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Flash
Gordon Story Index
The
following text is generously provided by Flash Gordon Historian Original
Flash Gordon Stories 1936:
Flash Gordon Strange Adventure Magazine No. 1 (12/1936) 1937:
Flash Gordon in the Caverns of Mongo 1942:
Flash Gordon and the Ape Men Of Mor 1942:
Eat Right to Work and Win 1943:
Flash Gordon: Macy's Giveaway 1943: In Belgium, writer / artist Edgar P. Jacobs drew a 6-10 week sequence closing out the Flash Gordon saga [Ming is imprisoned, Flash returns to Earth] when the Nazis halt the import of US strips. This ran in "Bravo", a Belgian weekly comic magazine, in two editions, one in French [as Gordon L' Entrepide], the other in Flemish [as Stormer Gordon]. A clone strip, Le Rayon U, also drawn by Jacobs, immediately followed this. 1946-48: - In Italy, publisher Nerbini carries original Flash Gordon strips in his weekly " Collana Albi Grandi Avventure" #22-30, drawn by Guido Fantoni. Reportedly these were pre-war efforts scripted by famous movie director Federico Fellini, but I seriously doubt this claim. 1947-49: Original comic books stories drawn by Paul Norris [the second major Brick Bradford creator] for Dell Comics in Four-Color #173, 190, 204 and 247 1950-51: From Harvey Comics, Family Funnies #1 [09/1950] to #8 [04/1951] and Tiny Tot Funnies #9 [06/1951] carry a one-page Flash Gordon's Planetary Log in most issues, a series highlighting the creatures, plants and customs on various inhabited planets. Artist and writer for this feature are unknown. 1952-53: Three more original comics from Dell, Four Color #424, #512 and Flash Gordon #2, featuring art by Jack Lehti and Frank Thorne. The two Thorne books were intended as a series. [Notes: Both Lehti and Thorne were simultaneously working on Dell's Tom Corbett comics, so the stories were probably interchangeable. Lehti had been an assistant in 1935 on Secret Agent X-9 and Tarzan in 1948-49, and also did the futuristic Tommy Tomorrow at DC Comics. Thorne worked on Jungle Jim for Dell.] 1963-64: Fourteen 30-35 page serialized "novels" published by Ramdor written by Israeli authors using pseudonyms, called FLASH GORDON ARPATKAHOT COVESH CHALAL [Flash Gordon: The Adventures Of A Space Conqueror]. These stories did not feature Dale, Zarkov nor Ming -- plus reveals Flash's first name to be Jim! In the first book, Martian spies seeking H-Bomb technology kidnap Flash. The next three books pits Flash against Lunar invaders. After this, he finds a crashed flying saucer outside London; faces the return of the Martian spies; goes to the Gobi Desert to destroy a prototype H-Bomb built by the Chinese; and then disarms a madman who is a stowaway on an American satellite. The final five books unite the plot threads of the lunar invaders and Martian spies together in a final confrontation. 1966: King Comics publishes 9 original issues of Flash Gordon [plus two reprints] featuring art and stories by Al Williamson, Frank Bolle, Ric Estrada and Reed Crandall, with stories by Archie Goodwin, Bill Pearson, and Larry Ivie. In addition, a short serialized story set in a different technological era, runs in three issues of King's The Phantom, with art by Wally Wood and Gil Kane. [Notes: Bolle later worked on the comics' Buck Rogers, Magnus Robot Fighter and The Phantom in addition to numerous syndicated strips like On Stage, Heart Of Juliet Jones and Rip Kirby. Estrada had two separate tenures ghosting on Dan Barry's Flash Gordon. Crandall, an old pro, had done Sheena as far back as 1942 for Fiction House. Goodwin worked on many syndicated classics: Secret Agent X-9, On Stage, Star Hawks, Star Wars, and Tarzan. Ivie published the world's best fanzine on Flash Gordon, called Heritage. Pearson also did Charlton's version of The Phantom and King's Mandrake.] 1966-67: 14 original illustrated text stories appear in the 1966 and 1967 editions of World Distributor's hardcover Flash Gordon Annual, including two sequels to Al Williamson's underground civilization Krenkelium [named after fellow artist, and sometimes collaborator, Roy Krenkel]. Williamson later admitted that the story he wrote for the King Comics series was swiped directly from Australian Stan Pitt's Silver Starr. The following year, Pitt moved briefly to the US and Al showed him the story. Pitt was reportedly thrilled - and responded by swiping some of Al's work when he returned to Australia. 