Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon

[Tjm86]

Over the last couple of years I've become a bit 'obsessed' with the original strips for these two characters.  Digging into the history, I was more than a little surprised at how long Gordon has actually ran for.  Rogers, less so.  Although both seem to have had multiple reboots.

At the moment I'm on the original runs of both strips.  It is fascinating how different they are on some levels.  Both are clearly steeped in the sensibilities of their times with racism and sexism barely veiled.  Yet it is clear how different they are as well.

Where the early Gordon strips are visually stunning, Rogers' strips completely lack any sophistication.  Granted the first Gordon strips are weekly where Rogers was daily but even so, when you look at the daily Gordon strips that emerged a decade after the start, the artwork still leaves Rogers in the shade.

Reymond's artwork creates a rich and vibrant world.  It is a curious hybrid of high technology and medievalism.  Aristocracy abounds, as do bizarre creatures.  Architecture is a fusion of Olde Englande and Fritz Lang's Metropolis.  All rendered in that intricate style reminiscent of Robin Hood picture-books.  In terms of quality it is on a par with that of the early Dan Dare strips.  There is a painstaking attention to detail and accuracy. 

Calkins' artwork doesn't really hold a candle to Reymond's.  Backgrounds are simplistic, architecture much more straightforward but characters generally competently rendered.  The daily schedule may well have had a bearing on this but then some of the robotic figures are almost comical in their appearance.

Both are fascinating pieces of Science Fiction Comic History.  In many respects it's hardly surprising that Gordon attracted Lucas' attention and interest although that might be more down to the movie serials than the original comics.

Both serials have been gloriously reprinted by Titan Books and Hermes Press.  Titan's renditions are up to their normal standards and the Hermes books are pretty much on a par.  They are well worth a look although the Buck Rogers books had limited distribution this side of the Atlantic and are consequently both harder to find and significantly more expensive.  That said, some of the Titan reprints of Reynolds' run on Flash Gordon are now quite difficult to find and suffer from price gouging.

Another point of interest is possibly the relationship between these original strips and the film / television renditions we are possibly more familiar with now.  Leaving aside the 30's movie serials, the renditions from the 80's are probably far more familiar to most folks on these parts. 

The eponymous Flash Gordon film with its Queen soundtrack, Brian Blessed's iconic performance, Max von Sydow's hamming-it-up, Timothy Dalton pre-Bond as well as Richard O'Brien is probably seared into memory.  It's hard not to think of it without fighting an overwhelming urge to cry "Gordon's Alive!!!!!"
For all the film's faults, it has lasted well.

What is clear is how much Reynolds' work influenced much of the design.  The flying city of the Hawkmen is almost directly lifted from his pages.  The same is so of the twisted world of Arboria.  Arguably much of the visual sensibility of the film as well as its plotting is clearly influenced by the early comic strips.

Buck Rogers is a stark contrast to this.  Drawing its influence from then-current concerns about nuclear war, Rogers is cast into a post-apocalyptic landscape filled with high-tech oases.  Nothing of the visualisation of those early strips is translated.  Although several of the characters translate through (Wilma, Ardala, Kane ...) much else is radically transformed.  The Draconians are no-longer the racially insensitive pan-Asiatics of the original strip although some of the the visual sensibilities remain in the uniforms of the Draconian forces.  Ironically the cinematic version (or rather made-for-television version?) is just as inferior as the comic strip.

It's fascinating digging back into some of these strips.  Seeing how they differ from the versions of the characters we remember from our own youth (in some cases ...) and more recent iterations.  Although Buck Rogers was the first to arrive on the scene it is clear that Flash Gordon quickly outstripped it in many ways.  Both may well have survived in popular memory as a result of the Buster Crabbe films but it seems that Rogers was always the lesser of the two.  Certainly looking at those early strips, this is clearly the case.

[Colin YNWA]

I love Alex Raymonds Flash Gordon stuff and was luckily enough to pick the first three volumes as they came out and they are beautiful markers of the craft of their time, very much of their time.

