Flash Gordon has been published by nearly every comic book publisher who has hit the stands. Charlton, Marvel, DC, Kitchen Sink, Dell, Gold Key, Harvey, and more have published his adventures in one form or another.
But perhaps no publisher produced a finer issue than did King Features itself when it briefly published the adventures itself. Flash Gordon #1 from King features the artwork of Al Williamson. While this series is wildly uneven with lots of talent, this first issue is magnificent in its look and polish.
Here's a link to one fan's epic quest to assemble the original artwork for this fantastic issue.
So wonderful are the stories here, that they were the basis for the Flash Gordon record album released in 60's.
The artwork is lush, and the storytelling mature. Enjoy the stories. Here's the first, untitled in the comic but called "The Decoys of Ming the Merciless" on the record. The script is by Larry Ivie.
And here's the wonderfully titled "Flash Gordon and the Mole Machine", a great adventure of Flash, Dale, and Zarkov on or better yet in the planet Earth. GCD credits Archie Goodwin with the scripting on this one.
Now them's good comics!
Rip Off
I just recently re-read the 9 years' worth of Alex Raymond's "FLASH GORDON" Sunday strips from the 1930s. I recall someone online saying "FG" had the BEST art of any major newspaper adventure strip... but the WORST writing. Having now re-read them with more mature eyes, I can CONFIRM this! The serial goes on and on and on and on forever, never seeming to advance the plot, until one day, it suddenly comes to a half, without feeling like it built to that point.
ReplyDeleteI came away genuinely feeling that the 3 Universal "FLASH GORDON" serials were FAR-better written, the characters ALL written better than they had been in the original version. EVEN in the dodgy "TRIP TO MARS"!!
Suffice to say... not only was Al Williamson one of the best artists to ever work in comic-books (or newspaper strips), but ARCHIE GOODWIN was one of the best WRITERS.
Meanwhile, I'm currently working on a long-overdue Larry Ivie blog project, having finally assembled every issue of his wonderful but short-lived "MONSTERS AND HEROES". It was VERY noticable that his writing in the articles improved dramatically about mid-way thru.
But the main draw for me was his "ALTRON-BOY" series. I recall being very saddened about 12 years back when I found out it ended on a cliffhanger... and that somehow, in all the years since it came out, he never got around to finishing it.