— Ch. 1 · Origins And Creation —
Flash Gordon.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
On the 7th of January 1934, a new comic strip titled Flash Gordon appeared in newspapers across America. The strip was created by artist Alex Raymond and writer Don Moore at the request of King Features Syndicate. This project began as a direct commercial response to the massive success of Buck Rogers, which had already spawned toys and novelizations. King Features initially tried to buy rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter stories but failed to reach an agreement with the author. They then turned to their own staff artist, Alex Raymond, to create a competitor. Raymond drew inspiration from Philip Wylie's 1933 novel When Worlds Collide for his initial storyline. That book featured themes of an approaching planet threatening Earth and a rocket journey to save humanity. Raymond adapted these concepts into a visual format that included an athletic hero and his companions traveling to a new world. His first samples were rejected by the syndicate because they lacked sufficient action sequences. He rewrote the story and resubmitted it, leading to its acceptance. The strip ran alongside Jungle Jim and quickly became one of the most popular American comic strips of the 1930s.
Mongolian Adventures And Characters
The story begins on Earth when Dr. Hans Zarkov invents a rocket ship to stop a collision between our planet and Mongo. Half mad with desperation, he kidnaps Flash Gordon and Dale Arden to force them aboard. They land on Mongo and halt the disaster, only to come into conflict with Ming the Merciless, the evil ruler of the planet. For many years, the three companions travel through diverse kingdoms on Mongo. They visit the forest kingdom of Arboria ruled by Prince Barin. They explore the ice kingdom of Frigia under Queen Fria. They enter the jungle kingdom of Tropica led by Queen Desira. They encounter the undersea kingdom of the Shark Men commanded by King Kala. They fly to the city of the Hawkmen where Prince Vultan rules. In early adventures, they are joined by Prince Thun of the Lion Men. Eventually, Ming is overthrown and Mongo comes under the rule of a council led by Barin. Flash and his friends later return to Earth before crashing back in Tropica. They reunite with Barin and others who have established peaceful rule despite frequent revolts. Later stories see Flash become an astronaut traveling to other star systems during the Skorpi War.