I've also picked up a couple of the Dan Barry Dailies volumes at stupid cheap prices, not read them yet but at those prices just flicking through the art makes clear these are insanely good value.

I have a number of other runs of Flash Gordon stuff - the Dynamite stuff from about 8 years ago with Evan Shaner art are a real highlight. Like the Al Williamson reprints from Marvel I have.

Love Flash Gordon, he's just like Dan Dare a real marker of his time and place and so I find it fascinating how they are played with in different eras.

[nxylas]

Love Flash Gordon, he's just like Dan Dare a real marker of his time and place and so I find it fascinating how they are played with in different eras.

Can we pretend that the awful Syfy TV series from around 2005 never happened, though?

[Jim_Campbell]

Can we pretend that the awful Syfy TV series from around 2005 never happened, though?

I didn't even know there was an awful mid-00s SyFy series, so now I have to pretend it didn't happen... when previously I didn't have to, because I didn't know it existed. Thanks a bunch!

[broodblik]

It was not that awful maybe just average

[The Legendary Shark]

I think I only got through half of the first episode - and I'll basically watch anything.

[nxylas]

I think I only got through half of the first episode - and I'll basically watch anything.

I think I lasted a bit longer than that, but it was a depressingly low-budget affair, and not in a cheap and cheerful, 1970s Doctor Who sort of way. More in a "what you'd get if you bought Flash Gordon on Wish" way.

[The Legendary Shark]

[sheridan]

The eponymous Flash Gordon film with its Queen soundtrack, Brian Blessed's iconic performance, Max von Sydow's hamming-it-up, Timothy Dalton pre-Bond as well as Richard O'Brien is probably seared into memory.  It's hard not to think of it without fighting an overwhelming urge to cry "Gordon's Alive!!!!!"
For all the film's faults, it has lasted well.

Don't forget Peter Duncan, of Blue Peter!

Also - what faults?  That film's perfect, I tells ya!

[Funt Solo]

And Picard is in it.

[Funt Solo]

Or, wait, have I drifted into Excalibur?

[sheridan]

Can we pretend that the awful Syfy TV series from around 2005 never happened, though?

I had managed to forget it.  Until now.  Thanks for that!

Seriously though - I saw the first episode when it came out but it didn't strike me as being very Flash.  None of the elements I'd expect from the IP were apparent.

[Dash Decent]

My old boss occasionally used the expression "We'll be in more trouble than Speed Gordon!".  It always sounded wrong to me - [Thinks: Does he mean Flash Gordon?].  I found out later on that originally Flash Gordon was published in Australia  under the name "Speed Gordon" to avoid the negative connotations associated with the word 'Flash' locally, which meant spiv-like; low-class, seedy and show-offy - as in the expression "(He's as) flash as a rat with a gold tooth."

It's a bit like the Top Cat/Boss Cat situation.

[Tjm86]

Love Flash Gordon, he's just like Dan Dare a real marker of his time and place and so I find it fascinating how they are played with in different eras.

Can we pretend that the awful Syfy TV series from around 2005 never happened, though?

Seems reasonable.  Have to say the same about the 2nd season of Buck Rogers.  It tried again recently.  Oh My Word!!!!!

What they were thinking of is baffling.  Huer and Theopolis out.  Some doddery old fool and a sanctimonious lamp-post in.  The spectacularly wooden Hawk and his sister(?) who gives bad acting a bad name.  The action is relocated to a sort of cruise ship with crew wearing uniforms that wouldn't look out of place on the Love Boat.

In the annals of hideously bad sci-fi this must surely be a contender for the "Biggest Stinker" award, and not in a "so bad it is actually good" kind of way ...

[rogue69]

Always loved the old B&W series that were always on during the school holidays in the 70's. Did get a bit confusing as Buster Crabbe played both Flash Gordon & Buck Rodgers. Big influence on my love of Sci-Fi