Flash Gordon - The Comic Strip
Flash Gordon started out as a comic strip. He was invented by Alex Raymond who wrote and drew the strip for the first 10 years.
When Raymond went into the army the strip was taken over by Austin Briggs. The strip has been published continously since 1934 and is still going today. The daily strips were stopped back in 1996 but the Sunday strip continued in the hands of Jim Keefe. His run came to an end in 2003 when contract negotiations broke down, since then King has been publishing reprints.
Jim Keefe maintains several pages devoted to Flash Gordon on his official web page.
History of The Comic Strip
* 1934: Strip debuts 1/7/34. Alex Raymond is the initial writer and artist. Later in the run his is assisted in the writing by Don Moore.
* 1940: Daily strips begin - drawn by Austin Briggs.
* 1944: When Alex Raymond joins the Marine Corps Briggs drops the daily strips and takes over doing the Sunday page.
* 1948: Mac Raboy takes over Sunday page.
* 1951: Daily strip resumed by Dan Barry with Harvey Kurtzman initially handling the writing chores. Dan Barry’s assistants will include: Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, Fred Kida, Bob Fujitani and Harry Harrison.
* 1967: Mac Raboy dies. Barry assumes Sunday page.
* 1990: Dan Barry quits after argument over contract renegotiations. Daily strips and Sunday page are taken over by Bruce Jones as writer and Ralph Reese as artist. Artist Gray Morrow is called in to help meet deadlines.
* 1992: A Buenos Aires studio of artists are hired with writing alternating between Kevin Van Hook and Thomas Warkentin.
* 1993: Daily strips are dropped.
* 1996: Jim Keefe takes over as writer and artist
* 2003: Jim Keefe ends his run due to failed contract renegotiations. His last original strip runs on March 16, 2003.
Link: Flash Gordon Story Title Index
Alex Raymond
* Born October 2, 1909.
* Attends Iona Prep on an athletic scholarship. Job on wall street after graduation as an order clerk. Finding himself out of work with the crash of the stock market, enrolls in the Grand Central School of Art.
* Begins comic strip work as an an assistant to Russ Westover on Tillie the Toiler. Later, assists Chic Young on Blondie.
* 1934: Begins drawing Flash Gordon, along with top tier Jungle Jim. Also takes on Secret Agent X-9 with Dashiell Hammett handling the writing chores.
* 1944: Enlists in the Marine Corps leaving Flash Gordon to writer Don Moore and artist Austin Briggs - Briggs has already been drawing the dailies and assisting occasionally on the Sundays.
When Raymond returns after the war, locked out of continuing Flash because of King Feature’s contract with Briggs. Not wanting to lose Raymond to a rival syndicate, King gives him the oppurtunity to create a new strip and gives him the stipulation that if it fails he can return to Flash.
* September 1956: Killed in an automobile accident near Westport, Connecticut at age 46.
1) Flash Gordon, A History
2) Flash Gordon - The Comic Strip
3) Flash Gordon Movie Serials
4) Flash Gordon The Movie
5) Flash Gordon - The Future
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