Book Review: Flash Gordon Volume 6

Before there was Luke Skywalker, there was Flash Gordon. Oh, that is so cliché. I'm really sick of the "before there was..." intros. However, I believe that this has a grain of truth. I believe George Lucas himself has said that one his inspirations for Star Wars was watching "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe".

I'm sure that that movie seems quite dated in comparison to what science fiction has to offer now with its computer animated special effects and hopefully better plotlines. After all, Flash's rockets look just like pre-World War II airplanes, and the aliens looked about as original as putting a head of one animal atop an different one.

Still, the fact that Alex Raymond was able to conceive these things when the science fiction epic was nigh non-existent is pretty impressive. Checker Book Publishing has recently collected the works of Raymond's Flash Gordon, and I had the opportunity to check out Volume 6. Granted, Flash Gordon Volume 6 is a huge soap opera that doesn't necessarily start at the beginning, nor does it end with any closure, but it was exciting to see what Flash goes through.

For example, the first adventure in Volume 6 is known as "Return to Earth". I have no idea if this is Flash's first return to Earth, since most of his adventures take place on the wild world of Mongo, combating the forces of Ming the Merciless. Completely absent in Volume 6 is Ming, but there is a substitute: the Dictator's army.

Since these strips originally ran in 1941, I can only imagine that "The Dictator" is supposed to be Hitler. Ironically, the conflict involved Flash trying to stop an invading army, which mysteriously resembles Pearl Harbor. In fact, the strip that aired in the month of December must have been exactly what Americans wanted to read. I don't know how Raymond conceived this storyline, but he's practically a prophet. I wonder if this storyline contributed to the strip's present day success.

Perhaps Raymond was good at simply riding along on the spirit of the times. Flash is a definite super-masculine symbol. The fact that he is usually shirtless (now you know why he's called Flash) and the women in the stories are completely helpless.

This is apparent when Flash meets Desira, Queen of the Tropican jungle of Mongo. I knew that when Queen Desira was mentioned, that she would be a sexy babe. Sure enough, she is revealed in an outfit similar to the one Princess Leia wore in Jabba's palace in Return of the Jedi. However, Flash's girlfriend, Dale Aldren, is able to devise some strategy which is a little bit of a step up for her.

If you are not familiar with Flash Gordon's style, it is mostly narration, and little dialogue. Panels consist of a picture of the action followed by a description that is by no means superfluous. Plotting seems a little weak. For example, on the adventures to the Jungle, the whole reason Flash is in that position in the first place is because his rocket ran out of fuel and he could never reach civilized Mongo. I couldn't help but ponder the irony of this. You mean he traveled light years only to run out of gas when he was less than one percent away from his intended target? Isn't there anyone in Civilized Mongo who can come pick you up? This little detour goes from the return to Mongo and lasts the rest of the book, which is almost the space of a year.

Obviously, there is a spur-of-the-moment planning in order to make this strip appear every Sunday. I'm not certain if Flash ever had weekday adventures, but they are absent in Volume 6. All in all, I wish I had Volumes 1-5, and these original comic strips have an iconic quality that just does not compare with the Flash Gordon series they have now on the Sci-fi Channel.