Flash Gordon



Flash Gordon is the name of an American science fiction & adventure multimedia franchise, as well as the eponymous protagonist of the franchise. Created by cartoonist Alex Raymond in 1934, Flash Gordon was originally a comic strip published by King Features Syndicate. The comic branched out into a series of serial movies in the 1930s produced by Universal Pictures starring Buster Crabbe in the role of Flash Gordon. Filmation produced an animated Flash Gordon series that aired on Saturday mornings from 1979-1982. There was a live-action feature film in 1980 directed by Mike Hodges with the role of Flash being played by Sam J. Jones. In 2007, Syfy aired a short-lived Flash Gordon television series starring Eric Johnson that lasted a single season, totaling twenty-one episodes. Additionally, there have been numerous comic book titles adapting Flash Gordon stories published by Harvey Comics, Dell Comics, DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics.

The character of Flash Gordon has changed very little over the years. He is presented as a heroic, strong-willed figure, with uncompromising masculine values. Flash is the paramour of Dale Arden who, along with the older Doctor Hans Zarkov, accompanies Flash on an unexpected journey in a rocket ship to the planet Mongo. Flash's nemesis is Ming the Merciless, the ruler of Mongo and father of Aura, who rebels against her father's rule due to being in love with a freedom fighter named Prince Barin. Other notable figures in the Flash Gordon mythos are Thun - the lion man, Prince Vultan - leader of the Hawk people and Klytus - masked warrior and Ming's enforcer.