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Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond (Kitchen Sink Press) #6
Flash Gordon - Volume 6 1943-1945: Triumph in Tropica
The sixth and final volume of Kitchen Sink's Flash Gordon reprinting Alex Raymond's last Flash Gordon pages (before he left to serve in the Marines) (July 4, 1943-April 30, 1944) and the rest by Austin Briggs. Flash Triumph in Tropica contains strips 496-579 (July 4, 1943-February 4, 1945). Bonus features include a gallery of Austin Briggs' Blue Book illustrations. Full color!
- GenresComics
96 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1993
7 people want to read
About the author
Alex Raymond
720 books39 followersAlexander Gillespie Raymond was an American comic strip artist, best known for creating the comic Flash Gordon in 1934. The serial hit the silver screen three years later with Buster Crabbe and Jean Rogers as the leading players. Other strips he drew include Secret Agent X-9, Rip Kirby, Jungle Jim, Tim Tyler's Luck, and Tillie the Toiler. Alex Raymond received a Reuben Award from the National Cartoonists Society in 1949 for his work on Rip Kirby.
Born in New Rochelle, New York, Alex Raymond attended Iona Prep on a scholarship and played on the Gaels' football team. He joined the US Marines Corp in 1944 and served in the Pacific theatre during World War II.
His realistic style and skillful use of "feathering" (a shading technique in which a soft series of parallel lines helps to suggest the contour of an object) has continued to be an inspiration for generations of cartoonists.
Raymond was killed in an automobile accident in Westport, Connecticut while driving with fellow cartoonist Stan Drake, aged 46, and is buried in St. John's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Darien, Connecticut.
During the accident which led to his untimely demise, he was said to have remarked (by the surviving passenger of the accident) on the fact that a pencil on the dashboard seemed to be floating in relation to the plummet of the vehicle.
He was the great-uncle of actors Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon.
Born in New Rochelle, New York, Alex Raymond attended Iona Prep on a scholarship and played on the Gaels' football team. He joined the US Marines Corp in 1944 and served in the Pacific theatre during World War II.
His realistic style and skillful use of "feathering" (a shading technique in which a soft series of parallel lines helps to suggest the contour of an object) has continued to be an inspiration for generations of cartoonists.
Raymond was killed in an automobile accident in Westport, Connecticut while driving with fellow cartoonist Stan Drake, aged 46, and is buried in St. John's Roman Catholic Cemetery in Darien, Connecticut.
During the accident which led to his untimely demise, he was said to have remarked (by the surviving passenger of the accident) on the fact that a pencil on the dashboard seemed to be floating in relation to the plummet of the vehicle.
He was the great-uncle of actors Matt Dillon and Kevin Dillon.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 13, 2026
Flash Gordon – Volume 6 (1943–1945): Triumph in Tropica closes the Kitchen Sink reprint series and marks the end of an era. This volume collects Alex Raymond’s final Flash Gordon strips—created before he left to serve in the U.S. Marines—followed by the continuation under Austin Briggs. While the artistic transition is impossible to miss, the series remains supremely entertaining and narratively strong right through the end.
There is no denying that the visual brilliance of Raymond’s earlier work stands unmatched. Whether due to fatigue, changing priorities, or the inevitable limits of studio assistance, the later strips simplify both composition and detail. When Briggs fully takes over, the art no longer reaches the lush, iconic heights that defined Flash Gordon’s golden years. Yet even at a reduced visual intensity, the strip retains clarity, energy, and momentum—and it remains far above average for adventure comics of the period.
What truly carries this volume is the storytelling. The plots are sharp, imaginative, and confident, proving that Flash Gordon was more than just a showcase for spectacular art. The sense of adventure, exotic locales, and high-stakes conflict never falters, and Triumph in Tropica delivers satisfying, fast-moving science-fantasy until the final strip.
As a conclusion, this volume offers both a farewell to Alex Raymond’s legendary run and a respectful handoff to his successor. It may lack the visual opulence of earlier volumes, but it stands as a worthy, enjoyable, and historically important finale to one of the most influential adventure strips ever created.
There is no denying that the visual brilliance of Raymond’s earlier work stands unmatched. Whether due to fatigue, changing priorities, or the inevitable limits of studio assistance, the later strips simplify both composition and detail. When Briggs fully takes over, the art no longer reaches the lush, iconic heights that defined Flash Gordon’s golden years. Yet even at a reduced visual intensity, the strip retains clarity, energy, and momentum—and it remains far above average for adventure comics of the period.
What truly carries this volume is the storytelling. The plots are sharp, imaginative, and confident, proving that Flash Gordon was more than just a showcase for spectacular art. The sense of adventure, exotic locales, and high-stakes conflict never falters, and Triumph in Tropica delivers satisfying, fast-moving science-fantasy until the final strip.
As a conclusion, this volume offers both a farewell to Alex Raymond’s legendary run and a respectful handoff to his successor. It may lack the visual opulence of earlier volumes, but it stands as a worthy, enjoyable, and historically important finale to one of the most influential adventure strips ever created.
November 14, 2013
The best Flash Gordon stories are pretty dopey, endlessly recycling seven or eight plot points that were already cliches when Alex Raymond took them on. He left the strip to serve in World War Two in 1944, and the changeover occurs in this volume. I hoped that the stories might improve under the artisanship of Austin Briggs, but, sadly simultaneously the quality of the drawing goes from stunning down to very good and the stories goes from dopey to downright stupid.
There is some satisfaction to having my curiosity satisfied, but that does not make this a good book.
There is some satisfaction to having my curiosity satisfied, but that does not make this a good book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews