erichart's review against another edition
5.0
The story has dated badly, but the artwork is still gorgeous. Each page is action-packed; no wonder the comic strip lent itself so well to episodic movie serials. I was suprised by how sensuous it all was: every princess lusting after Flash, and every Prince or King, starting with Ming, trying to take Dale as his wife. It gets funny after a while.
Highly recommended for those interested in the history of comics and SF.
Highly recommended for those interested in the history of comics and SF.
bookwomble's review
4.0
I was surprised at how closely the Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon movie serial adheres to its source material, presented in sumptuous style in this collection. Created as an answer to the science fiction, space opera adventures of the Buck Rogers newspaper serial, I think Flash's adventures owe a greater debt to the planetary romance and lost world genres of [a:Edgar Rice Burroughs|10885|Edgar Rice Burroughs|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207155710p2/10885.jpg]' John Carter and Caspak novels, the war-torn planet of Mongo with its many-coloured peoples standing in for Barsoom, and the wild lands tormented by giant monsters (Devourosaurus being a particular personal favourite!) reminiscent of Caprona.
There's also a Ruritanian feel to some of the political machinations and empire building plots; an unreflective acceptance of Flash's imperialistic ambitions. Ming is 'Merciless' and a despotic tyrant, but when he promises to make Flash a king, only to reveal that the promised country is not held under his sway, Flash glibly recruits an army and takes his weapons of mass destruction to slaughter and subdue a people of whose existence he had previously been unaware, and whose right of self-determination is not considered and clearly of no consequence to him. Published in the mid 1930s, it sadly seems that many politicians still hold these attitudes today.
Anyway, dubious politics aside, the adventures are inevitably episodic and wholly action-oriented, with no character development and the main motivations given as obsessive passions of love, hate and revenge. This is a weakness or a strength depending on one's preferences. For me it's a venture into juvenile escapism that I sometimes feel the need for. While the story lines are fairly static and formulaic, though not without charm, the artwork definitely does evolve. Tightly contained in gridiron panels for the initial six months of the original publication schedule, there starts to be a slight freeing of the page layout, although it takes a further six months or so for Raymond to really gain confidence (if, indeed, that was what was previously lacking, rather than, perhaps, some restriction of the newspaper medium he was working in) and to start presenting his panels in a more fluid, less linear fashion. The detail and intricacy of the artwork certainly benefits from the change, capturing a certain epic sweep which looks like it might be story boards for Hollywood historical blockbusters like Ben Hur.
Naturally, the book ends in the middle of an adventure - Flash is always enmired in some plot, the resolution of one thread leading immediately into another perilous cliffhanger. I could easily go on to read the next volume without pause, while at the same time feeling no urgency to do so: every pause in reading has been at a pivotal moment of danger, so I've become inured to that narrative device. Whether or not I'm there to read it, I'm confident that Dale will be kidnapped, that Flash will hunt down and kill/befriend the abductor, that whatever life-threatening position Flash finds himself in, Zarkov will build a ray-machine out of brown paper and string which will save the day. The only question in my mind is whether, after four years of prevarication and more romantic entanglements with exotic women than Captain Kirk could shake a phaser at, Flash will ever make good on his promise to marry Dale!
There's also a Ruritanian feel to some of the political machinations and empire building plots; an unreflective acceptance of Flash's imperialistic ambitions. Ming is 'Merciless' and a despotic tyrant, but when he promises to make Flash a king, only to reveal that the promised country is not held under his sway, Flash glibly recruits an army and takes his weapons of mass destruction to slaughter and subdue a people of whose existence he had previously been unaware, and whose right of self-determination is not considered and clearly of no consequence to him. Published in the mid 1930s, it sadly seems that many politicians still hold these attitudes today.
Anyway, dubious politics aside, the adventures are inevitably episodic and wholly action-oriented, with no character development and the main motivations given as obsessive passions of love, hate and revenge. This is a weakness or a strength depending on one's preferences. For me it's a venture into juvenile escapism that I sometimes feel the need for. While the story lines are fairly static and formulaic, though not without charm, the artwork definitely does evolve. Tightly contained in gridiron panels for the initial six months of the original publication schedule, there starts to be a slight freeing of the page layout, although it takes a further six months or so for Raymond to really gain confidence (if, indeed, that was what was previously lacking, rather than, perhaps, some restriction of the newspaper medium he was working in) and to start presenting his panels in a more fluid, less linear fashion. The detail and intricacy of the artwork certainly benefits from the change, capturing a certain epic sweep which looks like it might be story boards for Hollywood historical blockbusters like Ben Hur.
Naturally, the book ends in the middle of an adventure - Flash is always enmired in some plot, the resolution of one thread leading immediately into another perilous cliffhanger. I could easily go on to read the next volume without pause, while at the same time feeling no urgency to do so: every pause in reading has been at a pivotal moment of danger, so I've become inured to that narrative device. Whether or not I'm there to read it, I'm confident that Dale will be kidnapped, that Flash will hunt down and kill/befriend the abductor, that whatever life-threatening position Flash finds himself in, Zarkov will build a ray-machine out of brown paper and string which will save the day. The only question in my mind is whether, after four years of prevarication and more romantic entanglements with exotic women than Captain Kirk could shake a phaser at, Flash will ever make good on his promise to marry Dale!
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