Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established '' Buck Rogers'' adventure strip.

Creation

The ''Buck Rogers'' comic strip had been commercially very successful, spawning novelizations and children's toys, and King Features Syndicate decided to create its own science fiction comic strip to compete with it. At first, King Features tried to purchase the rights to the '' John Carter of Mars'' stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. However, the syndicate was unable to reach an agreement with Burroughs. King Features then turned to Alex Raymond, one of their staff artists, to create the story.

One source for Flash Gordon was the Philip Wylie novel '' When Worlds Collide'' (1933). The themes of an approaching planet threatening the Earth, and an athletic hero, his girlfriend, and a scientist traveling to the new planet by rocket, were adapted by Raymond for the initial storyline. Williamson, Al; Poplaski, Peter (1990). "Introduction" to Alex Raymond, ''Flash Gordon:Mongo, the Planet of Doom''. Princeton I Kitchen Sink Press. 1990. (p. 5). "Raymond took the basic premise of Philip Wylie's ''When Worlds Collide'', which was being reprinted in ''Blue Book'' magazine at the time, and used it as his starting point for adventure." Raymond's first samples were dismissed for not containing enough action sequences. Raymond reworked the story and sent it back to the syndicate, which accepted it. Raymond was partnered with ghostwriter Don Moore, an experienced editor and writer. Raymond's first ''Flash Gordon'' story appeared in January 1934, alongside '' Jungle Jim''. The ''Flash Gordon'' strip was well received by newspaper readers, becoming one of the most popular American comic strips of the 1930s.

As with ''Buck Rogers'', the success of ''Flash Gordon'' resulted in numerous licensed products being sold, including pop-up books, coloring books, and toy spaceships and rayguns.Murray, Doug (2012). "Flash Gordon Conquers The World". In Alex Raymond and Don Moore, ''Flash Gordon :the Tyrant of Mongo, Sundays 1937-41''. London : Titan Books, 2012. (pp. 6-9).

Comic strip characters and story

The ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip ran as a daily from 1934 to 1992, with the Sunday strip continuing until 2003. Reprints are still being syndicated by King Features Syndicate.

The comic strip follows the adventures of Flash Gordon, a handsome polo player and Yale University graduate, and his companions Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov. The story begins with Earth threatened by a collision with the planet Mongo. Dr. Zarkov invents a rocket ship to fly into space in an attempt to stop the disaster. Half mad, he kidnaps Flash and Dale. Landing on the planet, and halting the collision, they come into conflict with Ming the Merciless, Mongo's evil ruler.

For many years, the three companions have adventures on Mongo, traveling to the forest kingdom of Arboria, ruled by Prince Barin; the ice kingdom of Frigia, ruled by Queen Fria; the jungle kingdom of Tropica, ruled by Queen Desira; the undersea kingdom of the Shark Men, ruled by King Kala; and the flying city of the Hawkmen, ruled by Prince Vultan. They are joined in several early adventures by Prince Thun of the Lion Men. Eventually, Ming is overthrown, and Mongo is ruled by a council of leaders led by Barin.

Flash and friends visit Earth for a series of adventures before returning to Mongo and crashing in the kingdom of Tropica, later reuniting with Barin and others. Flash and his friends then travel to other worlds before returning once again to Mongo, where Prince Barin, married to Ming's daughter Princess Aura, has established a peaceful rule (except for frequent revolts led by Ming or by one of his many descendants).

In the 1950s, Flash became an astronaut who travelled to other planets besides Mongo. The long story of the Skorpi War takes Flash to other star systems, using starships that are faster than light.

In addition to Ming and his allies, Flash and his friends also fought several other villains, including Azura, the Witch Queen; Brukka, chieftain of the giants of Frigia; the fascistic Red Sword organisation on Earth; and Brazor, the tyrannical usurper of Tropica. After Raymond's tenure, later writers created new enemies for Flash to combat. Austin Briggs created Kang the Cruel, Ming's callous son. Prince Polon, who had the power to shrink or enlarge living creatures, the unscrupulous Queen Rubia, and Pyron the Comet Master were among the antagonists introduced during Mac Raboy's run. The Skorpi, a race of alien shape shifters who desired to conquer the galaxy, were recurring villains in both the Mac Raboy and Dan Barry stories. The Skorpi space-fighter ace Baron Dak-Tula became a periodic nemesis of Flash in the late 1970s stories.

International versions of the comic strip

King Features sold the ''Flash Gordon'' strip to newspapers across the world, and by the late 1930s, the strip was published in 130 newspapers, translated into eight foreign languages, and was read by 50 million people. In the 1930s and 1940s, several newspapers in Britain carried ''Flash Gordon'', including the Scottish '' Sunday Mail''. In France, his adventures were published in the magazine ''Robinson'', under the name "Guy l'Éclair". Dale Arden was named Camille in the French translation. In Australia, the character and strip were retitled ''Speed Gordon'' to avoid a negative connotation of the word "Flash". (At the time, the predominant meaning of "flashy" was "showy", connoting dishonesty.)

