Definitive Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim Volume 2 by Alex Raymond

Definitive Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim #2

by Alex Raymond

Nominated for three Eisner Awards! The Definitive Flash Gordon & Jungle Jim presents every Sunday strip by Raymond from both classic strips together for the first time, in the oversized 12" x 16" champagne edition format. Created by Raymond in 1934, Flash Gordon is arguably the most famous science fiction comic strip of all time. It follows the adventures of the title character and his companions -- Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov -- as they leave Earth to discover the source of meteors that are threatening the planet, and get waylaid on the planet Mongo, where they battle the evil Ming the Merciless. The three Earthlings encounter one strange race after another, from the water-breathing Shark-Men of the Undersea Kingdom, to the winged Hawkmen, to the ferocious Tusk-Men. All the while, Flash finds himself in the arms of one beautiful woman after another -- much to Dale Arden's chagrin.From IDW, the publisher who brought Caniff HC 9781600109201 Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Vol 1 9781600100369 Complete Terry And The Pirates Vol 1: 1934-1936 9781600101007 Genius, The Life and Art of Alex Toth 9781613770245 Genius, The Life and Art of Alex Toth 9781600108280 Rip Kirby Vol 1 9781600104848 Scorchy Smith And The Art Of Noel Sickles 9781600102066 Steve Canyon Vol 1: 1947-1948 9781613771259 Secret Agent Corrigan Vol 1 9781600106972

Genres: Comic Strips

Hardcover

First published July 10, 2012

About the author

Alexander 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.

Reviews

[ISMOTU · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex Raymond's gorgeous art continues to be the star attraction to these classic comic strips. Flash Gordon has grown on me though it is still very much a space fantasy rather than true science fiction and the plotlines are often ridiculous but always action packed and fun. Dale Arden suffers from the casual sexism that was common at the time and there are certainly problematic aspects to the entirety of the Jungle Jim strip. Looking at the past with a critical eye allows us to understand where certain attitudes come from and hopefully learn to be better. It is unusual to the modern eye to see a jungle strip and a space strip paired together but to the 1930's audience both locales were equally exotic.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ends with Lil setting fire to Karnak's place, who has her a prisoner; Flash ends with Dale, Zarkov and he going into the unknown(to him) North

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

More jungle and derring-do adventure, with Jungle Jim taking on various threats to freedom--there's an interesting consistency to how the focus generally seems to shift towards opposing fascist and tyrannical forces, as WWII approaches--and Flash Gordon going up against Ming the Merciless in serial implausible adventures that are nevertheless lushly rendered. Read it for the art, try to ignore the silly plot devices. Interesting to note how the same basic formulas recur in both strips, despite the different genres.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Library of American Comics did an excellent job assembling this volume. The stories are clunky, but the art's terrific. Fun stuff.

The binding on this edition could've been slightly better. After reading, the spine is cockeyed and doesn't display straight on the bookshelf. Also, the tight binding prevented many pages from lying flat.