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Checker Flash Gordon Reprints #3
Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, Vol. 3
The third volume of Checker's effort to reprint Flash Gordon in all of it's glory! Alex Raymond's masterful artwork and story telling create a world that has enchanted imaginations for decades. Volume 3 collects strips from October 25, 1936 to June 5, 1938.
100 pages, Hardcover
Published April 1, 2005
28 people want to read
About the author
Alex Raymond
721 books39 followersAlexander Gillespie Raymond was an American comic strip artist, best known for creating the comic Flash Gordon in 1934. The serial hit the silver screen three years later with Buster Crabbe and Jean Rogers as the leading players. Other strips he drew include Secret Agent X-9, Rip Kirby, Jungle Jim, Tim Tyler's Luck, and Tillie the Toiler. Alex Raymond received a Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society in 1949 for his work on Rip Kirby.
Born in New Rochelle, New York, Alex Raymond attended Iona Prep on a scholarship and played on the Gaels' football team. He joined the US Marines Corp in 1944 and served in the Pacific theatre during World War II.
His realistic style and skillful use of "feathering" (a shading technique in which a soft series of parallel lines helps to suggest the contour of an object) has continued to be an inspiration for generations of cartoonists.
Raymond was killed in an automobile accident in Westport, Connecticut while driving with fellow cartoonist Stan Drake, aged 46, and is buried in St. John's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Darien, Connecticut.
During the accident which led to his untimely demise, he was said to have remarked (by the surviving passenger of the accident) on the fact that a pencil on the dashboard seemed to be floating in relation to the plummet of the vehicle.
He was the great-uncle of actors Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon.
Born in New Rochelle, New York, Alex Raymond attended Iona Prep on a scholarship and played on the Gaels' football team. He joined the US Marines Corp in 1944 and served in the Pacific theatre during World War II.
His realistic style and skillful use of "feathering" (a shading technique in which a soft series of parallel lines helps to suggest the contour of an object) has continued to be an inspiration for generations of cartoonists.
Raymond was killed in an automobile accident in Westport, Connecticut while driving with fellow cartoonist Stan Drake, aged 46, and is buried in St. John's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Darien, Connecticut.
During the accident which led to his untimely demise, he was said to have remarked (by the surviving passenger of the accident) on the fact that a pencil on the dashboard seemed to be floating in relation to the plummet of the vehicle.
He was the great-uncle of actors Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 20, 2014
These are often called "science fiction" and for the day they were often about all a science fiction fan might be able to find. Say Flash Gordon and if people do remember they may be more likely to think of the (horrible) 1980 movie. If you're a tad older or are a fan of older movie serials and TV you may recall the short lived TV series or the movies and serials with Buster Crabbe.
Toy "rocket-ships" with smoke going upward toward the top of the shot, lizards with fins glued to their backs, hokey but fun.
Here however in the graphic adventures that first showed up in the "Sunday Funnies" we see the real Flash. Flash was great for those of us who would grow into fantasy fans. Traveling to other worlds Flash fights evil Ming (who amounts to an evil Wizard-King or Emperor), giant monsters, strange creatures and he's as likely to use a sword as a "ray-gun".
In this collection (which again actually predates me in publication but hey, reprints have been around a long time) Flash's allies and enemies are as likely to use a bow as any other weapon. We get Flash battling using a sword, as spear...a club. There is the trademark action in the great art frames Alex Raymond, we also get Aura who's still hot and dale in a fur bikini...this was a boys dream (frankly I still think their hot).
:)
This collection is from 1936 and 1937 and it's a fun rewarding read. Enjoy.
Toy "rocket-ships" with smoke going upward toward the top of the shot, lizards with fins glued to their backs, hokey but fun.
Here however in the graphic adventures that first showed up in the "Sunday Funnies" we see the real Flash. Flash was great for those of us who would grow into fantasy fans. Traveling to other worlds Flash fights evil Ming (who amounts to an evil Wizard-King or Emperor), giant monsters, strange creatures and he's as likely to use a sword as a "ray-gun".
