Comics published Mad Cave Studios’ tribute to the legacy of Flash Gordon continued today as the company released its second collection of classic Flash Gordon comic strips in the form of Flash Gordon Classic Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941. The 208-page anthology is another welcome offering from Mad Cave Studios for any longtime Flash Gordon fan. That is due in part to the introduction crafted by Doug Murray. While does well to set the stage for the comic strips featured herein. It will be addressed shortly. Speaking of the comic strips, they are literally and figuratively at the heart of this collection and will be discussed a little later. The artwork featured throughout the strips rounds out the most important of the collection’s elements. It will also be discussed later. Each item noted here plays its own important part to the whole of Mad Cave Studios’ new Flash Gordon anthology. All things considered they make Flash Gordon Classic Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941 a presentation that will appeal equally to so many comics fans.
Flash Gordon Classic Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941, the brand-new second anthology of classic Flash Gordon comic strips from Mad Cave Studios, is another impressive offering from the comics publisher. Its success comes in part through the introduction offered by Doug Murray. Murray’s notes do well to set the stage for the strips featured herein as he explains for instance, the change of style that Gordon’s creator, Alexander Raymond utilized in the featured strips, moving away from the standard panel design for Sunday papers to a more varied panel style at this point in his career. Readers will see that distinct change in each weekly strip. It is an interesting change that in itself is sure to keep readers more engaged versus the standard straight across paneling that was previously used.
Murray also points out in his notes, the role of Don Moore, who served as chief writer for the strips and how that played in to Raymond’s artistic work. Considering that Moore stayed on as the strip’s main writer for two decades (according to Murray), it would explain why the pair’s collective work remained so engaging and entertaining for that length of time. Moore’s stories are short and to the point. They do just enough to keep readers engaged and entertained, ending each time with a cliffhanger while the dialogue is simple and accessible.
On yet another note, Murray also discusses briefly, the growth in popularity that Flash Gordon saw under King Features. He writes of the strip’s popularity that it not only spawned a series of theatrical serials, but even a radio drama, which starred none other than Gale Gordon (Dennis The Menace, Here’s Lucy, The Lucy Show) as the epic hero. Considering that his performances alongside Lucille Ball and Jay North were quite different from that of Flash Gordon, that contrast is sure to make for plenty of discussion among readers. It was that radio drama that led to the theatrical serials, which were distributed through Universal Pictures beginning in 1936. Larry Crabbe (Buck Rogers, Tarzan the Fearless, Captive Girl) took on the iconic role as Gordon came to the big screen. Again, discussions on Crabbe’s other work (and having been an Olympic swimmer) alongside the theatrical serials is sure to generate its own discussion, too. These bits of historical background will especially engage readers who enjoy cinema history. When it is considered alongside the other background that Murray provides here (including that not discussed), the whole therein may be brief but is so rich in what is provided. It forms a strong foundation to the anthology.
Building on that foundation is the comic strips that make up the body of this new anthology. The strips pick up right where the first Flash Gordon anthology left off, with Gordin meeting his friend, King Barin, of the Tree People. In the first of Gordon’s expansive adventures, Gordon is escorted back to Barin’s kingdom, where he is surprised to learn that none other than Princess Aura, the daughter of the evil emperor, Ming the Merciless, is King Barin’s wife. And while she may be married to King Barin, she clearly has not lost feelings for Flash. From there, Flash stops one of Barin’s own servants, who tries to steal from Aura, only to end up having to chase the thief into the wilds of Planet Mongo. This leads to plenty of dangerous situations and even at one point, Flash facing death itself. What happens here will be left for audiences to discover for themselves. To put it simply though, how he survives is the kind of thing that so many comic writers have used in so many other comics titles (especially from Marvel and DC) for ages. This was ages before any of that so one cannot help but wonder if how Moore saved Flash was the inspiration for so many of today’s comics heroes coming back “from the dead.” Even as the final of the anthology’s stories reaches its end here, the overarching story does not end, meaning odds are readers will see another Flash Gordon anthology coming in 2025. To quote Martha Stewart, that’s a good thing.
Building on the engagement and entertainment ensured by the anthology’s stories is the work of Raymond. Raymond is cited in Murray’s introductory notes talking about his artistic style in a 1940 interview with author Martin Sheridan, stating, “I spend a lot of time on my penciling, then I use a dry brush to produce my line of drawings, which are colored at the syndicate’s office.” The syndicate in question is likely King Syndicate. Audiences see that artistic approach both in the first of Mad Cave’s Flash Gordon anthologies and in this presentation. What is truly interesting here is how close that artistic style resembles that of another famed Sunday strip, Prince Valiant. Interestingly both strips were/are King Features properties, so maybe the similarity in their stylistic look is coincidental. As an added note, Prince Valiant was originally drawn by its creator, Hal Foster. So odds are the closeness in style is coincidental. That aside it is still sure to generate its own share of discussion among readers. This especially in considering the difference in its artistic style versus that of so many other strips out there, such as The Phantom, Spiderman (yes, even that was at one time a Saturday strip) and the likes of Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, and even Funky Winkerbean. To that end, the art featured throughout Flash Gordon Classics Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941 makes for just as much interest as its stories and background information. When the art is considered alongside the stories and the aforementioned background notes, the whole therein makes Flash Gordon Classic Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941 overall another successful installment of Flash Gordon comics that will appeal to most if not all comics fans.
Mad Cave Studios’ brand-new Flash Gordon comic strips collection, Flash Gordon Classic Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941, is another impressive offering from the comics publisher. Its appeal comes in part through the background provided by writer Doug Murray in the anthology’s introductory notes. Murray’s notes set the stage for everything presented in each of the strips spanning the more than 200 pages in this collection. The stories featured in each strip are important in their own way because of their ability to keep readers engaged and wanting more. They are another tribute to the work of the strip’s longtime writer Don Moore, who is himself addressed in Murray’s notes. The artwork featured along with the stories is entertaining in its own right. This due to its unique style. Each item examined here is clearly important in its own way to the whole of Mad Cave Studios’ new Flash Gordon collection. All things considered they make Flash Gordon Classic Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941 in whole another enjoyable, successful comics anthology from Mad Cave Studios that is sure to appeal to most if not all comics fans.
Flash Gordon Classic Collection: Volume 2 – The Complete Sunday Strips: 1937 – 1941 is available now in comics shops nationwide through Mad Cave Studios. More information on this and other titles from Mad Cave Studios is available at:
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