Flash Gordon, the comic strip, began on January 7, 1934. Intended as competition for Buck Rogers, it is still running to this day. Alex Raymond created the strip, using elements from Philip Wylie’s When Worlds Collide, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars and Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu. We got a beautifully drawn dose of Flash and his friends on the plant Mongo every Sunday. Unlike Buck, Flash did not have a Pulp magazine predecessor.
Not surprising, the comic strips were collected in comic books to be resold. Later, new adventures were written and drawn by others, expanding Flash’s story. A lot of companies, and a lot of writers and artists have worked on Flash over the decades. I will try to sift through all the many variations to give some sense of how the comic books ran as well as mention other media. My focus is largely American, though one foreign publisher. the Indrajal comics of India, will get mentioned. Most foreign edition were reprints from the newspaper.
Big Little Books adapted the Raymond comic strip into small books for children starting in 1934 with Flash Gordon on the Planet Mongo. The fourteenth and last one, Flash Gordon and the Fiery Desert of Mongo, appeared in 1948.
The comic strip got a Radio serial, The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon, in 1935, starring Gail Gordon (that’s Mr. Mooney on The Lucy Show). The Radio show had another Alex Raymond character doing a guest spot, Jungle Jim. The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon followed taking Flash to Atlantis.
In 1936, the Flash comic strip got its first version in Hollywood with the Flash Gordon serial starring Buster Crabbe. This was the film that partly inspired George Lucas to create Star Wars decades later. There were two sequels: Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938) and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). All of these were before the comic books.
Also in 1936, Flash got a Pulp magazine from Harold Hersey. The single issue of Flash Gordon Strange Adventure Magazine appeared in December 1936. It contained “The Master of Mars” by James Edison Northford. “The Sun Men of Saturn” was to appear in the next issue. A novel, Flash Gordon in the Caverns of Mongo, also appeared in this year. The author is “Alex Raymond” but was probably ghost-written.
With such a famous comic strip character, parodies were inevitable. (Just ask Tarzan and Prince Valiant!) Those poking fun range from the mild to the X-rated. I have only included a few. Two are by former Flash Gordon creators. There are so many, it really deserves its own post.
The Comic Strip
Alex Raymond 1934-1943
Austin Briggs 1940-1948
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon was a Sunday comic. When a daily strip was added, Austin Briggs did the artwork (1940-1942). Raymond left the comic altogether in 1944 and the daily was cancelled. Briggs took over the Sundays.
Mac Raboy 1948-1967
Mac Raboy took over the Sundays in 1948.
Dan Barry 1951-1990
Dan Barry resurrected the daily strip in 1951. He took over the Sundays in 1967 after Raboy died.
Harvey Kurtzman 1952-1953
Harry Harrison 1958-1964
Science Fiction writer, Harry Harrison, wrote the strip from 1958–1964. The income allowed him to change careers from comic book artist/writer to fiction writer. He later parodied Flash and other space heroes in the Bill, The Galactic Hero series.
The Comics
The Golden Age
The very first Flash comics were reprints from the David McKay’s King Comics #1–155 (April 1936– November-December 1949). Flash appeared along with other characters from the newspaper like Popeye.
Dell’s Four Color Comics #10 (1942) was a reprint collection by Alex Raymond. Dell would periodically do Flash issues in this anthology title.
Flash Gordon Raids Japan (1943) was a wartime propaganda comic from Dell.
Dell’s Four Color Comics #84 (1945) reprints Alex Raymond’s newspaper work.
Dell’s Four Color Comics #173 (November 1947), #190 (June 1948), #204 (December 1948) and #247 (September 1949) were written by an unknown author or Paul Norris with art by Paul Norris. These were the first Flash comics to create new adventures.
Harvey’s Flash Gordon #1-4 (October 1950-April 1951) reprints Alex Raymond’s newspaper stories.
Dell’s Four Color Comics #424 (September 1952) was written by an unknown author.
Dell’s Flash Gordon #2 (May-June 1953) was written by Paul S. Newman.