In this collection (which again actually predates me in publication but hey, reprints have been around a long time) Flash's allies and enemies are as likely to use a bow as any other weapon. We get Flash battling using a sword, as spear...a club. There is the trademark action in the great art frames Alex Raymond, we also get Aura who's still hot and dale in a fur bikini...this was a boys dream (frankly I still think their hot).
:)
This collection is from 1936 and 1937 and it's a fun rewarding read. Enjoy.
November 17, 2020
This volume reprints strips from October 25, 1936 to June 5, 1938. The series was probably at the peak of its popularity around that time. Earlier in 1936, the first move serial debuted, with Buster Crabbe in the title role.
Meanwhile, in the funny papers, the newspaper strip was getting better and better. This volume is superior to the first two, and it feels like everything's coming together here. In my review of Volume 2, I noted that it sometimes felt as if Alex Raymond and scripter Don Moore were making things up as they went along. You sense here that the stories have been given more thought. Flash effortlessly flits in and out of danger, and new complications continually spice up the drama.
Flash himself seems to have changed slightly, too. I noted in my review of Volume 1 that the proceedings in that volume sometimes seemed a little grim - with tyranny, slavery, forced marriages and tournaments to the death. While Flash Gordon was never an anti-hero, he didn't seemed to worry overly much at first about killing his adversaries and in Volume 2, he was grimly determined to conquer an army and claim a kingdom. In Volume 3, though he's the heroic figure that we all know from the Crabbe serials, and he shows much more mercy to his opponents. Did Hollywood soften him somewhat? It's possible. Popeye, a contemporary comic strip character, became less violent as he was licensed for animated cartoons and toys. Likewise, Superman and Batman killed villains in their early days, until they caught on, and we all had to worry "about the children" (and, of course, the money to be made from licensing.). Regardless, Flash - by late 1936 - had evolved into an ultimate male wish fulfillment hero: every woman falls for him, he's a natural leader, he wins every fight, he escapes constant danger, and he's a moral freedom fighter and champion of the oppressed. What man wouldn't want to be him?
I think that that appeal still holds, or at least, it does for me. It's why I still enjoy these old stories, even though they are unquestionably dated and more than a bit cheesy.
Meanwhile, in the funny papers, the newspaper strip was getting better and better. This volume is superior to the first two, and it feels like everything's coming together here. In my review of Volume 2, I noted that it sometimes felt as if Alex Raymond and scripter Don Moore were making things up as they went along. You sense here that the stories have been given more thought. Flash effortlessly flits in and out of danger, and new complications continually spice up the drama.
Flash himself seems to have changed slightly, too. I noted in my review of Volume 1 that the proceedings in that volume sometimes seemed a little grim - with tyranny, slavery, forced marriages and tournaments to the death. While Flash Gordon was never an anti-hero, he didn't seemed to worry overly much at first about killing his adversaries and in Volume 2, he was grimly determined to conquer an army and claim a kingdom. In Volume 3, though he's the heroic figure that we all know from the Crabbe serials, and he shows much more mercy to his opponents. Did Hollywood soften him somewhat? It's possible. Popeye, a contemporary comic strip character, became less violent as he was licensed for animated cartoons and toys. Likewise, Superman and Batman killed villains in their early days, until they caught on, and we all had to worry "about the children" (and, of course, the money to be made from licensing.). Regardless, Flash - by late 1936 - had evolved into an ultimate male wish fulfillment hero: every woman falls for him, he's a natural leader, he wins every fight, he escapes constant danger, and he's a moral freedom fighter and champion of the oppressed. What man wouldn't want to be him?
I think that that appeal still holds, or at least, it does for me. It's why I still enjoy these old stories, even though they are unquestionably dated and more than a bit cheesy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews