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Post by Pharozonk on Mar 29, 2015 23:37:52 GMT -5
There seem to be so many Flash Gordon series over the years, so I want to know what you guys would recommend checking out.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2015 23:40:57 GMT -5
Start with the Alex Raymond Sunday strip stuff, it's the cream of the crop for me. Not where I started, but if I could do it all over again, that's where I would start. My first exposure consisted of the serials, the Saturday morning cartoon from the late 70s and the paperbacks that I used to get at the school book fair (distributed by Scholastic though not published by them) that cut up and collected Al Williamson material. -M These 2 books...   |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Mar 30, 2015 2:56:38 GMT -5
I know that I want to start collecting the original Alex Raymond material, but I can't decided if I want to go with the collections being done by Titan or IDW. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 30, 2015 5:56:37 GMT -5
I have the Titan series and can not recommend it enough. Beautiful reproduction, excellent format, and an affordable price. I really enjoyed that series and it's amazing to see Raymond progress so fast at the beginning.
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Post by cromagnonman on Mar 30, 2015 6:41:57 GMT -5
Ive owned both the Titan and IDW volumes, id go with the IDW as you also get Jungle Jim - but the IDW are very large books to store though there is only 4 volumes.
There is also an oversized black and white collection of the Al Williamson material published by Flesk id also recommend that. There is an alternative, in colour - the Dark Horse Flash Gordon hardcover comic book reprints but theyre just standard size.
But for starter id go with the Alex Raymond stuff definitely.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 30, 2015 8:42:18 GMT -5
I'm gonna be the voice of dissent here, because I bought the first volume of Checker Publishing's Flash Gordon, which reprinted the first batch of Alex Raymond Sunday strips and I couldn't get on with it at all. Here's what I said about it in another thread, shortly after giving up on it... classiccomics.boards.net/post/21519/threadSo, my answer to the original poster's question would be start with the mid-'60s Flash Gordon comics that Al Williamson did for King Comics. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Mar 30, 2015 13:23:58 GMT -5
How can you not start with Alex Raymond's work-one of the greatest comic artists of the 20th century? Everyone who ever worked on Flash Gordon started by looking at Raymond's material
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Post by cromagnonman on Mar 30, 2015 14:48:11 GMT -5
I'm gonna be the voice of dissent here, because I bought the first volume of Checker Publishing's Flash Gordon, which reprinted the first batch of Alex Raymond Sunday strips and I couldn't get on with it at all. Here's what I said about it in another thread, shortly after giving up on it... classiccomics.boards.net/post/21519/threadSo, my answer to the original poster's question would be start with the mid-'60s Flash Gordon comics that Al Williamson did for King Comics. ha ha so youre not an "old school" kind of guy then, fair enough
I personally can get past the crudeness of the strip and enjoy it for what it is. I like changing up different styles from different eras. It would be really boring if all comics followed the same storytelling blueprint so it makes a change to go back to 1930's era material. And the artwork is a major reason to read it anyway.
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Post by Pharozonk on Mar 30, 2015 16:11:47 GMT -5
Has anyone read the DC series from the 80's?  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2015 16:54:27 GMT -5
Has anyone read the DC series from the 80's? Yes. It is in the so bad it's good category for me. I like it for the same reasons I like the Dino DiLaurentis movie-it's cheesy fun, but it's not good Flash Gordon. It is also very dated 80s specific take on the characters. -M |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Mar 30, 2015 17:45:00 GMT -5
Has anyone read the DC series from the 80's? I remember that my best friend collected this entire maxi-series, but I never read it. He loved it back in the day, but then he was 15-16 at the time and I'm quite prepared to believe mrp when he says that it's a very '80s take on the characters. I can just imagine that it hasn't aged well. |
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Post by Action Ace on Mar 30, 2015 21:07:58 GMT -5
You can put me down for the Alex Raymond series as well.
The recent Jeff Parker/ Doc Shaner series from Dynamite is also one I really liked.
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Post by benday-dot on Mar 31, 2015 19:53:13 GMT -5
I have the Titan series and can not recommend it enough. Beautiful reproduction, excellent format, and an affordable price. I really enjoyed that series and it's amazing to see Raymond progress so fast at the beginning. I second this. They are fantastic. Cromagnon is also correct that the IDW volumes, being of a larger format, are closer to the original size, and, as he rightly reports, you get the Jungle Jim portion. excised from the Titan volumes. What tipped me toward the Titan books then? It was simply a matter of price. The Titan books run from about $30-$35, while the IDW books usually sell for about $60-$75. I used to have some of the Checkers books, but got rid of them. The slim Checkers volumes look no where near as sweet as the Titan or IDW volumes, which capture the original colours extremely faithfully, and the paper used is also far more suitable. Bottom Line: Alex Raymond and Flash Gordon are synonymous. I'm a huge Williamson fan as well, but even Al's exquisite efforts lay in the shadow of the great Alex Raymond. |
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Post by berkley on Mar 31, 2015 22:07:38 GMT -5
I have the Titan books too, or the first three, at least, and agree they look great. I haven't seen the IDW ones so can't compare. Jungle Jim wasn't that interesting to me, certainly not enought to justify the higher price.
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Post by MDG on Apr 1, 2015 10:32:05 GMT -5
Mark Shultz and Al Williamson teamed up on a two-issue series that Marvel put out. I remember the story as being okay--Shultz's writing always reminds me of 60s Gold Key stories--, but Williamson's artwork is gorgeous--maybe his last truly great stuff.  |
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