Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure  comic strip originally drawn by  Alex Raymond, which was first published on January 7, 1934. The strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established  Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash Dixon (1935 to 1939) by H.T. Elmo and Larry Antoinette and Don Dixon and the Hidden Empire (1935 to 1941) by Carl Pfeufer and Bob Moore.

In Australia, the character and strip were retitled Speed Gordon to avoid a negative connotation of the word "Flash". At the time, the predominant meaning of "flash" was "showy", connoting dishonesty.

The Flash Gordon comic strip has been translated into a wide variety of media, including motion pictures, television and animated series. The latest version, a Flash Gordon TV series, appeared on the US Sci Fi Channel in 2007-2008 and then on the United Kingdom Sci Fi channel. A print comic book series by Brendan Deneen and Paul Green and published by Ardden Entertainment debuted in 2008, with the first arc entitled "The Mercy Wars", and is also available on iTunes for the  iPod and  iPhone. Ardden also published a Flash Gordon anthology entitled The Secret History of Mongo. Ardden's second Flash Gordon arc is currently entitled Invasion of the Red Sword and is set to debut in fall 2010.

Characters and story
The comic strip follows the adventures of Flash Gordon, a handsome polo player and  Yale graduate, and his companions  Dale Arden and Dr.  Hans Zarkov. The story begins with Earth bombarded by fiery meteors. Dr. Zarkov invents a rocket ship to locate their place of origin in outer space. Half mad, he kidnaps Flash and Dale, whose plane has crashed in the area, and the three travel to the planet Mongo, where they discover the meteors are weapons devised by Ming the Merciless, evil ruler of Mongo.

For many years, the three companions have adventures on Mongo, traveling to the forest kingdom of Arboria, ruled by Prince Barin; the ice kingdom of Frigia, ruled by Queen Fria; the jungle kingdom of Tropica, ruled by Queen Desira; the undersea kingdom of the Shark Men, ruled by King Kala; and the flying city of the Hawkmen, ruled by  Prince Vultan. They are joined in several early adventures by Prince Thun of the Lion Men. The long story of the Skorpii War takes Flash to other star systems, using starships that are faster than light. Flash and his friends also frequently return to Mongo, where Ming has been overthrown and Prince Barin, married to Ming's daughter  Princess Aura, has established a peaceful rule (except for frequent revolts led by Ming or by one of his many descendants).

Comic books
Over the years, several publishers have produced Flash Gordon comics, either reprints or original stories.


 * David McKay Publications King Comics #1-155 (1936-1949) [strip reprints]
 * Dell Comics  Four Color Comics #10, 84, 173, 190, 204, 247, 424, 512; Flash Gordon #2 (1945-1953) [first 2 strip reprints]
 * Harvey Comics #1-5 (1950) [strip reprints]
 * Gold Key Comics #1 (1965) [reprints FC #173]
 * King Comics #1-11 (1966-1967) (also in Phantom #18-20)
 * Charlton Comics #12-18 (1969-1970)
 * Gold Key Comics #19-27 (1978-1979); under their "Whitman Comics" #28-37 (1980)

King also released a comic version as a part of their Comics Reading Library in the 1970s.

In 1988, Dan Jurgens wrote a modernized version of the comic strip as a nine-issue  DC Comics mini-series. It featured Flash as washed up basketball player who finds new purpose in life on Mongo, Dale as an adventurous reporter who is just as capable as Flash, and a gray-skinned Ming who is less of an Asian stereotype.

The series ran for the planned nine issues and was left with an open-ended conclusion, probably in hopes that it would have been popular enough to start a regular comic run. Though Mongo was not a threat to Earth in this series, Ming had every intention of conquering Earth once he coerced Dr. Zarkov into designing the needed ships.

In 1995, Marvel Comics did a two-issue series with art by Al Williamson in the style of the Flash comics he had produced for King and others.

A new comic book series was released by Ardden Entertainment in August 2008, though with inconsistent release dates for subsequent issues. The initital story arc concluded in mid-2009 with an open door to an announced new story arc to begin fall 2009.

A reprint of all of Al Williamson's Flash Gordon comic books in black and white was printed by Flesk in 2009.

In 2010, Dark Horse Comics began an archive reprint series in hardback, starting with the original comics published by Dell. The second volume will cover the comics published by King Comics, and the third will cover the comics published by Charlton Comics.