Flash Gordon Inspiration: The Comic Strips (1944-1948)

Flash Gordon: The Storm Queen of Valkir (Sundays 1944-1948) is the fourth volume in the collected Flash Gordon Sunday comic strips and the first volume of Sundays featuring the art of Austin Briggs (who started on the dailies in 1940). This volume begins with Flash and Dale flying back to Mongo's capital in a triphibian rocket only to be diverted by a damsel in distress who is menaced by a giant scorpion. Once again, the damsel is the ruler of a kingdom (Marvela in this case) who is immediately smitten with Flash, thus sparking Dale's jealousy, and she, in turn, attracts the unwanted attention of another noble. It is a familiar tale because Don Moore, the ghostwriter of Flash Gordon, had established a formula by this point that he seemed unable or unwilling to abandon. In comparison to Alex Raymond's era, Flash Gordon became less fantastical, less heroic, less driven by a greater goal, and more a tale of recurring jealousy amidst a backdrop of hostile petty kingdoms and the clumsy machinations of Kang, the son of Ming the Merciless. The art is serviceable and, at times, impressive, but overall it matches the blandness of the writing.

SPOILER ALERT

The highlight of this volume is also its nadir, by which I mean the introduction of... the terrocrabs. Queen Valkir announces that Flash Gordon's reward for saving her is to become her husband. Flash politely refuses, Valkir calls him a traitor and orders her guards to seize him, Flash turns the tables on her and demands that he and Dale be freed, Valkir would rather die than release Flash and orders her guards to kill Dale, Flash surrenders, and Valkir declares, "Flash must die the 'Dozen Deaths' while I watch and laugh!" And all of that happens in the space of six frames. After surviving the fourth of the Dozen Deaths (an encounter with the octoshark), Valkir says, "I, too, am bored with these spectacles. I'll skip the rest of the 'Dozen Deaths' – and let Flash face the last and worst ordeal!" (Terrocrabs.)

"Now you face the last and surest of the 'Dozen Deaths'...We don't execute a rebel, we just sentence him to a day and a night among the terrocrabs. No man has ever survived," Valkir states in the strip of 1 September 1946. Then, in the third frame, the mighty terrocrab is revealed in all its terrible majesty. It's a lobster. A green and red lobster. A normal-sized green and red lobster. The terrocrab is soon joined by others, and Flash runs toward a tree to escape their fearsome claws. Prince Marko warns Flash to avoid the claws and tracks of the terrocrabs, which contain a paralyzing venom. Flash eludes them and climbs to safety, but no! Terrocrabs can climb!

The terrocrab is a close contender with the squirrelon for Silliest Creature of Mongo. Sadly, it is also the most memorable thing about the Flash Gordon Sunday comic strips from 1944 to 1948.

END SPOILER ALERT

By the mid- to late 1940s, the Flash Gordon comic strips had begun to stagnate. Would they recover and, if so, how soon? I would like to explore the answers to those questions, but I recently learned that Titan Books, the publisher of the Flash Gordon books I have been reviewing (and which had planned to reprint the newspaper comic strip in its entirety), no longer has the license to publish Flash Gordon. Mad Cave Studios now has the license and is publishing its own collections of reprints. I do not know whether it will be using the same scans and format as Titan Books, but it will once again be starting at the beginning. It might be years before a volume covering the comic strips after July 1948 is released. Until then, or unless I can find another way to access them, this series of articles will remain unfinished.

Savage Worlds Thought of the Day 2024-08-16

I am pleased to report that despite my earlier concerns, I was able to pre-order the SWADE Science Fiction Companion, which means I have the PDF now, and the hardcover copy will be shipped to me as soon as it is released. It required sending an e-mail to Pinnacle Entertainment Group, but the deed is done! Eventually, I'll add the Horror Companion, and the savagery will be complete.

Savage News: Broken Earth Breaking Soon

Broken Earth, a postapocalyptic setting for Savage Worlds, will begin crowdfunding via Kickstarter in the near (hopefully not apocalyptic) future. You can sign up to be notified when it launches here. I'm interested in this one.

