This entry not only marks the first posted of 2007--although actually this is a "catch-up" entry; I actually finished reading this particular item back on December 29, 2006, or thereabouts--it also is the first of a new direction. From here I plan to have two main reading "plans" (or "tracks") going (with maybe an occasional side "trip" along the way). One of these tracks will be back to the beginning, so to speak.

As anyone following this blog over the past six months or so will already know, I started on a plan to read all of my comics and comics reprints (starting with my DCs) from 1952 to present. I had read a number of these but then had a bit of an accident, losing (saving over) my reading list that I'd worked up. That meant my having to work up another list.

This time, however, instead of starting where I had left off at 1952 I decided to go all the way back to my very oldest comics material, the pre-Golden Age and Golden Age stuff. This has meant for a good bit of preparation work before actually starting my reading as I had to go back and identify just when all of my reprinted comics were originally released and then sort them out on a timeline. I think I'm finally ready to start now, however.

(My other main comics reading "track", by the way, will be finally getting around to reading all of the stuff that's been collecting in my "to be read" boxes. Sometime in 1999 I started doing this, getting my new stuff and immediately putting them aside to read later, and I have, regrettably, been doing this ever since. (It became a vicious cycle, after all. I couldn't read what just came in each month because I hadn't read the issues before it). This means that I now have hundreds of "current" comics (1999 to present) that I've never read. So this will be my other main comics reading "track", my "current" comics from 1999 to present. Those "side trips" that I mentioned would be stuff like my Star Trek and Star Wars comics and other licensed comics that I presumably will be reading along with related, non-comics, works (my "V" comics along with my "V" novels, for instance; same with my Star Trek, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones comics, etc., reading those along with their respective novel series).)

(I plan to play around with a new, alternate menu, which will allow visitors to follow my readings chronologically as they were originally released. This will take a bit of time, however, so I'm not sure exactly when I'll be able to get around to this.)

Flash Gordon [newspaper strip] (January 7, 1934 to April 14, 1935)

[Chapter 1, "On the Planet Mongo"] (Jan. 7, 1934 - Apr. 15, 1934), [Chapter 2, "Monsters of Mongo"] (Apr. 22, 1934 - Nov. 18, 1934), [Chapter 3, "Tournaments of Mongo"] (Nov. 25, 1934 - Feb. 24, 1935), ["Caverns of Mongo"] (Mar. 3, 1935 - Apr. 14, 1935)
Credits: Alex Raymond (writer/artist).

Significant characters: Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, Dr. Hans Zarkov, Prince Thun (of the Lion Men), Prince Barin, Khan, Ming the Merciless, Princess Aura, Kala (of the Shark Men), King Vultan (of the Hawkmen), Zug (chief of the Cavemen), The Lizard Men.

Summary: My chronological reading plan starts way back here with the first of the "Flash Gordon" newspaper strips from 1934 to 1935 (although as I receive new reprint collections I will doubtlessly be dropping back from time to time to earlier years again; for instance, I've already got the first volumes in the "Popeye" and "Dick Tracy" newspaper strip reprint series, and those start in 1928 and 1931, respectively, and I'll also be including bits of Disney comic strips from this period as well).

This first volume in the Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon series reprints just over the first year of the strip. "Flash Gordon" is an interesting strip right from the start, but anyone reading volume one of this reprint series will notice right away the amazing transformation the strip underwent during its first year. The earliest strips tend to be very "crowded", three tiers of three equally shaped small rectangular panels per tier (or row) plus a fourth tier with one panel just like the ones above it and one last extra long panel to finish up the page (and in some cases not even that last double long panel, instead exactly four tiers of four identically spaced panels to a page). This by necessity makes the artwork rather small and the text a bit hard to read. Raymond was obviously trying to fit a lot of story into each individual strip at this point. And a good bit happens in each strip, accordingly.

Around July 1934, however, Raymond starts to experiment a bit more with the layout, using extra long panels and, more importantly, extra tall panels, giving the strip a much more dynamic look. By the last story arc in this collection ("Caverns of Mongo", Nov. 25, 1934 to Feb. 24, 1935), the strips averaged four to six panels per page. But they are nice, big panels, lush with detail. No more squinting required!

The stories themselves are silly yet fun at the same time. We are introduced to the primary characters of Flash Gordon and Dale Arden right from the first strip. A "strange new planet" is on a collision course with the Earth (I know, I know; don't question it, just go along with it; remember, this is more "space fantasy" than actual "science fiction" we're dealing with here). Flash and Dale are taken at gunpoint by Dr. Zarkov (who thinks at first that they are spies) in his rocket ship to this strange planet and they manage to deflect its course so that it won't crash into the Earth. This is all in the first two Sunday strips. After this point Earth is no more than occasional referred to as the strip's focus shifts to following Flash's and Dale's adventures on this strange new world, Planet Mongo.

They instantly are taken to the evil ruler of Mongo, Ming the Merciless. Ming decides to make Dale his wife (he already has several) and that Flash should be killed. The first story arc ("On the Planet Mongo", Jan. 7, 1934 - Apr. 15, 1934) deal with Flash's escape from Mongo, his initial encounter with Ming's daughter, Princess Aura (who becomes so enamored with Flash as to work against Flash's efforts to rescue Dale), Flash's meeting a new ally in Thun, prince of the Lion Men, and the three's (Flash, Dale, and Thun) escape from the Shark Men. (Whew! See what I meant about Raymond's squeezing a lot into these early strips?)

The second story arc ("Monsters of Mongo", Apr. 22, 1934 - Nov. 18, 1934), picks up right where the previous "chapter" leaves off. Matter a fact, the previous week's strip finished with a cliffhanger (as they usually do), not with an apparent story arc ending. "Monsters" finds Flash joining forces with Thun and Prince Barin in attempting to overthrow Ming and to rescue Dale (who has been recaptured by Ming). Flash, Thun, and Barin are captured, and Flash chooses to undergo the two "terrible tests" rather than being executed. Succeeding in his tests, the three men are sent as slaves to the prison city of the Hawkmen (seemingly starting a new story arc according to a note at the end of the June 10, 1934 installment but the reprint does not acknowledge this, keeping it all part of "Monsters of Mongo"). Jumping ahead a bit, the group (the three men and Dale) end up prisoners of the Hawkmen (Dale once again in the position of being forced to marry a tyrant king) and they must escape from the Hawkmen's floating city.

The third story arc ("Tournaments of Mongo", Nov. 25, 1934 - Feb. 24, 1935), focuses on a tournament Flash enters. The tournament is called for by the king of the Hawkmen (who is by now an ally of Flash and company) in order to prevent Ming from taking Flash captive again. The winner of the tournament gets any post in the empire, short of emperor, and any woman for his bride. All but one (the winner) must die in the tournament, however. Many enter the tournament (including, secretly, Prince Barin, for he desires Princess Aura). The rest of the story arc focuses on the different stages of the tournament. Ultimately it comes down to Flash and Prince Barin, and when Prince Barin's identity is revealed, it is determined that both Flash and Barin will receive kingdoms of their own. Ming, however, grants them unconquered kingdoms however as one last trick against them. To Flash and Dale goes the "Kingdom of the Caves".

Finally, the last story arc in this reprint collection ("Caverns of Mongo", Mar. 3, 1935 - Apr. 14, 1935), deals with Flash's and Dale's first adventures in the "Kingdom of the Caves". Flash initially meets with resistance from the Cavemen but he soon convinces them that he is their new lord and master after defeating their king, Zug, in hand-to-hand combat. Soon after this, however, Flash is ambushed and taken captive by the Lizard Men. Recovering from the attack, Flash overcomes his captors and reunites with Dale and their loyal contingent of Hawkmen and Cavemen.

I've never really read Flash Gordon much in the past (the sole exception being the 1988 Flash Gordon series by DC). I briefly picked up the first volume of the Mac Raboy's Flash Gordon reprint series back when I was reading my 1950s comics but right around that time had my mishap which led to my deciding to go back instead to my 1930s material instead. I'm glad that I did as I had a hard time getting into Raboy's material as I had no idea who the characters really were yet. Going back and starting at the beginning of the strip really helped me to enjoy it much more and I now look forward to the rest of the Raymond volumes and the Mac Raboy strips as well.

As you can probably tell from my comments above, much of Raymond's "Flash Gordon" is high fantasy. "Hawkmen", "Lizard Men", "Cavemen", etc. It's really all comes across like a sort of combination of "Star Wars" (or, rather, "Buck Rogers", which "Flash Gordon" was initially created to be a sort of knock-off of and competition for) and "Chronicles of Narnia" (which also has all sorts of talking animal-men). I know that it all sounds quite outlandish, and it is, really. But Raymond's art really is perfect for this strip, especially once he gets to the really big panels of the later story arcs in this collection.