Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon Volume 2

To think this is what gingo kids were reading in the US Sunday mornings while the Spanish civil war (the prelude of World War Two) erupted, makes it even more amazing.

The adventure strip on the comics page has not yet quite gone the way of the dodo, but it is definitely in spotted owl territory: rare and threatened constantly by outside forces (such as newspaper economics). Certainly, the few that are left are bland. None can compare the adventure strips of yore, and among these, Flash Gordon is one of the tops. The title character is a near perfect person, constantly getting himself out of cliffhanging situations. Stranded on the planet Mongo with two other Earth people, Flash attempts to bring peace to the warring kingdoms. His chief foe is the diabolical Ming the Merciless, Emperor of Mongo. The others from Earth are Flash's lover, Dale Arden, and the genius scientist, Hans Zarkov. Volume 2 of Alex Raymond's strips (originally published between April 1935 and October 1936) include three storylines, each around the same length. In the first, "Witch Queen of Mongo", Flash is drugged by Azura, the Witch Queen of the Blue Magic Men; like almost all women of Mongo, Azura is willing to do anything to possess Flash. In this case, she makes him forget his past and pits him against his friends. In "At War With Ming", Flash and his allies are forced to fight Ming when the emperor refuses to recognize Flash's rulership over various lands. In Undersea Kingdom of Mongo, Flash is stranded with the Sea Folk (due, of course, to the wiles of Queen Undina, who wants him) and has been converted to a water breather, estranging him from Dale and Hans. It is the fantastic world that Raymond presents that outweighs any flaws in his writing and makes this a five star book. In comparison, few strips now offer anything so spectacular. If you enjoy fun adventure tales, this is well worth reading.

After surviving Ming's combat test in Volume 1, Alex Raymond continued the drama on Mongo with Flash receiving a Kingdom at the hand of Ming as a reward for winning. He and Dale discover that their "Kingdom" is a rather wild area, full of uncontrolled races that need to be subdued. Queen Azura is not on Mars like we saw in the serial with Buster Crabbe but is a Mongo beauty who falls instantly in love with our handsome Flash. A lot of activity takes place in caverns and dark realms and eventually Flash goes to war against MING. Volume 2 is easier to read with larger panels and will please fans with the excellent plot and writing that have gone into this serial that is mid-30's in time reference to when it was first published in the newspapers. Wonderful sci-fi stuff! Looking to Volume 3!