1969-70: Charlton Comics runs seven issues of original material by artists Pat Boyette and Jeff Jones penned by Joe Gill, plus one leftover King Comics ' story by Reed Crandall. [Notes: Boyette late did animation storyboards for TV's Defenders Of The Earth. Jones did numerous sci-fi paperback covers, including Jack Williamson's Seetee Two, which is set in the same universe as the syndicated strip, Beyond Mars. Gill also worked on Charlton's The Phantom, and Tarzan, and the syndicated Mike Hammer.] 1974-75: Six paperback books from Avon, adapted from Don Moore and Larry Shaw comic strip storylines, ghosted by Ron Goulart [as Con Steffanson] and B. Cassiday [as Carson Bingham]. 1976: A paperback by Horace J. Elias entitled Flash Gordon in the Sand World of Mongo, published by Harper and Row. 1978-81: Gold Key Comics has 16 issues of original stories primarily drawn by Carlos Garzon and Gene Fawcette, with Frank Bolle and Al McWilliams in minor contributions. Scripts were usually by John Warner, with a few by Gary Poole and George Kashdan. Gold Key also carried the much-repackaged adaptation of the 1981 movie, drawn by Al Williamson from an adaptation by Bruce Jones, in three other issues. 1980: Two text adaptations of the movie by Arthur Byron Cover and Lynn Haney appear, plus innumerable other tie-ins, appear. 1980-81: Six paperbacks from Tempo Books by David Hagberg, set in a non-Mongo setting in a distant future. 1986: At least four text adaptations of episodes of the TV series Defenders Of The Earth illustrated by Fred Caririllo. 1987: Flash appears as a member of the Defenders of the Earth [from Star Comics, four issues] along with Mandrake and The Phantom. All art is by Fred Fredericks with Alex Saviuk, and stories by Stan Lee, Bob Harras and Michael Higgins. 1988: A nine issue maxi-series from DC Comics modernizes the saga. Dan Jurgens and Bruce D. Patterson art; scripts by Dan Jurgens. 1995: A two-issue mini-series from Marvel Comics featuring Al Williamson [yet again!] art and Mark Schultz scripts. On Radio: 04/27/1935 to 10/26/1935: An easily obtainable series called The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon ran 26 15-minute episodes on the Mutual Network. Considered an inferior production, it starred Gale Gordon as Flash Gordon, before changing abruptly into Jungle Jim [following the wedding of Flash and Dale]. The Gordon series was restarted over Mutual just two days later with a completely different cast, called The Further Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon. It had 74 episodes, only two of which still survive today. Movies: There
are the three Buster Crabbe serials: 1980: Movie starring Sam J. Jones and his interpretation of Flash as a quarterback for the New York Jets. Rumors of another big-screen adaptation for Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment have existed for several years. There
are also two soft-porn parodies of the character: On TV (live action): 1954-55: There were 39 live action episodes featuring ex-model Steve Holland's interpretation of the character. Flash, Dale and Zarkov are members of the 24th Century IBI [the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigation] reporting to Commander Richards. Cartoon: 1972: ABC Saturday Superstar Movies aired [on October 7th] animators Jack Zander's and Hal Seeger's "Popeye Meets The Man Who Hated Laughter". This brought together Popeye, Brutus, Olive, Wimpy, Swee'pea, Blondie and Dagwood, the Katzenjammer Kids, Hi & Lois, The Little King, Steve Canyon, the Phantom, Snuffy Smith, Mandrake the Magician, Tim Tyler, Beetle Bailey, Jiggs and Maggie and, of course, Flash Gordon all in one film. 1979-81: Filmation Studios' The New Adventures Of Flash Gordon, featuring Bob Ridgeley as the voice of Flash. 1996-97: Lacewood Production's series, co-produced in France, with Flash as a skateboarding teenager and Ming as an oversized lizard [to avoid alienating the Asian market]. Additions
and corrections are appreciated. Please send to: "All I need now is a computer. And a ten year old kid to teach
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