By Alex Raymond, with Don Moore (Checker BPG)
ISBN: 1-933160-25-X
This third full-colour, hardback collection of the legendary Sunday comic strip covers the period from October 25th 1937 to June 5th 1938. The continual weekly adventures went from one hairsbreadth escape, fight or chase to another, but for expediency’s sake the publisher has subdivided the non-stop action into four tales: ‘Forest Kingdom of Mongo’, ‘Tusk-Men of Mongo’, ‘Beast-Men of Mongo’ and ‘Outlaws of Mongo’.
Escaping from the evil Ming’s forces after an abortive coup, Flash, Dale and Zarkov crash into the huge jungle of Mongo. Struggling through desperate hardship and overcoming both monsters and the esoteric semi-humans they finally reach Arboria, the Tree kingdom of Prince Barin, Ming’s son-in-law. An honourable man, Barin tries to hide them, but a traitor flees to Ming, seeking advancement in return for the hero’s location. Despite a frantic chase Flash fails to catch the traitor and Ming attacks Arboria.
Flash’s capture ends the assault and Ming thinks he has Flash executed, but once again the villain is fooled. Flash escapes and joins the resistance in the tunnels beneath the city. When Ming floods the tunnels, very few escape but the measures result in massive destruction as the water undermines the foundations of the metropolis…
And so the book ends, but not the adventure. Even stripped down to the bare plot-facts, the drama is captivating. Once you factor in the by-play, the jealousies and intrigues, all rendered with spectacular and lush visualisation by the master of classical realism, you can begin to grasp why this feature captured the world’s imagination and holds it still.
Along with Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) and Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon), Raymond’s work on Flash Gordon is considered to be pivotal to the development of American – if not world – comic art. These works influenced everybody that followed until the emergence of manga and the advancement of computer technology. If you’ve only heard how good this strip is, you owe it to yourself to experience the magic up close and personal.
© 2005 King Features Syndicate Inc. ™ Hearst Holdings, Inc.