset & Dunlap. The credited author was Alex Raymond. Like the pulp magazine of the same year, it failed to launch a series.
In 1973 Avon books launched a six book series of adult-oreinted Flash Gordon novels:
The Lion Men of Mongo, The Plague of Sound, The Space Circus, The Time Trap of Ming XIII, The Witch Queen of Mongo, and The War of the CybernautsIn 1980 Temp books releases a series:
Massacre in the 22nd Century, War of the Citadels, Crisis on Citadel II, Forces from the Federation, Citadels under Attack, and Citadels on Earth,In his youth,
George Lucas was a fan of the Flash Gordon serials, and once wanted to adapt it to the screen as part of his modern-day myth.
Dino De Laurentiis, who owned the rights, was not interested in Lucas' interpretation, so Lucas wrote
Star Wars instead, which borrowed liberally from the serials. The opening expository roll-up that appeared in episodes of
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe became the now-famous opening crawl of each Star Wars episode. Flash Gordon and Dale Arden inspired not only
Luke Skywalker and
Princess Leia, but also their parents,
Anakin Skywalker and
Padmé Amidala.
The famous Tauntaun character from Star Wars was also directly inspired by a similar creature from the snow world of Princess Aura
The Alex Raymond
Sunday strips have been reprinted by several publishers, notably
Nostalgia Press,
Kitchen Sink Press, and
Checker Book Publishing Group. The Kitchen Sink and Checker versions are in color, Nostalgia Press did one in black and white and the others in color. The Mac Raboy Sundays have been reprinted by
Dark Horse in black and white. The Dan Barry dailies have never been entirely reprinted, but the early years were published by
Kitchen Sink and the stories written by
Harry Harrison are reprinted in
Comics Revue from
Manuscript Press. Tempo Books published 6 massmarket paperbacks reprinting strips from the 1970s in the 1980s. Some of the Austin Briggs dailies were reprinted by
Kitchen Sink Press.
* Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo (1934-35), Nostalgia
* Flash Gordon in the Winter World (1935-37), Nostalgia
* Flash Gordon Escapes to Arboria (1937-39), Nostalgia
* Flash Gordon vs Frozen Terrors (1939-41 ?), Nostalgia
* Flash Gordon Joins the Power Men (1941-43 ?), Nostalgia
* Mongo, Planet of Doom (1934-35), Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-114-7
* Three Against Ming (1935-37), Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-120-1
* The Tides of Battle (1937-39), Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-162-7
* The Fall of Ming (1939-41), Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-168-6
* Between Worlds at War (1941-43), Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-177-5
* Triumph in Tropia (1943-44), Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-199-6
* Flash Gordon: The Dailies by Austin Briggs 1940-1942 Volume 1, Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-172-4
* Flash Gordon: The Dailies by Austin Briggs 1940-1942 Volume 2, Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-187-2
* Flash Gordon The Complete Daily Strips 1951-1953, Kitchen Sink Press ISBN 0-87816-035-3
* Flash Gordon: Volume 1 (1934-35), Checker Book Publishing Group
* Flash Gordon: Volume 2 (1935-36), Checker Book Publishing Group
* Flash Gordon: Volume 3 (1936-37), Checker Book Publishing Group
* Flash Gordon: Volume 4 (1938-40), Checker Book Publishing Group
* Flash Gordon: Volume 5 (1940-41), Checker Book Publishing Group
*
Mac Rayboy's Flash Gordon, Volume 1, Dark Horse Comics ISBN 1-56971-882-2
* Mac Rayboy's Flash Gordon, Volume 2, Dark Horse Comics
* Mac Rayboy's Flash Gordon, Volume 3, Dark Horse Comics ISBN 1-56971-978-0
* Mac Rayboy's Flash Gordon, Volume 4, Dark Horse Comics
* Amazing Adventures of Flash Gordon, 6 volumes (mix of dailies & Sundays from 1970s), Tempo Books
*
Flash Gordon at King Features*
Big Cartoon DataBase: The New Adventures of Flash Gordon*
Toonopedia entry*
Larry "Buster" Crabbe Biography - the first real Flash Gordon*
Roaring Rockets: The Flash Gordon Serials*
*
*
*
*
Flash Gordon in Comics Revue* Epguides.com's
Episode Guide for the 1954 Flash Gordon TV Show.
*
Flash Gordon Soundboard*
"King of the Impossible" - fustar.org discusses Flash Gordon (1980)*
Database and cover gallery Flash Gordons variolus comic book adaptations*
Holloway Pulp Hero page, featuring extensive information on the various adaptations of the character, including pulps, novels and radio plays*
Free to download Space Soldiers Conquer The Universe cinema serialFlash Gordon Conquers the Universe
The original Buster Crabbe serials, online.
*
Chapter 1 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 2 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 3 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 4 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 5 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 6 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 7 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 8 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 9 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 10 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 11 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
*
Chapter 12 (Windows format) (
Public Domain)
