Flash Gordon Zeitgest is the brainchild of Alex Ross, an artist of great reputation and talent who apparently adores the 1980's versions of Alex Raymond's iconic hero. In fact both the DeLaurentis film and the Filmation cartoon adaptations are given no small heed as this potent retelling of the classic clash unfolds.
This rendition of the Flash saga takes place in 1934 and includes on the villains roster alongside Ming and Klytus, the original super-villain of the comic book world -- Adolf Hitler. Here Hitler is a lackey, serving at the whim of Ming who is supplying the Third Reich with technology to make it even stronger. When the war is over the little Paper-hanger will be one of the myriad "rulers" who serve beneath the heel of Ming the Merciless. We follow three fighters from Mongo (a lion man, a hawk man and a golden woman) who seem to be working in sympathy with the Allies.
On Mongo itself the familiar story unfolds with a change and alteration here and there. Flash is still condemned by Ming and as usual he overcomes the many threats to his life and brings something new to Mongo -- esprit de corp.
Dale Arden is once again the sexual desire of Ming, though as usual his desire stems more from a wish to overpower than to woo her. She is the Earth in raven hair and as such Ming wants her to submit and like it. She disagrees.
The story flows back and forth from Earth to Mongo with designs from Ross which evoke the old Sam Jones flick. The silliness of the movie is erased, though some of the inherent absurdity of the inter-planetary struggle remains embedded in the yarn. The battle on this planet rages throughout and we even get brief glimpses of other heroes who are defending the Earth.
The artwork by Daniel Indro is pretty good, though like some much in the modern art of comics a wee bit busy. It is lush, but that gives way somewhat when in later issues Ron Adrian is tapped to illustrate the Eric Trautmann scripts.
Throughout the run Alex Ross supplies the stunning covers and in this instance was the motivating force for the series and so designed all of it. as well. It's interesting to see the interplay of the various versions of Flash Gordon get tapped in part as the story unrolls.
One very interesting change is an emphasis on Zarkov who steps out of the shadows a bit to contribute to the inevitable defeat of Ming. It's all too clear in the original that his ideas were central to the success of the uprising to this point. We get some powerful biographical information about Zarkov and how this man came to be what he was.
As with any of the Flash Gordon yarns a victory is the result of the unending fighting, and as in all the there is an eventual victory over the forces of Ming or whatever substitute is on hand. Ming is defeated in this story as well and new leadership is put into place and that's a surprise in its own way.
But as in the classic Alex Raymond comic strip, Ming is not quite finished and his revenge is terrible indeed. This iu that rare Flash Gordon story that truly has a finale that allows for, but doesn't beg for another story. Flash Gordon Zeitgeist is a dandy story, if imperfect and does quite a bit to move Flash Gordon into a new era.
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