Fist appearing January 1934 as the Kings Features Syndicate answer to Buck Rodgers and toped by Jungle Jim.
Written by Don Moore and penned by Alex Raymond, the action packed if improbable series became an instant success.
Flash, a world-famous polo player, parachuted uninjured from an aircraft that had just been wrecked by a falling meteor. He and the beautiful Dale Arden, a fellow parachutist, landed right where Dr. Hans Zarkoff was about to rocket into space to head off the runaway planet Mongo, which was about to collide with Earth. If that isn't improbable enough, the three immediately became embroiled in the affairs of Mongo's inhabitants — particularly those of its insidious warlord, Ming — and more-or-less shrugged off the threat to their own planet.
But Mongo's inhabitants were able to provide years of adventures, and Raymond's art was among the most highly-regarded — and most imitated — in all of comics. When Raymond joined the Army, in 1944, magazine illustrator Austin Briggs, who had drawn the Flash Gordon daily strip since its beginning in 1940, took over, using a similar style. Raymond didn't return to the strip after the war (he busied himself with a new one, Rip Kirby), so Briggs continued until 1948. Then comic book veteran Emanuel "Mac" Raboy, whose credits include long stints on The Green Lama and Captain Marvel Jr., took over.
Although Raymond is most closely associated with Flash Gordon in the minds of comics aficionados, the man who devoted more of his professional life to the strip than any other was Dan Barry. In 1951, the Flash Gordon daily strip, which had been canceled in 1944, was revived, and Barry was its artist. Through a succession of writers, including Mad magazine founding editor Harvey Kurtzman and science fiction author Harry Harrison — but mostly working with his own scripts — Barry remained with the strip nearly four decades. When Raboy died, in 1967, Barry took over the Sunday strip as well.
In comic books, Flash starred in an occasional release from Harvey or Dell Comics from the 1940s through the '60s. In 1966, King Features started a comics line of its own, and Flash started appearing regularly alongside such stalwarts as Beetle Bailey and Blondie. The series was initially drawn by Al Williamson, a comics veteran whose major influences include Alex Raymond. The venture proved unsuccessful, however, and in 1969 the line was taken over by Charlton Comics. That series lasted only until 1970. Between 1978 and '82, Flash appeared in a comic book series from Gold Key. DC did a brief one in 1988 and Marvel in 1995 — and in the latter, Al Williamson reprised his role as artist.
Buster Crabbe played Flash Gordon in no less than three movie serials beween 1936 and 1940. Flash appeared on radio during the 1930s and in a series of novels during the '70s. In 1957, a feature film of the character was released, with Steve Holland in the title role, repraising his earlier activities in the 1953 television series; and a second feature, released in 1980, played very tongue in cheek by Sam Jones (who also portrayed The Spirit on the big screen).
Flash appeared in animated form on TV, from 1979-81. By far, his most bizarre media treatment occurred in 1987, when he teamed up with his fellow King Features heroes, The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician, in a Saturday morning cartoon titled Defenders of the Earth. (As unlikely as this combination seems, one almost wonders why they didn't add Popeye and Prince Valiant to the mix.) In addition there have been two further animated films in 1982 (Flash Gordon- The greatest Adventure of All) and 1996 (Flash Gordon)
In 1995, when the U.S. Postal Service honored 20 "Comic Strip Classics" with commemorative stamps, Flash Gordon, along with such luminaries as Li'l Abner, Gasoline Alley and Alley Oop, was among those chosen.
Dan Barry retired in 1990, triggering a succession of different artists with different styles. Three years later, the daily strip was once again canceled. Today, Flash Gordon survives only as a Sunday strip, in the hands of writer/artist Jim Keefe — who cites both Alex Raymond and Al Williamson among his artistic influences.
But faint echoes of its glory days can still be seen, throughout the realm of comics. Even today, Alex Raymond has his imitators.
Links:
http://comics.cro.net/e-flash.html
http://www.toonopedia.com/fgordon.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~joesarno/tvcomics/flash.htm
