Comics: Flash Gordon #2

By Lisa Fary

I’m a sucker for Flash Gordon.

Not just because 1980’s red satin and sequin extravaganza was the first movie I ever saw in the theater. Not because I was the only person in America to sit through the ENTIRE season of Flash Gordon on the Sci Fi Channel (and I did that without damaging my liver!).

I love Flash Gordon for a lot of the same reasons I love Star Wars: the melodrama, the swashbuckling, the clear cut good vs. evil, and the rockets. However, the character himself is far more endearing than Luke Skywalker (or, god forbid, Little Ani) because, to quote Queen, “He’s just a man with a man’s courage.”

Flash doesn’t have the mystical power of the Force. He’s not chosen to be a hero because of his bloodline. He’s not the prophesied one. He’s just a capable guy in the wrong place at the wrong time who chooses to do the right thing.

Flash Gordon was revived as a comic this year by start up publisher Ardden Entertainment. I resisted issue one, but relented at Brave New Worlds this week and grabbed issue two. The story is ingrained in my psyche deeply enough that issue one was necessary to get me up to speed: Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov wind up in a rocket on their way to Mongo. That’s really all I need to know – I can pick up the rest along the way.

“The rest” as in Flash’s slightly new life. He’s no longer a football star – in Ardden’s comic, Flash is a former Olympic athlete, former CIA recruit, and current Ivy League professor. Dale Arden has been bumped up from plucky girl reporter to CIA agent. Dr. Zarkov is as he always is: mad scientist.

In true Flash Gordon form, the comic has it’s hokey moments, but they fit in with the pulpy nature of the space opera. The only thing that inspired an eye-roll was when Dale Arden, not realizing she’s on another planet, asks to borrow Ming’s cell phone. Now, I’m not CIA agent, but I can figure out that, unless my rocket just crash landed at Comicon, the guy in the swirly red robes of doom probably doesn’t have a cell phone.

At first, I was put off by the heavily exaggerated artwork, but it grew on me after a few pages. It reminds me of the old Dragon’s Lair video game and cartoon, which is an old favorite – whether the similarity was intentional or not, the nostalgia plug certainly didn’t hurt the comic.

So, now I’m committed to plopping down $3.99 a month on Flash Gordon comics. $3.99 is pricey, but I don’t mind for two reasons:

The book itself is high quality, ultra glossy, and sturdy.
There’s not much else that I’m buying right now. Flash Gordon #2 was the first comic I’ve bought in almost two months.

I’m looking forward to seeing Prince Thun in issue #3. I’ll bet he looks like a Thundercat.

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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.