Dell’s Four Color Comics #512 (November 1953) was written by Paul S. Newman.
Flash Gordon television show (1954-1955) starring Steve Holland of Doc Savage model fame.
“Flesh Garden” (Mad Magazine #11, May 1954) was a parody written by Harvey Kurtzman.
The Silver Age
Indrajal’s Flash Gordon #72 (1964) was the first of dozens of appearances as late as 1984.
Gold Key’s Flash Gordon #1 (June 1965) was written by an unknown author.
Buster Crabbe voiced Flash for The Official Adventures Of Flash Gordon, two LPs with Radio style adventures.
King Comics’ Flash Gordon #1-11 (September 1966-December 1967) was written by Al Williamson, Larry Ivie, Archie Goodwin, Bill Pearson, Gary Poole, and Alex Raymond (reprints). Artists included Al Williamson, Frank Bolle, Ric Estrada, Mac Raboy and Reed Crandall.
Flash Gordon Annuals (1967-1968/1977/1980) British publishers reprinting the King comics.
The Bronze Age
Charlton’s Flash Gordon #12-18 (February 1969-January 1970) written by Bill Pearson and Joe Gill. Artists include Reed Crandall, Jeff Jones, and Pat Boyette.
“Smash Gordon” (Castle of Frankenstein #15, 1970) was a parody written and drawn by Frank Brunner.
A series of novels based on Flash Gordon appeared in 1973 from Avon. The Lion Men of Mongo, The Plague of Sound, The Space Circus, The Time Trap of Ming XIII, The Witch Queen of Mongo and The War of the Cybernauts were written by Ron Goulart as Conn Steffanson. The Time Trap of Ming XIII (1974) as by Con Steffanson, The Witch Queen of Mongo (1974) and The War of the Cybernauts (1975) as by Carson Bingham were written by Bruce Cassiday.
Flesh Gordon (1974) was a low budget sex parody of Flash Gordon.
“Spurt Starling” (Witzend #11, 1978) was a parody written and drawn by Bill Pearson.
Gold Key/Whitman’s Flash Gordon #19-37 (September 1978-March 1982) was written by John Warner, Gary Poole, Al Williamson, Bruce Jones and George Kashdan. Artists included Carlos Garzon, Frank Bolle, Tom Yeates, Al Williamson, Gene Fawcette and Al McWilliams.
Flash Gordon animated cartoon (1979-1980) followed by Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All (1982) and Defenders of Earth (1986).
1980 saw the first new film in forty years. Flash Gordon (1980) starring Sam J. Jones, Max von Sydow and Melody Anderson was meant to be another Star Wars but failed at the box office. The soundtrack by Queen was probably the thing best remembered.
Gold Key’s Flash Gordon Movie Special (1980) by written by Bruce Jones with art by Al Williamson.
Also in 1980, Tempo Books released paperback novels, Massacre in the 22nd Century, War of the Citadels, Crisis on Citadel II, Forces from the Federation, Citadels under Attack and Citadels on Earth by David Hapberg. No doubt, they thought to catch a wave from the film.
“Flush Gordon” (Crazy Magazine #75, June 1981) was a parody written by Paul Kupperberg.
Conclusion
Flash Gordon comics did not end with the film. DC had a new version in 1988, Al Williamson reprinted much of his newspaper work in the 1990s and Dynamite explored the series with several different comics between 2011 and 2015. The best of these was when they put Flash with other newspaper heroes, The Phantom and Mandrake, in Kings Watch.
We can all be assured that there will be future Flash Gordon comics and movies. He is a perennial figure in the history of commercial Science Fiction. Like Buck Rogers, he is part of the adventure of SF, even if the more cerebral writers disavow him. Flash’s ancestry is the newspaper comic strip. What could be more American than that? Science Fiction became an American genre in 1926 when Hugo Gernsback created Amazing Stories. That story continued in the newspapers with Buck and Flash, and eventually in the comic books.
Remarkable overview, thank you! If you go any further, the Dynamite comics by Jeff Parker and Evan Shaner were excellent.