Many of us who grew up with the Internet and social media might not remember reading comic strips from newspapers or magazines. As a kid growing up in the 80s, my family would get the Sunday newspaper which would have all the comic strips in one section – the Sunday Funnies. I absolutely could not wait to dive-in on reading new stories of Prince Valiant and the Peanuts gang.
One of the most popular characters from the Sunday comic strips was space adventurer Flash Gordon. At this time, Philip Nowlan created the original sci-fi star Buck Rogers, thus giving birth to Alex Raymond’s creation of Flash Gordon that debuted in Sunday newspapers on January 7, 1934. Raymond introduced the world to film-like realism, futuristic worlds, exotic women, and just plain fun stories.
Titan Books have collected all the Flash Gordon comic strips and will be releasing volumes of these wonderful stories. The first volume of the book – Flash Gordon – On the Planet Mongo Vol. 1 gathers Raymond’s strips from January 7, 1934 – April 18, 1937. This beautifully bound hard-cover book features not only 200 pages of restored reprinted stories, but also an informative introduction of Flash Gordon’s legacy by star illustrator Alex Ross (Marvels), a Wiki-style history of Alex Raymond and Flash Gordon written by Doug Murray, plus never-before-seen art. This Volume 1 collection of Flash Gordon stories is a great pickup for fans of sci-fi adventure and nostalgic Sunday comic-strips.
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Hardcover Collected: Flash Gordon – On the Planet Mongo, Vol. 1
By: Alex Raymond & Don Moore
Publisher: Titan Books
MSRP: $39.95USD
Available: September 4, 2012
Priceless info. Can’t wait to lay my hands on the book.
It’s a great reference/art/comic book to have in everybody’s geek library.