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Flash Gordon Dolmen Editorial
Flash Gordon The Complete Daily Strips 1951-1953
The complete Daily Strips, November 1951-April 1953 In 1951, artist Dan Barry was asked to resume the Flash Gordon daily comic strip. In 1952, legendary writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman joined Barry to help with the script. Together they produced a lively, fascinating adventure reprinted here from syndicate proofs for the first time! Enter a world of escaped convicts, butterfly men, time cases, devil beings, utopian societies and Awful Forests! See the artwork of Jack David and Frank Frazetta, who briefly assisted Barry on the art! Thrill to the chronicle of the troubled but fruitful partnership of Barry and Kurtzman! It's all inside - now!
136 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1988
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Dan Barry
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 30, 2021
El Flash Gordon de Barry es un space opera pulp con sus buenos muy buenos (generalmente blancos), malos muy malos (muchas veces de otras etnias), sus doncellas en peligro y enamoradas hasta las trancas de Flash, criaturas increíbles y una absoluta falta de complejos sobre por dónde mover los argumentos. En este tomo se empieza con una expedición a Júpiter que pasa por una fuga de una prisión, lleva a los personajes a un planeta helado supuestamente inhabitable, les introduce en una ciudad oculta asediada por violentos terremotos en 70 páginas. Después se hace uso de la teleportación, manipulaciones mentales, cornucopias, máquinas del tiempo y visiones de un futuro supuestamente irreversibles, pandillas juveniles que desean viajar al espacio... Todas estas aventuras están dibujadas y narradas estupendamente (se nota la mano de Kurtzman en los bocetos). Algo que no puedo decir del Flash Gordon de Raymond, más famoso pero, básicamente, un cómic de mirar. Me lo he pasado tan bien que ya tengo el segundo tomo en la pila de salida.
June 30, 2014
In 1951, FLASH GORDON had been a Sunday-only comic strip for most of its run. A previous daily version ended in 1944, and now, King Features decided to try again. They hired artist Dan Barry, who, at first, both wrote and drew the new FLASH GORDON daily feature. In 1952, famed EC Comics creator/editor Harvey Kurtzman assumed the writing chores. This book begins with Barry’s first strips, sans Kurtzman, and then presents the entire Barry/Kurtzman run. A concluding essay by Dave Schreiner provides context to the work.
Schreiner notes that Dan Barry disliked the “science fantasy” approach of Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond and opted for a more realistic science-based approach. Mongo and its exotic denizens – including main heavy Ming the Merciless – aren’t even mentioned. Hans Zarkov has similarly disappeared. From the famed Alex Raymond run, only Flash and Dale Arden remain. The Barry series is also clearly set in Earth’s more distant future, whereas the Raymond strips seemed to be set in either the present or near future. Naturally, there is no explanation for these changes.
As the Barry strips begin, we meet Flash and Dale on a rocket ship, headed for Jupiter. There’s a detour onto an artificial prison world, where an outbreak occurs. Despite the science fiction setting, there’s a “crime drama” feel to this opening story, and one could even argue that a film noir influence is present. Barry’s artwork, too, provides more “hard boiled realism” than we saw in the lush, larger-than-life fantasy of Alex Raymond.
When Flash Gordon reaches Jupiter, Harvey Kurtzman arrives and then, something interesting occurs. Barry continues his more realistic approach in the art, but the stories start to resemble more traditional Flash Gordon stories. Flash and Dale are transported across the universe, where they encounter tyrants, exotic races, and beautiful women who fall for Flash. On the surface, these are pretty standard Alex Raymond-era tropes, but as Schreiner notes in the book’s concluding essay, Kurtzman’s Flash Gordon stories also contain the kind of messages and social commentary generally associated with the science fiction tales of EC Comics.
The volume concludes with a time-travel adventure that is arguably the best story in the book. Catching a glimpse of an apocalyptic future, Flash travels forward in hopes of preventing it. He encounters a group of future racketeers, and well…let’s just say that things get interesting. The tale is a perfect blend of Kurtzman’s inventive plotting and Barry’s relative realism, with a return to the noirish crime drama atmosphere of the opening story. The two talents are meshing together beautifully at this point, and you get a real sense of some amazing potential, and…then, sadly, it’s all over.
Alex Raymond loyalists may dislike Barry and Kurtzman’s abandonment of Raymond’s continuity, traditional setting and characters. For the rest of us, there’s some solid, entertaining science fiction here, along with some occasionally wacky twists. This may not be the Flash Gordon that we all know, but he’s recognizable nonetheless, and I enjoyed this different take on the character by two highly regarded comics creators.
Schreiner notes that Dan Barry disliked the “science fantasy” approach of Flash Gordon creator Alex Raymond and opted for a more realistic science-based approach. Mongo and its exotic denizens – including main heavy Ming the Merciless – aren’t even mentioned. Hans Zarkov has similarly disappeared. From the famed Alex Raymond run, only Flash and Dale Arden remain. The Barry series is also clearly set in Earth’s more distant future, whereas the Raymond strips seemed to be set in either the present or near future. Naturally, there is no explanation for these changes.
As the Barry strips begin, we meet Flash and Dale on a rocket ship, headed for Jupiter. There’s a detour onto an artificial prison world, where an outbreak occurs. Despite the science fiction setting, there’s a “crime drama” feel to this opening story, and one could even argue that a film noir influence is present. Barry’s artwork, too, provides more “hard boiled realism” than we saw in the lush, larger-than-life fantasy of Alex Raymond.
When Flash Gordon reaches Jupiter, Harvey Kurtzman arrives and then, something interesting occurs. Barry continues his more realistic approach in the art, but the stories start to resemble more traditional Flash Gordon stories. Flash and Dale are transported across the universe, where they encounter tyrants, exotic races, and beautiful women who fall for Flash. On the surface, these are pretty standard Alex Raymond-era tropes, but as Schreiner notes in the book’s concluding essay, Kurtzman’s Flash Gordon stories also contain the kind of messages and social commentary generally associated with the science fiction tales of EC Comics.
The volume concludes with a time-travel adventure that is arguably the best story in the book. Catching a glimpse of an apocalyptic future, Flash travels forward in hopes of preventing it. He encounters a group of future racketeers, and well…let’s just say that things get interesting. The tale is a perfect blend of Kurtzman’s inventive plotting and Barry’s relative realism, with a return to the noirish crime drama atmosphere of the opening story. The two talents are meshing together beautifully at this point, and you get a real sense of some amazing potential, and…then, sadly, it’s all over.
Alex Raymond loyalists may dislike Barry and Kurtzman’s abandonment of Raymond’s continuity, traditional setting and characters. For the rest of us, there’s some solid, entertaining science fiction here, along with some occasionally wacky twists. This may not be the Flash Gordon that we all know, but he’s recognizable nonetheless, and I enjoyed this different take on the character by two highly regarded comics creators.
January 8, 2015
I am so incredibly impressed by the black and white artwork of this ancient daily strip. The simple science to all of it is irreplaceable in modern comics and other general literary media. Flash was one of the earliest original gum shoe heroes turned cowboy spaceman and I will happily read more. I was rather entertained by the weaving of space fantasy and misc mythological origins. Written in the early 1950s I am genuinely surprised the volume didn't include heavier, darker and stronger tones of sexism and misogynistic plot lines.
July 17, 2015
Fun 50s craziness. Interesting to see how the daily-strip format worked for a (somewhat) serious story, rather than just daily jokes... And the best part is the "Awful Forest" storyline. Yes, it is actually called "The Awful Forest," and they say its name over and over and over...
March 29, 2016
this was a killer read! i enjoyed it fully!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews