Flash your Gordon!
Before the spiders, and the bats, and the supermen, the world knew one hero…and so begins the tag line for the ultimate fake “reboot” of the Flash Gordon universe. For this King Features art piece, I was intent on creating a full retro integration of all that Alex Raymond’s Flash stood for as THE paradigm of the “Pulp meets Comic” universe (or perhaps, the graduation from the Pulp hero to the comic one).
That recent attempt at a TV show was a bit off-putting (like a half-assed smallville) and I much prefer that original idealized retro-comic vibe. So I went back to the basics of American Pop-Art with a slight Max Fleischer & anime bent.
I used a pen to create a heavier “ditko-inked” look on the faces and gave flash a nice, clean “Harlock” scar as I figured if this was his “coming out of retirement” film, he would have to be a little grittier in appearance. His blonde hair is also starting to go grey but in a smooth transition but hearkens back to a visual I have in my head of the ultimate Nick Fury coiffure (now that’s a guy in need of his own movie & salon franchise).
I named this final film “The Ends of Eternity” after the “Toki No Wa” concept that Leiji Matsumoto uses to tie all his work together (it’s also quite prevalent in Tezuka’s “Hi No Tori”). I figured, well, this is the last chapter of Flash and perhaps a mystery or two is revealed and an enemy larger than good ol’ Ming. Flash is just the sort of “hero” that America needed in recent years but his type was washed out long ago by a modern world that is not interested in black & white heroic simplicity (or complexity depending…).
Still, when things get tough, one looks to those ideals that inspired and gave us hope in our youth (or the youth of our civilization). Flash is just that guy. You can see him in the trench, pulling you out when all your other friends are gone or scared. Not the man ready to “sacrifice” himself but the one who is ready to fight to live and to live well. That’s the kind of hero we need and that’s the hero I pay my respects to here.
Flash’s big bad gun was found on ebay. Wow. It’s a piece of work. Think loud-speaker meets raygun meets fire hydrant meets an overpriced cosmo with gray goose (and not because it’s more expensive but it does taste good, or actually, like nothing, which is what good vodka should (or not) taste like).
Ming the Merciless. He is so disco. Actually, his Mr. Spock meets Kojak look is hot. I can just hear Bruno saying “Why is being an evil genius so out this season?”. Double actually, I see some sort of connection between Ming and the advent of the metrosexual. Ming showed us all that you can be both masculine and also dress for universal domination in a sexy velour cape with gold trim and fur collar. Anyway, I went for pensive, old and bitter right from Raymond’s original comic strip. I just inked Ming up a bit more, redrawing him to have a little more and less life, in the right places. The result remind me of a Steve Ditko character (that guy that Doctor Strange used to battle? Mordu or something?).
Actually, the color scheme and juxtaposition of imagery in the print does harken back to some of those early Amazing Spiderman covers and splash pages that prompted me to take up drawing to begin with. It’s interesting to note that no one, to this day, has ever drawn Spiderman as well or as “alive” as Steve Ditko although Todd Mcfarlane did come close.
Dale Arden was Flash’s main squeeze. There was something very Ayn Rand about her and the whole Flash universe in general. So I started thinking that while I would use the original Raymond depictions, I also wanted to put a little Randy spin on the whole equation. I looked over some covers of Anthem (Rand’s sci fi novella) and We The Living. Then I chopped a few faces up, including Ayn’s, and voila - Dale now is a little hotter in a Max Fleischerish sort of way with clear Atlas Shruggian overtones. Look at those bedroom eyes. I also threw on a little irezumi tattoo work because hey, we’re living in the 90’s now right? Oh, and a Terri Hatcheristic body because “they’re real and they’re spectacular”.
And on the subject of Vodka, I was always a huge Jackie Susann fan, and never forgot that incredible bastard Robin Stone from “The Love Machine”. And so I popped him in here as one of the “faux” actors. Also, I was “in like” with a girl named “Leora” once and “in love” with another girl who’s Hebrew name was Leora so yah, she’s a star too. The final touch was a little Felix The Cat holding that same Flash gun (actually, they’re all holding it except for Ming). Felix should be the opening feature. And I also put in a little “Flash Scope” action because wouldn’t the studio have gone out of its way to create a new type of film for this last Flash hurrah? Inspiration materials can be seen in the PicLens gallery below. Choose “see in 3D”. It’s not a glue-smelling viewmaster experience but it’s almost as good.
Flashingly yours,
Sean