However, events in the 1930s affected the strip's distribution. Newspapers in Nazi Germany were forbidden to carry the ''Flash Gordon'' strip, while in Fascist Italy it was restricted to two newspapers. In 1938, the Spanish magazine ''Aventurero'', the only publication in the country to carry ''Flash Gordon'', ceased publication because of the Spanish Civil War. The outbreak of World War II resulted in ''Flash Gordon'' being discontinued in many countries. In Belgium, artist Edgar Pierre Jacobs was therefore asked to bring the current ''Flash Gordon'' story to a satisfactory conclusion, which he did.

After the war's end, the strip enjoyed a resurgence in international popularity. ''Flash Gordon'' reappeared in Italy, Spain and West Germany, and it was also syndicated to new markets like Portugal and the Irish Republic. From the 1950s onward, countries like Spain, Italy and Denmark also reprinted ''Flash Gordon'' newspaper strips in comic book or paperback novel form. In India, ''Flash Gordon'' comics were published by Indrajal Comics.

Later years

The popularity of Raymond's ''Flash Gordon'' Sunday strip meant a daily strip was also introduced. This strip was drawn by Austin Briggs and ran from 1941 to 1944. After Raymond left ''Flash Gordon'' in 1944 to join the US Marines, the daily strip was cancelled and Briggs took over the Sunday strip. Although Raymond wanted to return to drawing ''Flash Gordon'' after the war's end, King Features did not want to remove Briggs from his position. To conciliate Raymond, King Features allowed him to create a new strip, ''Rip Kirby''. After Briggs left the Sunday strip in 1948, he was succeeded by former comic book artist Mac Raboy, who drew the strip until his death in 1967. Drew Friedman, ''Heroes Of The Comics:Portraits of the Pioneering Legends of the Comic Books''. Seattle, Washington : Fantagraphics Books, 2014. (pp. 40,82) In 1951, King Features created a new daily ''Flash Gordon'' strip. This strip was drawn by Dan Barry. Barry was assisted during his tenure by Harvey Kurtzman and Harry Harrison, who both wrote scripts for the strip. Barry also had several artists who aided him with ''Flash Gordon's'' illustrations, including Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, Bob Fujitani, Jack Davis, Sy Barry, Fred Kida and Emil Gershwin.Mark Schultz, ''Al Williamson's Flash Gordon : a lifelong vision of the heroic.'' Santa Cruz, Flesk Publishing, 2009. (pp.18,187) When Barry left the strip in 1990, various artists and writers worked on ''Flash Gordon''. The daily strip was ended in 1993. The final artist to work on the ''Flash Gordon'' Sunday strip was Jim Keefe. Keefe was occasionally assisted on the strip by other artists, including Williamson, John Romita Sr. and Joe Kubert. King Features ended the ''Flash Gordon'' newspaper strip in 2003, although re-runs of Keefe's strip still appear in a few US newspapers.

Strip bibliography

* 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 & Andrés Klacik, 1991–1992
* Sunday, Richard Bruning, Kevin VanHook, Thomas Warkentin & Andrés Klacik, 1992–1996
* Sunday, Jim Keefe, 1996 - 2003

Unofficial
* L'Avventuroso (Italy) - Guido Fantoni, 1938
* Bravo (Belgium) - Edgar P. Jacobs, 1941

Critical reception and influence

''Flash Gordon'' is regarded as one of the best illustrated and most influential of American adventure comic strips.R.C. Harvey (Jan 2009). "Alex Raymond at Last". The Comics Journal (295): 161–173. ISSN 0194-7869. Historian of science fiction art Jane Frank asserted that because of his work on ''Flash Gordon'', "Raymond is one of the most famous science fiction artists of all time, although he never contributed an illustration to any science fiction magazine or book". Comic book artist Jerry Robinson has said "What made ''Flash Gordon'' a classic strip was Raymond's artistry and the rich imagination he brought to his conceptions of the future" and described the final years of Raymond's tenure on the strip as being characterized by "sleek, brilliantly polished brush work." The science fiction historian John Clute has stated that "The comics version of ''Flash Gordon'' was graceful, imaginative and soaring" and included it on a list of the most important American science fiction comics. In an article about Raymond for ''The Comics Journal'', R.C. Harvey declared that Raymond's ''Flash Gordon'' displayed "a technical virtuosity matched on the comics pages only by Harold Foster in '' Prince Valiant''". ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' stated that ''Flash Gordon''s "elaborately shaded style and exotic storyline" made it one of the most influential comics, and that its art emphasized a "romantic baroque".

''Flash Gordon'' (along with ''Buck Rogers'') was a big influence on later science fiction comic strips, such as the American ''Don Dixon and the Hidden Empire'' (1935 to 1941) by Carl Pfeufer