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Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon Comic Strip Casting Calls

As mentioned in a previous post, the inspiration for King Vultan’s headstrong daughter Princess Tyree was Tionne Watkins – or T-Boz from TLC.

Close-up of original art.
Artwork from the August 20, 2000 Flash Gordon Sunday page.

Thinking back, she wasn’t the first celebrity I had used for inspiration when it came to Flash Gordon supporting characters. When Flash needed help fighting werewolves, Kurt Russell was called in, cast as Thorne.

Kurt Russell - The Thing (1982)
Kurt Russell – The Thing (1982)
Artwork from the June 23, 1996 Flash Gordon Sunday page.
Artwork from the June 23, 1996 Flash Gordon Sunday page.
Artwork from the August 4, 1996 Flash Gordon Sunday page.
Artwork from the August 4, 1996 Flash Gordon Sunday page.

I brought him back a few times after that to team up with Flash. He ultimately met his demise due to a crooked arms dealer who had sabotaged their equipment…

Artwork from the June 21, 1998 Flash Gordon Sunday page.
Artwork from the June 21, 1998 Flash Gordon Sunday page.

Before Tionne Watkins, there was Tisha Campbell as the strong-willed hawkwoman, Teesha. See how I cleverly changed the name so it wouldn’t be obvious?

Tisha Campbell circa 1990s.
Tisha Campbell circa 1990s.
Black and white art for January 26, 1979 Flash Gordon Sunday.
Artwork from the January 26, 1997 Flash Gordon Sunday.

This last likeness wasn’t for the strip, but a request to weatherman Al Roker.

Back in 1998 the New York Daily News had dropped a bunch of their adventure strips, including Flash Gordon. As Al Roker was known for being a staunch supporter of the comics (having wanted to be a cartoonist when he was younger) I alerted him of the Daily News dumping Flash – and he generously wrote a nice piece on his blog lending his support.

Here’s the art I sent him (pre-weightloss I might add)…

Al_Roker


That’s all I can think of for now as far as celebrities go. Friends and family making cameos are another matter – but that’ll have to wait…

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A reminder that you can find my work on Flash Gordon online at…

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A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus two years worth of archives for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year. Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.

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Alex Raymod Dave Sim Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon

January 7, 1934
The first Flash Gordon strip (with Jungle Jim topper).
By Alex Raymond.

Flash Gordon Jungle Jim first page

For more, check out IDW’s Flash Gordon books reprinting the early classic strips. HIGHLY recommended.

FlashGordon_DBD

The following is a Sunday page I put together back 1n 1999 to spotlight some of the artists who’ve worked on the Flash Gordon comic strip over the years.

Click on image to see larger.

Index of the stories I wrote during my tenure.
Flash Gordon Story Index.


kub

Flash Gordon Guest Artists
Featuring Flash Gordon art by Al Williamson, George Evans, Michael Gilbert, Mark McMurray, Brian Bilter, Loston Wallace and Patrick McDonnell.

For more on Flash Gordon, check out Exonauts, by Jay Mac.

Exonauts Banner 14

Other links include:

Comic Book Index – Listing of writers and artists by Jeffrey Lindenblatt.

Flash Gordon Story Index in Book on Film and in Radio – by Arthur Lortie.

Michael Evans’ Outer Space Cinema – Featuring classic 1930’s serials.

The One Act Players – Flash Gordon Audio Theatre
Winner of the Silver Mark Time Award.

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Al Williamson Artist Spotlight Artists - Cartoonists Flash Gordon

Al Williamson – Flash Gordon Sunday pages

One of the highlights of doing Flash Gordon was the opportunity to work with Al Williamson (1931-2010).

Al worked on two Sunday pages during my tenure. This first page ran on November 7, 1999. The layout and partial pencils are by Al, the finished inks are by me.

Click on image to see larger.

This next page is dated July 8, 2001 and is all Al. It’s also the last Flash Gordon piece he did that saw print.

Flash2001_07_08

Backstory on the November 7th strip:

During the summer of 1998 I was working on staff as a colorist at King Features Syndicate. King was gearing up to move from the building it had occupied for decades and I got a tip that a number of old files were being thrown out. I was told by my editor that if I was up for it I could go through the dumpsters and keep whatever I wanted. The files that were being trashed mostly consisted of decades old paperwork and proof sheets from a myriad of projects/collections that spanned back for years and years.

Rooting through the dumpster I eventually came upon a a lost treasure – proof sheets of Al Williamson’s work on Flash Gordon from the old 1960’s King Comics. I could not believe my luck. Now this was around the time that Marvel was withholding artwork from Jack Kirby. That being the case I got Williamson’s contact info from our Comics Editor Tom Daning (who had worked with Al two years prior) and after making copies for myself I sent off the proof sheets.

About a week later, much to my surprise, I got a call from Al. He thanked me, then told me how all the artwork from that first issue of Flash Gordon he had drawn had been stolen years ago. He had sent it in to the publisher and after it saw print all the artwork went “missing” and was never returned to him. He greatly appreciated receiving the package of proof sheets from out of the blue – so much so in fact that he invited me out to his studio.

Al Williamson in his studio inking a Star Wars movie adaptation – October 1998.

I am still in awe of the original artwork I saw that day. His own and also of great pen and ink masters he admired from his personal collection; Alex Raymond, Hal Foster and much, much more…

Since I was the hired hand on Flash Gordon at the time, I inquired whether or not he would be interested in doing artwork for a Flash Sunday page. Granted, I knew he hadn’t had the best working conditions/relations with King in the past, so I was unsure if he’d be up for it. As he was under deadline inking a Star Wars movie adaptation at the time he politely declined and I left it at that.

Skip ahead a year…
Al would call me from time to time just to check in on how work was going and how the family was doing. By the fall of 1999 I decided to inquire again if he would be interested in doing a Flash page. At this time he said he’d be up for it, but he had two conditions.

1:  That he’d have plenty of lead time.
2:  Under no circumstance would he accept payment.

He wasn’t able to finish the page due to other deadline commitments, but he did provide a beautiful layout. What follows is the inking study he worked up on tracing paper.

Click on to see larger.

Williamson’s method of working up a page starts with an inked rough (to size). First laid out in pencil, Williamson then goes over it with ink to start tightening it up. He explained that comic pages he does the whole job on (pencils and inks) he literally ends up inking the page twice.

Click on to see larger.

I believe he later changed the figure of Dale because it was derivative of a drawing he had done shortly before this for another project.

Al blocked in partial pencils onto Bristol, then sent me the tracing paper so I could see what he intended. Due to time constraints he wasn’t able to pencil the inset characters.

And here’s my inks.

Click on to see larger.

I can’t say enough about how great a guy Al Williamson was, not just as an artist but as a mentor and friend.

For more on Al Williamson’s work on Flash (including these pages) I highly recommend Flesk publications’ Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon. The book includes an essay by Mark Schultz, and the art is beautifully shot from the originals whenever possible.

flash

If Flash Gordon isn’t in your local paper, you can check it out online at…

ComicsKingdomLogo

A yearlong subscription to all of King Features’ comics (new and vintage) plus two years worth of archives for every single strip is a pittance at $19.99 a year.

Unsure? Try a 7 day trial subscription for free.