By Alex Raymond (Checker BPG)
ISBN: 1-933160-26-8
The fourth collection of the legendary Sunday comic strip – covering the period from June 12th 1938 to January 21st 1940 – continues the astonishing parade of wonders that bedazzled and captivated the world, with each sabbath instalment somehow topping the last in a seemingly endless progression of drama, excitement and fantasy. Raymond’s faultless blend of classicism and feudal futurism electrified the reading public, and his sagas captured the imagination of generations.
The previous volume ended with Flash and his fellow rebels hidden beneath Ming’s city when the monstrous despot floods the subterranean tunnels to destroy them, resulting in a massive collapse throughout the metropolis. This book opens with ‘The Tyrant of Mongo’ (which originally ran until March 5th 1939) and sees the surviving rebels strike back and even capture the merciless villain only to lose him due to the traitorous schemes of an ambitious woman.
Betrayed and sore pressed, the rebels escape as Ming gloats, thinking Flash dead at last. The fugitives return to Arboria where Prince Barin hides them once more, but evil never rests and Ming replaces one of the surviving rebels with his best spy. Once again the hero turns the tables, but must leave his sanctuary before Ming destroys it…
On March 12th 1938 ‘Ice Kingdom of Mongo’ began, and proved to be a visual high-point even by the monumentally impressive standards of this feature. Flash, Dale, Zarkov and faithful man-at-arms Ronal fly northwards to the pole but are forced to crash-land when the fierce cold freezes their rocket tubes. At the mercy of hideous snow beasts, they are rescued by Queen Fria of the polar kingdom of Frigia, but the fugitives are no safer in the sumptuous halls of her fabulous home than they were on the icy wastes. A spiteful courtier, Count Malo, attempts to murder Flash, and Dale and Ronal are taken as slaves by ice giants whilst on a hunting trip, with only Flash and the Queen left to rescue them.
After that unforgettable sequence, and with the giants defeated, the refugees settle in Frigia, but it becomes clear that many nobles see Flash as a threat to their ambitions, since the unmarried Fria is obviously smitten by the newcomer. A series of “mishaps†culminate in open assassination attempts and even a coup. Events spiral out of control with spectacular results and personal and political intrigues pale into insignificance when the entire kingdom is imperilled by a huge monster that lives in a glacier…
The never-ending adventure went from one hairsbreadth escape, fight or chase to another, but Checker’s subdivision into the two long epics here is logical and satisfying. It’s hard to grasp that when Raymond and script collaborator Don Moore first created these spellbinding sagas they were only working from the most general of plans, with no conception of their eventual perpetuation in posterity of the periodical drama in these lush and lavish volumes.
Along with Hal Foster (Prince Valiant) and Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates/Steve Canyon), Raymond’s work on Flash Gordon is pivotal to the development of comic art. This strip influenced everybody who followed. If you’ve never seen this work, your comic reading life is tragically incomplete. But it’s never too late…
© 2005 King Features Syndicate Inc. ™ Hearst Holdings, Inc
 
