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Flash Gordon Novels #0
Flash Gordon in the Caverns of Mongo
Alex Raymond. Flash Gordon in the Caverns of Mongo. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1936. First edition. Octavo. 218 pages. Jacket art and pictorial endpapers by Robb Beebe.
Publisher's original orange cloth with titles in black on the spine and front board.
The first novel based on the strip.
Publisher's original orange cloth with titles in black on the spine and front board.
The first novel based on the strip.
- GenresScience Fiction
218 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1936
64 people want to read
About the author
Alex Raymond
714 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 5, 2014
C'mon, how can you not love Flash Gordon? This is where the current field began. Long before Luke and Kirk, before Tom Corbett even, Buck Rogers and Flash were keeping the galaxy safe for us. This, the first Flash novel, has more excitement and action (and exclamation marks) per page than anything you'll find published in this century. It has a bright orange binding with nicely illustrated end-papers; one of the current small specialty presses should do a reprint edition.
January 5, 2020
A thrilling sci-fi novel by Alex Raymond based on the comic strips created by the same.
Flash Gordon and Dale Arden, his betrothed, are cast upon many stirring adventures on the planet Mongo.
The Cavernmen, an evil-looking and cruel race of the underworld of Mongo, seek to destroy and overrun the beautiful upper world and claim it as their own. Flash and Dale, along with their trusty scientist friend, Doctor Zarcov, fight for their lives and join with the mighty King Vultan and his Hawkmen to free Mongo from the hideous creatures thereon.
But all seems lost when the cavernmen kill many Mongo inhabitants, and Dale Arden is taken away from Flash by the horrible cavernman King Gonth!
Flash sees the airship they were in explode before his eyes, and heartbroken at the loss of his true love, he leaves the planet in one of Dr. Zarcov's spaceships to wander aimlessly and practically mindlessly in space. But God intervened, and let him land upon the moon of Jupiter- Titian.
Octopus-things ravage the land, devouring each other and any being who might fall into their clutches. Flash narrowly escapes them, thanks to Princess Lahn-een, who falls in love with him at first sight.
More terrifying adventures inside. The god Thoom is proved false and mortal (a gigantic hundred feet long and thirty feet through Octopus-Monster) by Flash, and the people are freed from superstition.
Oghr, the high priest of Thoom is defeated and made to command the octopus things to destroy the cavernmen back on the planet Mongo. They are all destroyed, Dale Arden found alive! And King Gonth sentenced with death.
At the end, a good man of Thoom, Baron Toric, voices his love for Lahn-een, and the scene closes with Dale and Flash in each other's arms, dreaming of the bright future before them as man and wife.
Beautiful ending. I loved this whole book so much, and was pleasantly surprised (because this isn't a Christian book) that God was praised and glorified and known as the One True God!
Written by a very good man in 1936- Alex Raymond- and infused with the Christian mindset of those days, it turned out wonderfully, and righteousness triumphed over evil.
Flash Gordon and Dale Arden, his betrothed, are cast upon many stirring adventures on the planet Mongo.
The Cavernmen, an evil-looking and cruel race of the underworld of Mongo, seek to destroy and overrun the beautiful upper world and claim it as their own. Flash and Dale, along with their trusty scientist friend, Doctor Zarcov, fight for their lives and join with the mighty King Vultan and his Hawkmen to free Mongo from the hideous creatures thereon.
But all seems lost when the cavernmen kill many Mongo inhabitants, and Dale Arden is taken away from Flash by the horrible cavernman King Gonth!
Flash sees the airship they were in explode before his eyes, and heartbroken at the loss of his true love, he leaves the planet in one of Dr. Zarcov's spaceships to wander aimlessly and practically mindlessly in space. But God intervened, and let him land upon the moon of Jupiter- Titian.
Octopus-things ravage the land, devouring each other and any being who might fall into their clutches. Flash narrowly escapes them, thanks to Princess Lahn-een, who falls in love with him at first sight.
More terrifying adventures inside. The god Thoom is proved false and mortal (a gigantic hundred feet long and thirty feet through Octopus-Monster) by Flash, and the people are freed from superstition.
Oghr, the high priest of Thoom is defeated and made to command the octopus things to destroy the cavernmen back on the planet Mongo. They are all destroyed, Dale Arden found alive! And King Gonth sentenced with death.
At the end, a good man of Thoom, Baron Toric, voices his love for Lahn-een, and the scene closes with Dale and Flash in each other's arms, dreaming of the bright future before them as man and wife.
Beautiful ending. I loved this whole book so much, and was pleasantly surprised (because this isn't a Christian book) that God was praised and glorified and known as the One True God!
Written by a very good man in 1936- Alex Raymond- and infused with the Christian mindset of those days, it turned out wonderfully, and righteousness triumphed over evil.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2019
An easy read. It doesn't have the cliffhanger chapter endings that are a hallmark of the serials, but the book does move along at as good clip. he book has very few of the characters from the serials but that makes no difference to the story.
YOU don't need a working knowledge of Mongo or of Emperor Ming the Merciless to enjoy the story.
I'd TOTALLY recamend this to anyone of any age. THERE is a Buster Crabbe vibe to FLASH here.
YOU don't need a working knowledge of Mongo or of Emperor Ming the Merciless to enjoy the story.
I'd TOTALLY recamend this to anyone of any age. THERE is a Buster Crabbe vibe to FLASH here.
April 28, 2025
Muy entretenida historia, con toda la esencia y alma del grandísimo personaje de Flash Gordon, aunque ya casi tiene 90 años la historia, sigue siendo muy atrapante.
Esta en la linea de las historias de John Carter, pero no por eso es mala ni predecible, es ampliamente
recomendable para los fans del personaje y de la ciencia ficción en general.
Esta en la linea de las historias de John Carter, pero no por eso es mala ni predecible, es ampliamente
recomendable para los fans del personaje y de la ciencia ficción en general.
August 17, 2021
Pulpy and juvenile, but that is not much of a surprise (it is Flash Gordon after all). This book takes the interesting stance that the Good Guys should genocide their enemies and kill all their enemies' prisoners, but I suppose times were different in the 1930s?
May 22, 2015
Despite the material"," there is a very dark tone to this novel. Flash believes Dale to be dead"," which causes a princess to fall in unrequited love with him. Lots of melodrama. Which caused me to give this four stars.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews