The Sunday Funnies - Flash Gordon 1936-1939!

Flash Gordon by Don Moore and Alex Raymond had proven to be a grand success and as the years roll by the adventures on Mongo continue with one hair-raising misadventure after another. The trio of Flash, Dale, and Zarkov begin in the underwater realm of Undina where they are converted to water breathers. After proving themselves to be stalwart they eventually are freed of that limitation and get to land again to begin a trek to Arboria, the kingdom of Prince Barin and his new bride Princess Aura. The trip is dangerous and Zarkov in particular suffers. They battle all sorts of threats in Arboria and afterwards such as cave men. The volume begins with our trio seeking Arboria and ends with them leaving it for new territories when it's clear Ming will kill all to revenge himself on Flash. The strip does measure time as a child is born becomes a year old while adventures unfold. Always the looming threat of Ming the Merciless hangs over everyone, and Flash and Ming do confront one another directly again.  As the dashing heroes throw themselves into one scheme after another to not just survive but bring down the tyrant, the basic theme of Flash Gordon becomes clearly revealed.

Flash, often to the detriment of those who work and fight beside him, is a man of great honor and mercy. He is often quick to spare an opponent, though that enemy will just as often use the merciful time given them to betray and kill Flash's allies and friends. It's frustrating as a reader to see Flash spare the enemy and then see good soldiers die because of that mercy. It happens several times. But then Ming's relentless and perverted "honor" comes into focus and we can see that the heroic and noble (if often foolhardy) Flash embodies honor while Ming only ever rewards loyalty with death. Slowly as the narrative unfolds we see Flash's new way of thinking winning the day as more and more of Ming's forces, those not driven by greed, fall away from the grip of the merciless tyrant.

In terms of the art, Raymond's style matures during these years. In the early stories undersea there's a nifty balance of energy and draftsmanship but as the stories continue and the settings become more realistic, the art is still handsome but loses maybe just a mote of excitement. Movement is sacrificed for closer looks at posed faces. It's possible to forget in the later years here that Flash and Dale and Zarkov are even on an alien world, but rather are merely fighting an underground war here on Earth. That change might well reflect a maturity of style but also an attempt to make the adventures relevant to the news of that day. Europe was falling under the heel of the Axis, and the battles Flash with Ming's minions seems to echo that struggle as folks were left to wage the war while hiding between skirmishes.

More to come.

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