Worst Character Names of Mongo 4

I probably should have started the "Worst Character Names of Mongo" series of articles with the following offenders, but little did I know at the time that these were but harbingers of far worse nomenclatures to come (and in greater numbers). And so I bring you—from a single day in 1944—the following blinding burst of inspiration in the post-Alex Raymond Sunday strips of Flash Gordon:

• Lura
• Ardo

"The rescued girl quickly regains consciousness. 'You saved my life, handsome stranger. Lura will reward you!'" (3 September 1944)

"'Set a course 120° polar, to the palace in which my brother Ardo and I rule this land,' Lura says. Then, with unexpected speed, 'I'll borrow these guns... No tricks!'" (3 September 1944)

Worst Character Names of Mongo 3

The Flash Gordon Sunday strips of 1948 bring us these examples of not-so-creative character-naming:

• King Justo
• Princess Glitra
• Vilan

"'I told you the metalarm was right—It detected the metal of their weapons.' King Justo laughs. 'Doctor, will they survive the sleep-fog?'" (21 March 1948)

"Justo's weakness is his daughter. He can't refuse the sensation-hungry girl's demand to see the newcomers—so Flash's first sight is of Princess Glitra!" (28 March 1948)

"But Glitra thinks fast, too. 'Why, Dale, how nice—cousin Vilan wanted to meet you. Show her around, Vilan.' Flash and Dale can hardly object..." (4 April 1948)

Flash Gordon/Savage Worlds Thought of the Day 2024-05-22

Once I acquire the new SWADE editions of the Horror Companion and the Science Fiction Companion, I think my Savage Worlds collection will be complete (except for any future releases for The Savage World of Flash Gordon—I'll buy any books they release in that line). I missed my chance to back the Science Fiction Companion crowdfunding project, which is a pity since it was the companion volume I wanted more than any other, but I'll buy it as soon as it is available. I think I'll feel more comfortable writing my own The Savage World of Flash Gordon material after I've read the Science Fiction Companion.

Table: City Encounters (Build Your Own Space Opera Table)

In a space opera, there are least 12 possible persons (sample names included) the protagonists may encounter as they explore the cities of another planet. This is the twentieth table of the Build Your Own Space Opera Table.

City Encounters

Roll 1d12

1. An assassin (named Killo).
2. A common criminal (named Thefto).
3. A doctor (named Medo).
4. A guard (named Protec).
5. A laborer (named Kog).
6. A robot (named M.E.C.H.A.N.O.).
7. A scientist (named Invento).
8. An undercover rebel leader (named Sparto).
9. An undercover rebel scientist (named Eino).
10. An undercover secret police officer (named Susso).
11. A visiting dignitary (named Xeno).
12. A royal outing consisting of two armed guards, a high-ranking victim of unrequited love, and a haughty royal personage.

Table: Radium Mine Encounters (Build Your Own Space Opera Table)

In a space opera, there are least 12 possible things the protagonists may encounter as they explore the radium mines of another planet. This is the nineteenth table of the Build Your Own Space Opera Table.

Radium Mine Encounters

Roll 1d12

1. A crew of radium miners.
2. A radium miner on lunch break.
3. A radium miner slacking off.
4. A radium miner foreman looking for slackers.
5. A fugitive rebel scientist in disguise.
6. A radiumegaladon on the prowl.
7. A radiumillipede minding its own business.
8. An out-of-control mining robot.
9. A group of devil-moles.
10. An electro-hydra.
11. A squad of guards searching for someone.
12. An inspection squad consisting of six guards, a high-ranking victim of unrequited love, and a haughty royal personage.

Table: Aerial Encounters (Build Your Own Space Opera Table)

In a space opera, there are least 12 possible things the protagonists may encounter as they explore the skies of another planet. This is the eighteenth table of the Build Your Own Space Opera Table.

Aerial Encounters

Roll 1d12

1. A band of bandits using jetpacks.
2. A cloud city with or without cloud.
3. An enormormous sky-leviathan.
4. A flock of inferno-pigeons.
5. A fugitive rebel scientist in freefall.
6. A gliding gigantohawk.
7. A high-floating cluster of hydrogen sky-jellies.
8. An out-of-control rocketship.
9. A rocketship on patrol.
10. A squadron of rocketships.
11. A ravenous aeroshark.
12. A royal sky barge transporting six warriors, a high-ranking victim of unrequited love, and a haughty royal personage.

Table: Mountain Encounters (Build Your Own Space Opera Table)

In a space opera, there are least 12 possible things the protagonists may encounter as they explore the mountain ranges of another planet. This is the seventeenth table of the Build Your Own Space Opera Table.

Mountain Encounters

Roll 1d12

1. A crew of worker insect-people at work.
2. A drill-toothed tygor.
3. A fugitive rebel scientist stuck on a cliff ledge.
4. A nesting gigantohawk.
5. A herd of mini-rams.
6. A not-so-helpful throttle-vine.
7. A pack of horned woofins.
8. A sussquatch hermit.
9. A troop of warrior insect-people at war.
10. A voracious tyranodragon.
11. An ursowl mildly confused by its surroundings.
12. A royal hunting party consisting of six warriors, a high-ranking victim of unrequited love, and a haughty royal personage.